Easy Ways to Build Exposure
Wednesday, December 26th, 2007Welcome to another addition of Benkyou Blog! So, you’ve been studying through JapanesePod101, but you think you’re ready to add a little extra something to your routine. If you feel you’ve got a decent mastery of basic Japanese, there are a few ways you can add snippets of Japanese popular culture to your routine that will build your exposure to the language. Building exposure through music, television, and other forms of media is a great way of helping you learn Japanese. Case in point: me!
Before I went to Japan, I was obsessed with Japanese pop music. It’s all I listened to. GLAY and Utada Hikaru dominated the airspace in my bedroom. I was also your typical anime nerd (though not anymore – remember, this was when I was in 8th - 9th grade) who always had her nose in the latest episode of Card Captor Sakura or clips from the Japanese version of Digimon.
…Yes, I was a total nerd.
Anyway! When I went to Japan and began actually studying Japanese, I discovered that my pronunciation was excellent and my accent was minimal at best. I received compliments all the time on it, so I could safely assume people weren’t just being nice because I heard it from so many people. I credit this to the intense exposure I had to the language before actually learning it.
Exposure can build your vocabulary, teach you colloquialisms, and improve your pronunciation, too. It’s a great way to learn, not to mention fun! Here are my favorite ways of gaining exposure:
Jpop and jrock – From Hamasaki Ayumi to GLAY, jpop is a fun, upbeat genre of music and, of course, it’s Japanese!
Japanese television – If you can, download Japanese TV shows or watch clips from various shows via YouTube. You’ll be pleasantly surprised when you recognize a word here and there, or maybe even understand a sentence or two.
Anime – Yes, it’s nerdy. It’s just cartoons, almost always created for children’s entertainment. But, there are some good ones out there. I highly recommend anything by Studio Ghibli (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Kiki’s Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, etc.) because the animation is top-notch and the stories are compelling. If you watch these films with the subtitles and Japanese language track on, you might find yourself picking up new vocabulary.
Japanese film – You’ll learn much the same way you would through anime – by watching the subtitles and hearing the audio. There is some excellent Japanese cinema out there that can be found at your local Blockbuster. Don’t know where to start? One word: Kurosawa. Look him up.
Children’s books or manga with furigana – This way, you can practice reading and look up new words in a dictionary as you go along. Again, it’s great practice that’s entertaining to boot!
And as always, benkyou de ganbatte ne!
Posted by jannaseliger in Benkyō Blog |
December 28th, 2007 at 5:08 am
I’m listening to J-pop too! At first I just get random words and phrases here and there but it’s great when I can work out whole lines. Suddenly a word I’ve been hearing “clicks” and I realise I know what it means! I’m currently listening to Mari Natsuki. Oh, and I loved that you mentioned Utada Hikaru - I got her kids song “boku wa kuma”. I first heard it on the local Japanese community radio show, another great way to hear Japanese!
Tony in Australia
December 28th, 2007 at 10:09 am
槇原敬之 alllllll the way, here!……Though, if I hear “tame ni” one more time in a song without having found someone to accurately explain to me it’s proper usage, I’ll tear my hair out!
December 28th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
“tame ni” is hard to explain because it’s got several meanings. I recommend looking it up in a dictionary or checking it on jgram.org. Or… you can wait until it’s addressed in your JapanesePod101 lessons, so you have something to look forward to!
And yes, kids songs are wonderful for learning Japanese. I recommend you look up “Shingo Mama”. hehe, kinda kids songs, and if you know who Katori Shingo is (*hint* SMAP), it’s rather amusing.
December 28th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
I have been watching anime and movies (like old-school Zatoichi films) for so many years, I learned a bunch of Japanese simply by osmosis… it makes a great tool, albeit a challenging one since they all speak native speed.
December 30th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
After one of the Jpod lessons mentioning anime (Tonari no Totoro, Spirited away, Mononoke hime) I discovered for myself and watched all available anime and these being mainly for children, I found them invaluable as well as fun, great for getting the sound, inflections. And yes, learning by osmosis is THE way …. Even at my ‘advanced’ age of 67, I find that learning a language like a child learns it’s mother tongue is the best way. My next trip to Japan is in March and I hope to be able to pick out much more of my friend’s conversations, and maybe, just maybe, contribute something in Japanese …. (where upon I surely will be told that my Japanese is ‘perfect’ ….) I wish …
January 1st, 2008 at 4:32 am
I would recommend watching Kurosawa films, but not because they’ll help you with your Japanese. With a few exceptions, his films tend to be set in feudal Japan and use very archaic words. They’re great movies, all of them, but unless you’re trying to replicate Samurai Japanese (great party trick!) they’re not the best for hearing natural Japanese.
Any Miyazaki film is great, and don’t forget Whisper of the Heart, which is Ghibli, but not Miyazaki. It’s my second favorite Ghibli film aside from Spirited Away. As for anime TV shows, Azumanga Daioh is a short (26 episodes), funny look at daily live at a high school. Tons of good culture nuances can be found there. Finally, I like to start off my morning by downloading an episode of Hello! Morning (Morning Musume variety show) from stage6.divx.com. They’re fan subtitled, hilarious and the best example I can give for natural Japanese.
January 2nd, 2008 at 7:42 am
It’s reassuring to hear that exposure like that pays off. ^ ^ I would definitely say that I’m an anime geek, and I really can’t get enough of it. I love watching the anime first in English, and then watching it again in Japanese with subtitles to hear the seiyuus! And I grew up with it since I was about 4 with My Neighbor Totoro.
It’s so true that you can pick up new words from watching anime! Sometimes I’ll randomly shout out something without even realizing that I heard it in a show. Or I’ll understand something just from the context. It’s fantastic.
Might I add that children’s shows are fantastic to watch, as well. My family and I once visited Japan, and when we came home to the hotels at night, we would watch either Japanese dramas, or children’s shows, because they were easy to understand!
January 7th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Any idea where to get these movies online? I don’t mind purchasing them.
January 9th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Hello,
For anime TV shows : see if you can check out ‘Seirei no Moribito 精霊の守り人’ (very beautiful middle ages sets and landscapes, great story) and ‘Dennou coiru 電脳コイル’ (good story about japanese teenagers living in a half-real half-virtual-reality world).
I’d like suggestions of children books with furigana. Like maybe traditional children stories, or manga…
January 16th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Ahhh~ I feel so old reading this! I was in college when CCS came out on TV. Akira, Bubble Gum Crisis and Robot Carnival (cookies if you know this one) were what I grew up on. Gah, so old~ But it did make me feel nostalgic reading this! I think a more appropriate word would maybe be ‘nazukashi’?
BUT my first brush with Japan was in reading Shogun by James Clavell in eighth grade. Great stuff, and it’s awesome you’re recommending fun pop culture aspects of Japan to help with learning and pronunciation. Thanks!