Learn Japanese the Fun Way – Otaku-style!

OK, so here’s the latest idea that’s got me by the brain banana.  (Obscure reference alert!  A prize to the first person who gets it!)  When I was first starting to learn Japanese, I would sometimes watch anime (Japanese animation) shows in Japanese to see if I could pick up on anything.  Turns out, I was horrible at it, and I always ended up just reading the English subtitles.  It really was a discouraging experience.  But it was still a valuable one – because as I found out later, if you ever actually go to Japan, then your whole life is like watching one loooooooong anime.  (And there are no subtitles!)

The best way to learn of course is to actually speak the language with another person – nothing can take the place of the tension you feel during real conversations, where you’re the one in the hotseat and you have to think up words and grammar patterns in realtime.  But anime can help you get an ear for the language by introducing you to the sounds, intonation and flow of natural Japanese.  It helps to hold your interest by providing interesting storylines and characters, and most any anime will introduce you to some cultural aspects of Japan, even when the anime doesn’t necessarily take place there.  And on top of this, it also gives you plenty of new (and fun) vocabulary that you’ll never learn from a schoolbook!

How about a companion guide for certain animes that could be purchased from an online storefront?  Even just one episode of most animes provides a huge wealth of information that could be delved into.  I’m envisioning a full transcript of the episode, sentence-by-sentence, with English translations of each sentence, plus an explanation of key phrases and grammar principles.

You could just go scene-by-scene and try to figure out the Japanese from the subtitles, but far too often the subtitles (and dubbing, for that matter) have been adjusted to the point where they are only vaguely similar to the true original meaning.  An accomplished guide to walk you through every word and explain it in plain English could be invaluable.  What do you think?