日本語のコーナー
Learning Nihongo, One Sense at a Time
Quite some time ago, whenever someone asks me about the best way(s) to learn Nihongo, I’m sure to give “playing Japanese games/visual novels” as a response, because, according to me, it’ll boost up both your listening and reading skills — hitting two stones with one bird! pun intended. Part of this scheme of mine is watching chinese subs, which, as my know-it-all self once said, can help clarify what’s being said since you have sort of reference to the dialogues, which term/kanji matches the dialogue (assuming the chinese translator knows what he/she is doing).
Japanese language can be really vague, with their homonyms and all, similar to Chinese. Take for example “ken”, which can either refer to sword (剣), fist (拳), right/privilege (権), matter/case (件), Prefecture (県), etc. There are times when you can easily figure out what is being referred to by context (or the ‘kanji compound’), but there are also times when things can get really ambiguous, like when two or more of the homonyms are applicable, for intentional or unintentional pun/confusion.
And then came one eureka moment (albeit a few years late), as I realized that the reason why my listening skillz sucks so much up until now is because of this scheme.
Even in the medium where I’m supposed to rely on my ears and my ears alone, I was still dependent on visual text cues — TOO DEPENDENT. With the presence of [chinese] subtitles in what I watch and the text in the visual novels/otome games I play, my listening wasn’t improving because I’d unconsciously think, “I suck at listening anyways, so I’ll just read the text!“, and end up not paying attention to what’s being said. Here I thought I was hitting two birds with one stone, when actually, I was hitting two birds and failing at both.
Certain skills are born out of necessity, the kind you won’t acquire unless you stray away (or be strayed away) from something you used to depend on. Disability for example, allows people to acquire new set of skills that make up for this loss, going beyond it even.
When Usui of the Juppongatana lost his sight, he had to rely on his other senses, heightening them a thousand-fold. Yomi of Yu Yu Hakusho grew two sets of ears after he became blind, heightening his senses (and spiritual power) dramatically as well. Yin was born blind but was gifted in piano, and even gained the ability to see people by using water as a medium (assuming that her blindness actually contributed to that ability). When poor Shiryuu of Saint Seiya blinded himself, his other senses… didn’t really improve much, did it? Oh, he became immune to Gemini’s Illusion technique, good enough. Disability Superpower, so to speak.
Of course there’s no way mere mortals like you and me can gain such Superpowers, but I thought of the whole sense dependency at play here in my catching two birds with one stone technique which can rival chestnuts-roasting-on-an-open-fire technique with its mouthful-ness. The moment I distanced myself from text and the visuals, I started focusing on what’s being said, relying on my ears, giving it my undivided attention. The improvements I’ve gone through isn’t all that dramatic, but what’s important is that I’m improving, a little slowly, but surely 
Do note however, that simply listening (passively) is not enough. Let Ryan show you the way.
Further Reading
Ryan on Raw Watching (useful tips if you want to get into raw watching and you’re still not so l33t. Reminds me that I’m slacking off in note-taking when watching raw too, oh boy.)
I’m not a l33t, I don’t hold any claims of understanding what I watch (and read) 100%, and I’m not just saying this to avoid accusations of being a Raw Watching Connoisseur Poseur.
My take on raw watching / blogging, with tips I haven’t exactly been doing these months because I haven’t been watching / blogging raw the hardcore way.
Credits to danbooru and rk for the above piccies.
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9 comments for “Learning Nihongo, One Sense at a Time”
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Well, what I do is watch the raw of a show, then watch the subbed version, and compare how much I understood.
Also, I just wasted half an hour reading that impossibly long comment section where everyone was screaming at each other. T_T
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Wooosh! OMG I feel so bad, I haven’t watched a full raw series since finishing Toradora T_T Though I have been studying accumulated vocab/grammar from various places. There is something of value in learning words you’ve picked up during an ‘experience’ because the context is often memorable and the words find their way; (like if you note stuff, study it and experience the source a week/month later, it’s like scary how the brain works).
It does take time though to do this (time meaning sitting though an episode is longer than the play-time), a lot of listening comes rather easy, while some lines punch you in the face/ears. Of course, if you know the unconjugated words *coughJLTP2/1JENcough* that’s more than 50% of the battle imo. The good news is that random accumulation is awesome, the bad news is that JLPT and random accumulation don’t always mingle (I’ve been learning JLPT kanji recently, takes away from raw-note studying :/).
Listening! It’s so vital, being able to repeat (even without knowing what was said) is instinctive and trainable imo. Hear/speak now, understand later
Even now, I find that I have a hard time listening accurately if there are subtitles on screen. Unless I’m actively, consciously studying the dialogue I eventually just start enjoying the show and begin to rely on the subtitles instead of really listening.
And yeah, homonym kanji really bug me too. The worst ones are the ones where the reading and meaning are the same, but a different kanji is used for slightly different contexts. Like the multiple kanji that are all atsui or katai, for example.
Or how about the 150 totally different kanji that all have the same onyomi? Ugh.
Cool another nihongo post!! Do like.
But where do you get your Visual novels!!! hehehe..
errr im into bara and played hunks workshop… I was ok with the first several screens then the kanji overwhelmed me… I just got a gamefaq on the net and them tried as much as I can to get the CGs… whawhahwah
Ohhh Chinese subs… i never thought of that! But it would be much easier if there were Japanese subs already… hehehe. That could take care of all the context switching.
And you note take while you watch RAW… too much of a pain… but I guess that is a legit and very effective approach…
Yes about homonyms… Pain in the ass… well im not too much versed so I tend to look for visual cues mostly kanji like you are doing.
