Fluent Japanese from Anime and Manga Read online

  Training yourself to write the kana from memory with the help of mnemonics will help to prepare you to take on the kanji. Writing characters over and over and repetitive reading drills will work for the kana, but they are highly ineffective ways to learn the kanji. There are only 92 kana characters, but there are 2,000+ general-use kanji characters that you should take this opportunity to prepare yourself for.

  Common Pronunciation Mistakes

  When we learn to speak new languages like Japanese, we unconsciously and unknowingly project and apply the phonetic rules from our first language. We are hardwired to the speech patterns of our native language after speaking it for so long. The good news is that we can correct most of these mistakes with just a little bit of phonetic training. Let's start with a few that can easily be corrected right now.

  The Japanese ふ sound is romanized as "fu" or "hu", but the actual sound doesn't exist in English. In phonetics, this [ɸ] sound is called the voiceless bilabial fricative, but as complicated as the phonetic names to these sounds are, learning to reproduce them is not. Start by saying the English word "foo" (like in 'food'). Notice how your upper teeth comes in contact with your lower lips. Now just try to make the same sound but without making your upper teeth and lower lips touch. That is ふ.

  Next, we have the Japanese し, ち, and じ sounds. The Japanese し sound is very similar to saying the English word "she", but your lips are much more relaxed and do not stretch out at all when making this [ɕ] (voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative) sound. The very same applies to the Japanese ち sound. It's like saying "chi" but with relaxed lips and cheeks. This also covers the Japanese sound じ, which is phonetically known as [ʑ] (voiced alveolo-palatal fricative). It's the relaxed version of "gee" (like in "Jesus').

  Japanese people have quite the hurdle to jump in learning the English 'L' and 'R', but fortunately for you, the Japanese 'R' [ɾ] (alveolar tap) already exists in English. It's found in the middle of words like "butter", "ladder", and "putter". From there, it's simply a matter of starting syllables with this sound to produce the Japanese sounds ら, り, る, れ, and ろ.

  Kanji Are NOT Impossible!

  Learning the writing, meaning, readings to each kanji looks hopeless at first sight, but creative mnemonics can make this task not just manageable but incredibly fun and easy. Professor James Heisig, author of "Remembering the Kanji", teaches us that our imaginative memory is much stronger than our visual memory. Rather than trying to memorize mundane collections of pen strokes, reading and writing kanji can be a fun exercise in recalling highly memorable, imaginative, and silly mnemonic stories.

  Heisig's book is highly recommended as a supplementary resource and not by just me but a large portion of the Japanese learning community. The book will teach you how to write any kanji perfectly by tying its primary meaning to a single unique word in English. From this keyword, you can recall its specific mnemonic story which provides a mental map of instructions on how to write the kanji from memory.

  When you practice starting from English keywords to write the corresponding kanji, reading them becomes effortless. The Heisig method tackles both reading and writing in one fell swoop.

  The author's instructions are the key to success with these kanji mnemonics. Whenever you first learn a new character, take just a minute to close your eyes and retell yourself its mnemonic story. Then, write the kanji. Don't try to remember what each character looks like. Don't just copy it into your notebook. Try to let your imagination do the bulk of the work.

  If you write the characters even just once in this fashion as you learn them, you will know the characters at a much deeper and even personal level. This alone can severely cut down your kanji review time.

  You may not see the power of mnemonics until you start the review process and have to recall stories when your visual memory fails you. This method might help you even gain a love and appreciation for the kanji.

  A later chapter will expand on how to balance learning from these kanji resources and native-level reading materials.

  Casual and Polite Language

  The majority of characters in anime and manga use casual language with the exception of a few characters who speak mostly in the polite language. You can take almost anything you see or hear in fictional Japanese and make it polite. For example, you will hear ありがとう (meaning "thank you") in anime and manga frequently, but you will need to say ありがとうございます when speaking politely. If you have not learned kana yet, you may need to revisit this section at a later time.

  Polite language should be used when talking with people you do not know well, people older than yourself, or people in a higher position of power than yourself. Informal language should be only used with close friends, people you know who are the same age as you or younger, or those in a similar social standing as yourself. So ありがとう can be used with family, friends, peers, and children. And ありがとうございます should be used with strangers, older folk, and your boss.

  Let's take a quick look at how some casual sentence ending particles can be replaced with polite counterparts. Very common particles like よ and ね change to ですよ and ですね respectively. When Japanese people get excited about something, you will hear ぜ and ぞ in casual speech, and these can be swapped with ます, ですよね, or ましょう depending on the context. Casual masculine speech forms like だろう could be substituted with です or でしょう and be used by both sexes. This also includes casual feminine particles like かしら, which might be replaced by the gender-neutral かもしれない in polite speech.

  Your initial coursebook should cover the basics of polite speech, but if you are ever unsure whether certain language is casual or polite, look it up in an online dictionary or with an internet search. If a clear answer is not found, you can also ask a native speaker directly.

