Can you learn Japanese by watching anime?

We always seek ways that are both fun and useful in language learning. Usefulness of watching movies and TV shows for the purpose of language learning has always been a debate.  

I have always felt that watching anime helps with my Japanese, but still regarded it as mostly leisure time with potentially some language learning benefits. However, apparently if done right, it can be a cornerstone of foreign language acquisition, even though watching anime for this purpose is considered counterproductive by some.

“You can’t learn Japanese from anime” misconception

There are many voices in Japanese language learning and anime online communities saying that watching anime for learning Japanese is not useful. Main reason being that the language spoken in those shows is not real, everyday Japanese.

Anime and manga definitely use a lot of impolite speech and slang, so this is probably where this misconception came from. This is especially true for anime like Naruto, Dragon Ball or Bleach, which are targeted to younger male audience.

However, language you hear in your favourite anime shows is still Japanese. It can be more offensive than in normal life. However, it’s not really true that anime characters don’t speak the same way real people do. They do, but it’s all about the context. In everyday life, you don’t often pick fights with ninjas or join yakuza…

Japanese language is very contextual. Simplifying a bit: you speak in a casual way to your friends and family, but in a polite way to strangers and people older or more senior than you. If you confuse these types of speech, you come across either as too formal (distant) or basically rude. To a lesser degree this is true in English as well. You would generally speak in different way with your school friend than with your grandma.

If you want to listen to more everyday Japanese in anime, pick more realistic shows that depict a lot of everyday situations. K-On!, Clannad, Nodame Cantabile or other anime from the “slices of life” genre would be a good choice. Variety of everyday situations in those shows, would allow you to listen to both, casual and formal language.

But, can you actually learn Japanese from JUST watching anime? Probably not. However, if you would do reading (manga, books) and include other media, like TV news and be methodical about your sources then probably yes. At least according to the comprehensible input hypothesis.

Comprehensible input hypothesis

Comprehensible input hypothesis has been developed by the linguist Stephen Krashen to explain how people acquire second-language ability. Apparently, we all do that through listening and reading (input) of the foreign language, much like child learns the first language. It is actually a subconscious process, contrary to conscious studying.

According to the hypothesis, the later usage of the language we learned through conscious studying (like vocabulary and grammar drilling) is actually limited. Mostly to language self-monitoring and self-correcting, which is obviously useful when writing, but not very useful for spontaneous speech.

However, for the language acquisition to be possible, the message in a foreign language needs to be understood. It has to be comprehensible. We can understand the message if we already know some words, or we are familiar with the context. For example, anime and movies bring about the context by using visuals, non-verbal communication and storytelling.

According to Krashen, speaking (output) alone doesn’t improve your language competence at all. You wouldn’t learn anything new just by speaking to yourself. On the other hand, talking with other people would actually work, as you are listening to their responses. By having a conversation, you can hear people speaking in a known context and try to understand them, thus the input is indeed comprehensible.

How to incorporate comprehensible input into the Japanese language learning

For the best results and progress, Krashen advises to use an input that’s only slightly more advanced that your current language ability. So when you’re a beginner, watching anime like Death Note, targeted to older audience with complex dialogue, won’t be very efficient for language acquisition.

What I have found the most difficult with this way of acquiring the language, is the selection of sources. Especially if you’re a beginner or intermediate, it’s really hard to find shows that are easy enough to follow, but not extremely simplistic or childish.

Having said that, I have enjoyed Doraemon and really silly humour of Crayon Shin-chan, but even those shows are still a bit hard for me to understand.

If you would like to try comprehensible input strategy outside of anime. I can really recommend checking out LingQ. It’s a feature rich language learning platform built by comprehensible input enthusiast Steve Kaufmann. LingQ contains an impressive library of audio and written materials you can use as your input. I really like it, as you can translate words you don’t know within the app and it also remembers your progress.

Watching with or without English subtitles

We have established that watching anime is fun, and can be great for learning Japanese as well. However, to really get those language acquisition benefits you actually should watch it without native language subtitles. This has been highlighted in an interesting study that compared the benefits of watching foreign language movies with and without subtitles.

In this study, a group of Spanish students studying English was asked to take an English language test. Afterwards, they had to watch an 1h long TV drama episode in English. The students were divided into three groups: watching the episode with English subtitles, without subtitles and with Spanish subtitles. After watching the drama they took another test.

The study then compared the tests results:

• Watching with English subtitles resulted in 17% increase in the test score.
• Without subtitles there was a smaller 7% increase in the test score.
• When watched with Spanish subtitles there was no increase.

Based on the study results, I guess it’s best to watch anime with Japanese subtitles. However, Japanese subtitles are extremely difficult to get by and it also takes quite some time to learn reading Japanese. The second good option then, would be to watch anime without subtitles at all.

My attempts to study Japanese by watching anime

I have tried watching anime episodes with English subtitles, and then without. I tried doing that quite a few times. Unfortunately, the amount of dialog and changing contexts were quite hard to comprehend, even though I knew the story.

Recently, when I really want to focus on the language learning aspect, I pick a single scene with a dialog and watch it several times with and without subtitles. By doing so, I reduce the “input” to a single context, try to write down the conversation, and really understand it with the help of a dictionary as well.

I have also tried watching the whole anime series without any subtitles. I used to be a huge Dragon Ball fan (still am, I guess) and have seen this series a few times with English subtitles, as well as Polish (my native language) and English dubbings.

When I was studying Spanish and Japanese, I decided to watch it again in Spanish and Japanese respectively. Without any subtitles. I have watched the whole Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z until the Buu Saga, which totalled at good few hundred episodes. At the time, I’d seen it as a procrastination, as I should have been “properly” studying for a language test. Nonetheless, I think it helped me passing the test.

I’m not sure how much new vocabulary I have learned just from watching Dragon Ball. But I remember quite vividly that my ability to speak and write in spontaneous manner improved. At least that is how I felt at the test.

In summary, I think that watching anime is a good method of learning Japanese language. Especially when some rules are applied. Firstly, you can try to rewatch a single scene over and over again or watch the episodes you already know well. Secondly, I would reduce using your native language subtitles to the absolute minimum, as they may impair the “input”.

Let me know what is your opinion on learning Japanese from anime? Did you try the comprehensible input method before? When you watch anime, do you use subtitles and in which language?