I plan to translate into Japanese one asinine Star Cinema blockbuster line per line and uploading to youtube for my Japanese friends to see on mixi… Im just looking for the right technology and time to squeeze it all hehehe. A guy did this on Babelhunt.com and it seemed a good learning experience. He did it for Fight Club
@moritheil: that’s what I find myself doing for the past ‘lazy’ months. Back in the day when I blogged Kaze no Stigma and KimiKiss, I stood by my decision to watch raw… a pain in the ass though, but worth it.
sorry for that link. I get you didn’t have fun reading that eh T_T
@Ryan: I feel a lot worse! I’m supposed to be watching in raw and learning, and… I’m not exactly doing that T_T Oh and definitely, learning vocabs from experience (or by association) ftw! Words learned that way are the ones that really stick too, whether you like it or not lol.
I get what you mean with the random accumulation… right now I find myself studying through JLPT1 practice books, crash course, cramming. Just so I can align what I’m learning with what’s likely to come out in the exam. So much for procrastinating
Hear/speak now, understand later eh, interesting. I think I’m doing that as part of my grammar exercise, listening to the CD for the grammar book with sample sentences for each particle, for like 10 times now lol. Trying to get used to hearing all the sample sentences till they become natural to me.
@0rion: that’s what happens to me too, evil subtitles lol. Ugh don’t get me started on those confusing kanjis
The JLPT exam (especially JLPT1) is designed to take advantage of that complexity too, oh brother. Been studying this 試験に出る文字・語彙 book to help me with that, but sigh… my powers are still not enough.
@maAkusutipen: visual novels? wehehe. I’ll get sued if I say it here
Japanese subs want! I think there are a number of Japanese subtitles srt files for movies out there, found one for ALWAYS 夕陽の三丁目, really like. If you’re in Japan, you can also take advantage of the Japanese caption being broadcasted in some channels.
note-taking while watching is truly a pain, but as they say, no pain no gain. if you’re studying for JLPT though, best know which ones to watch with the relevant vocabs, otherwise…
wow translate our very own movies for a Japanese audience? Interesting! Do keep me posted on any updates on that. We might be able to pimp some of our local movies to our Japanese bosses too or something haha.
@usagijen and maAkusutipen
Seconded “Japanese subs want!”
I almost forgot about Chinese subs, but that seems like extra work since I am totally unfamiliar; feels like I would lose focus like you say usagijen
One other thing, like you mention going over 10x sample sentences in listening (interpreting), but I think listening can only go so far. I can relate this to programming languages, which are way more finite and easier to learn, but if I don’t know a language and sit and read code, I can’t feel it out intuitively, although the logic might be apparent. Only when I start to construct in the language do I start to see it.
There was a 10 exercise drill to “learn” any programming language, and the thing about it was that its entirely about manifesting the syntax but conforming to the underlying logic of each problem. I so wish spoken languages had something similar.
Anyhow, I’m not sure how much it helps listening skill, but attempting to construct on-the-fly works at the subconscious level. I’m no brain scientist, but I bet constructing patterns helps build the memory structures necessary for interpreting them as well… HARDWIRING
This is so why I enjoy having sample sentences with kanji study, because I might not remember the kanji, but the overall sentence could just pop right out.
I work with what I can get, but don’t have a lot of the language in me. You have a lot more to work with, so I’m positive if you work it from all angles, you’re going to excel. Japanese is crazy hard (right senpai :)), but there’s quite a bit of concise, logical structure to it [maybe not when thinking in English though ^^].
(Oh gawd, it’s so late at night >_>) Cheerios
@usagijen:
I remember getting a dvd from our neighbourhood pirate of the movie Taiyou no uta. I loooove that DVD because it has dual subs! It has english and Japanese and you can set it side by side. The english at the bottom and the Japanese and the top. I learned a lot of new words when I saw that movie. Wahehehe…
About the project, the inspiration came when a Japanese friend wanted to watch a Filipino horror flick. We subjected her to Sukob. Well she only got scared for the first appearance of the mumuu but after that I think she fell asleep. Wahahah… And well that friend in her university has a Philippine studies course. For one of their classes they watched Anak, one star cinema flick starring Vilma right. It was subbed in Japanese. According to her mixi entry, she enjoyed it a lot. So I guess its possible. It is just very time consuming to do.
I am thinking of doing either one of the John Lloyd & Sarah movies that I can stand. I haven’t watched neither yet. Or In my life which I already saw and rather enjoyed.
@Ryan: I actually went through the grammar patterns a few months ago, using the textbook counterpart, so in a way, I have an idea about them beforehand. But as I’ve also noted recently in my study, the patterns don’t stick as much (or become part of my system naturally) unless I study it actively, like coming up with the english equivalent of them, or coming up with my own phrases/sentences.
I find sample sentences/phrases to be a staple in learning Japanese (probably most 2nd+ languages you’re trying to learn?), going through baby steps of imitating them first, until such time that it becomes a natural part of your system, with complete understanding of the whole sentence. Allows for a quasi-Japanese environment simulation too, as you get to hear sample sentences instead of dialogues from actual Japanese people lol.
Now that I think about it, I haven’t exactly been going deep into the bones of the Japanese language. I don’t think I’ve ever taken the time to actually examine the whole Japanese language structure and juxtapose it with other languages, hm. Not hardcore enough!
@maAkusutipen: woah DUAL SUBS!! really kewl! now I wonder if the ALWAYS ~Sunset on the Third Street~ DVD I bought has the said feature…
haha Sukob
I remember one time when our manager asked us for Filipino movie recommendations and one of us suggested “A Very Special Love” (not serious of course) lol. There might just be other Filipino classics (or awesome underrated movies) out there that still hasn’t been subbed, might be great for the said project too 
But yeah, it’ll be reallyyyy time consuming… and a Japanese would probably have to check the translation too, proofread? If you’re aiming for QUALITY it’s going to be hard work @_@ Ganbareee!