  Some folks might be worried that they will accidentally learn anime catchphrases, but a basic grammar primer and hundreds of hours of listening to anime without subtitles will help you easily spot catchphrases used by characters like Naruto. They will immediately stand out to your ears.

  People love to knock down the idea of learning Japanese from cartoons, and there is some merit that we should give in respect to the rude and offensive language used. There are words and phrases that should not ever be used in polite speech even with polite forms.

  Once you are familiar with these offensive words found in fantasy Japanese, however, you will be able to look past them and see the gold mine of vocabulary, kanji, and sentences used by native Japanese speakers for native Japanese speakers. There is an endless supply of useful vocabulary, phrases, and sentences that you can learn from.

  In the next section, you will find some words that commonly appear in anime and manga that can be taken to be very offensive. For example, do not use the word あなた meaning “you”. In English, it's very common to use pronouns like you, I, and we, but this is not the case in polite Japanese.

  Despite how often you hear and see あなた in fantasy Japanese and even as a generic subject in example sentences, this word is unnatural in daily conversation. It can even be taken as cold or condescending. This is especially true towards folks the same age as yourself or older or to people in positions of higher power. This word is sometimes used, however, by older couples to address each other. But in general, it's much more natural to speak without this pronoun and call folks by their last name plus the suffix ーさん or their job title if you work together.

  Keep in mind that this is not a complete list of Japanese slang and offensive words but a list of the most common ones that appear in native materials like anime and manga. There are many others of course, but you will learn and recognize them in time.

  Potentially Offensive Japanese Words:

  お前 (おまえ) --- you (very informal)

  手前 (てめえ) --- you (often used in outbursts of anger)

  貴様 (きさま) --- you (in the most rude way possible)

  野郎 (やろう) --- jerk

  奴 (やつ) --- person/thing (in a negative manner)

  こいつ --- this person/thing (in a negative manner)

  あいつ / そいつ --- that person/thing (in a negative manner)

  -やがる --- freaking (as in "I freaking went to the store")

  くそ --- Crap!

  畜生 (ちくしょう) --- Jesus Christ!

  馬鹿 (ばか) --- stupid

  馬鹿野郎 (ばかやろう) --- idiot

  煩い (うるさい) --- shut up

  黙れ (だまれ) --- shut your mouth

  最低 (さいてい) --- horrible / disgusting / the worst

  いい加減にしろ (いいかげんにしろ) --- Cut it out!

  ふざけるな --- Stop screwing around!

  ガキ (がき) --- brat

  チビ (ちび) --- little person

  Japanese Pitch Accent

  Japanese pitch accent is completely overlooked and neglected by the majority of Japanese language learners. I was guilty of this myself for the first three years of my study, and as a result, I spoke with a very heavy American accent.

  This topic is only briefly mentioned in most Japanese learning materials, but its importance should not be underestimated. If you want to lose your foreign accent and have a decent shot at sounding like a Japanese person, studying pitch accent is a must. It's the core to basic Japanese pronunciation and intonation. Pitch accent makes all the difference between unnatural and natural sounding Japanese.

  Spoken Japanese alternates between low and high pitch sounds, and it is very difficult to detect and mimic without prior knowledge. Spoken English does the same thing, yet we add stress and volume to our sounds. Japanese does not.

  Every single Jap
anese word has high and low sounds, and every single word experiences a change in pitch in between the first and second phonetic sounds (moras). If the first mora starts high, the next mora will be low. And if the first mora starts low, the next mora will be high. Even words with a single mora start high or low and then change when a grammar particle like が or は is added. For example, 木 (き), the Japanese word for tree, has no initial pitch accent, but 木が starts high and ends low.

  Having to learn every single pitch accent for every single Japanese word does sound overwhelming at first, but there are many shortcuts you can take to simplify this problem. First, just focus on learning the pitch accents for the most basic and common Japanese words like 私 (わたし), the polite Japanese word for I / me. Native English speakers often over-emphasize the first mora and say "Watashi wa...", but 私 actually starts low and ends high.

  Getting the pitch accent right for these basic and common words will immediately improve your accent overnight. You'll even begin to see some helpful patterns emerge if you stay patient. For instance, これ (this), それ (that), and あれ (that over there) all start low and end high.

  You can check the pitch accent of any new word you learn using a free tool called Suzuki-kun (http://www.gavo.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ojad/eng/phrasing/index). Simply copy, paste, and click analyze to get a graph of the pitch accent. Single words, short phrases, and simple sentences work best, as longer sentences tend to not be completely accurate. Don't worry about the settings, as the default ones are more than good enough. This tool can even generate an audio file of an automated speaker demonstrating the correct pitch accent.

  For more information about Japanese pitch accent, I highly recommend Dogen's Japanese Phonetics series on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/dogen). He offers a solid introductory video course on pitch accent without going too much into the phonetic and linguistic jargon. It's very difficult to memorize all the pitch accent patterns he throws at you, but the Anki exercises covered in the next chapter can provide some assistance.

