Learning Japanese

[TheDancingPeanut]

Subbed Anime is a terrible way to learn Japanese. For one thing, good luck going to Japan and speaking short form out of turn. See how far that gets you.

Not to mention that FAN subbed anime isn't exactly reliable/accurate :-/

 

[The_Envoy_of_Chaos]

Just out of curiousity, are any PokeGym members willing to give Japanese leasons online? It is easier to learn from someone who can explain aspects of the language that you may find hard to pick up out of a text book or off a software program.

 

[Burninating_Torchic]

Subbed Anime is a terrible way to learn Japanese. For one thing, good luck going to Japan and speaking short form out of turn. See how far that gets you.

Not to mention that FAN subbed anime isn't exactly reliable/accurate :-/

Also, fansubs are the number one source of people that randomly add "desu" to the end of their sentences and add common words like "hai" and "arigatou" into their english conversation.
>_<

 

[Professor_Chris]

Also, fansubs are the number one source of people that randomly add "desu" to the end of their sentences and add common words like "hai" and "arigatou" into their english conversation.
>_<

I wouldn't say this is the fault of fansubs. It's just that fansubs make Japanese anime accessable to people who would otherwise not understand it. It's not really the fansubber's fault that Suiseiseki (or any number of other anime characters, she just happens to be more notorious for it) ends practically every sentence with "~desu."

Usually the other two words you listed are usually translated (unlike "desu" which is left in tact or dropped altogether like other habitual sentence enders 'ttebayo), so I wouldn't call that a direct by-product of fansubbing either since it comes from the source. It's more like an unintentional consequence since anyone who watches regularly should be able to start picking up some vocabulary here and there and people like to show off what they've learned.

Still, subbed anime is a terrible way to go about learning Japanese. At best you'll be able to build up a mediocre vocabulary and understand a little. However, being able to converse fluently Japanese will be nothing more than a pipe dream.

 

[Heatherdu]

Thanks everyone!

I have some great websites now. And our library has some children-specific books and CDs that I have on reserve (things like Learn Japanese with Fairy Tales). We will start with Hirigana and Katakana. I'm still very naive on all of this so excuse me if the following question is silly. What character set is used on the Pokemon cards? I just know that goal #1 will be to 'read' cards. And, yes, I know that will take a long time but it is a goal.

Thanks again!

 

[SD PokeMom]

the names of the pokemon are in katakana, but most of the card text is in hiragana/kanji. katakana is used for 'foreign' words.

'mom

 

[ilikegengar]

language camp?

Hi Heatherdu,

My son has the some objective as your boys. He wants to learn Japanese to visit Japan one day and he wants to be able to read the Pokemon cards too.

We've learned that most colleges now require 2 years of a foreign language for admission. Neither our high school nor local community college teach Japanese. However, the community college teaches a non-credit Japanese language and culture class. We're taking that together this sememster to give my son a jump start so he can take an on-line language course for credit. Brigram Young University has many online courses at reasonable cost. http://ce.byu.edu/is/site/

This past summer our local Boys & Girls club offered language camps. One was Japanese. These were for kids 12 and under. That would be an ideal setting for your boys. Also Oregon State Univ. here in town offered a camp that taught some Japanese, also for kids your boys age. For me, finding things for teens is the hard one. Check out the local summer camps and see what Ohio State has to offer for summer courses.

Just out of curiousity, are any PokeGym members willing to give Japanese leasons online? It is easier to learn from someone who can explain aspects of the language that you may find hard to pick up out of a text book or off a software program.

As E_O_C says: This would be lots of fun!

We are looking into a future exchange program for our son. Hey, we can get an exchange together thru Pokegym! :smile:

Good luck,
Nanette

 

[Heatherdu]

Nurse Joy - thanks for the summer camp idea! I've looked at the local stuff with no success so far but maybe there will be more in the Spring and Summer.

Maybe our boys will be roommates one day. Or even earlier - pen/email pals?