  Stop Taking Textbooks So Seriously!

  Your textbook should be your loyal and faithful servant and not the other way around. Do not let it become your master. What I mean is that it should not take up the majority of your study and learning time.

  Let these books briefly serve you, and then, dismiss them. Seek five minute explanations for new language and grammar structures. Don’t bother with drills and grammatical exercises if they don't interest you. Don't write words out over and over. Don’t bore yourself with the comprehension questions in the book. Understand the gist and get out of there! A daily habit of reading and listening to native Japanese materials as well as Anki exercises will make sure that you receive more than enough practice.

  Use your coursebook time to feed Anki the new information that you wish to practice. New vocabulary words, phrases, kanji, grammar structures, verb conjugations, monologues, dialogues, and long passages can be divided and conquered through a variety of Anki exercises.

  It's not necessary to turn every new word and sentence into an Anki card, or otherwise, you might fall asleep before you make it to the next chapter! Do what you can until you get bored and simply move on. While coursebooks and Anki are helpful tools, they are not as important as reading and listening to native Japanese materials.

  A Most Common Mistake

  There will be quite a lot of learning activities that require a bit of balancing: learning from your textbook and primary courses, learning directly from multiple native Japanese materials, Anki practice, and communicating with native speakers in Japanese (optional). Cycle between multiple activities every day and try not to get caught up in focusing on just one. This cycle and variety in your daily routine will be sure to maximize your attention span and help you absorb even more Japanese.

  Here's where beginning language learners make the most common mistake. It's a mistake that often puts an early end to many hopeful newcomers in learning a new language. There is no need to finish your initial course or coursebook before you try learning directly from native Japanese materials. You don't even need to finish the book or course at all! Learn what you can from it until you get bored.

  Boredom is our brain's way of telling us that we are going to burn out if we continue to push ourselves to learn from the same material day after day. Our brains are smart that way. It knows when something is no longer working. Resistance to learning doesn't mean that we are stupid or lazy. It means to stop and do something different.

  It's so easy to blame ourselves for getting bored because we might feel that we should learn all this serious material before we get to learn from fun materials. That line of thinking, however, is not true at all. Learning from fun materials is the key to never getting bored and quitting.

  Hop around materials as you personally see fit! Jump between several courses and your true interests in the Japanese language. Jump between learning kana, kanji, pitch accent, your coursebook, and anime of course. Whatever you truly desire to learn from is where you should go next. Listening to and following that desire is what keeps you learning. That's the secret to wanting to learn and improve each and every day.

  When you personally make the connection between what you are studying from instructional materials to what you see in native materials, that will boost your motivation more than almost anything else. That is how you can eventually conquer all the serious Japanese you feel that you should learn.

  Early Output or No?

  The choice of whether or not to include output and communication with native speakers early on in the language learning process will be left to you. This is somewhat of a hot topic currently being debated within the polyglot community and is worthy of its own book, but here is a summary of the main issue boiled down into a single sentence. Early output offers a unique way to learn through experimentation and corrections, yet at the same time, we run the risk of building unnatural speaking habits early on since it's difficult for native speakers to correct every single one of our mistakes.

  Ultimately, you must decide when exactly to begin incorporating output practice. If you are seeking immediate results and would like to communicate with Japanese people as soon as possible, speaking or writing Japanese every single day becomes a natural priority. Some polyglots go as far as to speak with tutors from day one in only the target language, and others have demonstrated amazing results using mostly input-based approaches. Either way, we will discuss how to get into contact with native speakers and receive corrections in the last chapter.

  How About More Advanced Textbooks?

  You might feel that you haven't mastered the basics after one textbook, and this feeling may definitely reflect some truth. And what about the everyday things in life in Japan: paying bills, renting an apartment, going to the bank, and working at a company? If you would like to live and work abroad one day, a certain set of vocabulary and phrases is going to be needed. You may even wish to purchase an additional coursebook to make sure that you don't sound like another helpless weeb. Go for it.

  Some dedicated language learners find a series of coursebooks and textbooks to be interesting because progression and the learning process itself can be exciting. Every chapter brings new grammar structures that allow the learner to express larger and larger ideas. The beginning months can be highly stimulating and intriguing since everything is new, and coursebooks present these new ideas and grammar structures in a way that is easy to understand.

  Some of those who have reached the intermediate stages of learning a foreign language, however, can testify to what eventually follows after the first few textbooks are completed. We realize that we still struggle to understand most native material, so we buy more advanced books covering more grammar, phrases, and idioms. We go harder in our learning routine and study for more than three hours per day. These advanced grammar explanations are now long-winded, and new language can be highly situational. And there's always more vocabulary to memorize. The first few thousand came easy with some effort, but now suddenly there's 30,000 that we feel that we are expected to know!