Learning Japanese: The Fun and Unconventional Way Part II

In the second part of “Learning Japanese: The Fun and Unconventional Way” we will talk about how to improve your listening. Thinking back to the first time I really put in the effort to learn the Japanese Language, I remember buying some Anime VHS tapes (this was before the internet and DVDs). My friends and I would insist on getting the ones that weren’t dubbed into English but subtitled. The main reason at the time was not to learn Japanese but it was because we hated the stupid sounding voice overs that were done. None of us at the time thought about trying to learn the language we were just into anything new and interesting out of Japan.

Fast forward a lot of years into the future. In high school my school only offered Spanish and French, which sucked for me since I was hell bent on learning something more interesting like Japanese or Chinese. It wasn’t till I got into college that I had the chance to take a Japanese Class. Before I signed up for the class I thought that I had better do some studying since I didn’t know crap about Japanese. So I went to a book store and bought a Japanese for travelers audio tape. It was very simple but it was easy enough and since I liked driving, I could just drive and learn. What I remember most about that tape is the days of the week, and the greeting phrases. This tape helped to start me on my way. Luckily I went to university in Hawaii and there is free Japanese TV programming!! The channel is called KIKU. KIKU Television in Honolulu was nice enough to broadcast Japanese TV and with subtitles!! I was in language learning heaven!! So what did I do? Well I started watching Japanese TV just about every day. I think if it wasn’t for the subtitles I probably would have given up but with the subtitles I really got hooked on the shows.

Initially all I did was watch and listen to these Japanese Television Programs. I didn’t start to study or try to remember anything. I figured I was just getting my ear used to natural Japanese. I thought that if I listened to Japanese for a couple hours a day, it would help me once I started the Japanese 101 class. Another thing that I started to do was listen to Japanese Pop Music (JPop). I would find the most popular artists and get the CD at the local Japanese book store (They were like $35 back then!!). Again I used the music to immerse myself into the Japanese Language and Culture. A lot of my friends thought I was a little strange listening to Japanese music and watching Japanese TV without understanding a lick of it. I kept telling them that this was prep for my classes or homework and that if I expected to learn Japanese it was necessary.

Fast forward again into the future. I managed to make it through 4 Japanese classes and graduate from University. Now what was I going to do? Well, my plan all along was to go to Japan after I finished. So I got a job teaching English and moved to Japan. Was my language learning over? No! I was still not very good at Japanese and my new job didn’t really help since we weren’t allowed to speak Japanese during the lessons. Oh great, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week I can’t speak Japanese. This really sucked but I had to keep studying or all this time and effort would have been wasted. I tried to speak Japanese as much as possible outside of the office, but believe it or not it was quite difficult. For one thing I was exhausted after those long days of talking, talking, and more talking. The other thing is that lots of Japanese folks wanted to practice their English on me. Ahhh…It wasn’t a good situation. What did I do, you might ask? Well I went back to my old style. I started recording Japanese Dramas and watching them, but this time I would pause the tape, look up new words or phrases, and write them in a notebook.

What I started doing was to pick one drama a week that i would use to study with. Then I would watch this drama every day until I understood what the heck was going on and had a new list of vocabulary words and phrases to go with it. It would usually take 2-3 days to get all the new Japanese vocabulary written down and looked up. I would then study it on the train to work and in between lessons. I would also try to practice on the Japanese staff or ask them questions about how the word was used, etc. It was actually a pretty fun way to study.

Here is the basic way I would study:

Day 1: Watch the show once without taking any notes.
Day 2: Slowly go through the show with a notepad and pen. Pausing and rewinding as needed.
Day 3: Continue until the end of the show. Then start looking up the words in the dictionary and compiling your study list
Day 4: Watch the show again, but this time you are to break up the show into conversations. Watch these segments and try to mimic the dialog. Write it down if you have to.
Day 5: Keep studying the vocabulary and watch the show again. This time all the way through again without looking at your notes. This time it’s important to make note of the parts of the show that you cant catch.
Day 6: Focus on the hard to get parts of the show. Rewind and play as many times as necessary.
Day 7: Watch it one last time and make sure you have all the vocab and phrases memorized.

The following is the way I did it. You don’t have to follow it exactly but you might want to do something similar. Pick a show or a movie that you don’t mind watching several times. Pick a kids program or cartoon. Pick a cooking show, sports game, history documentary, or whatever interests you. The key is it has to be interesting or you wont want to do it. Also you don’t have to do it weekly. You might actually want to spread it out over a couple of weeks. It’s up to you and the pace you want to learn, and the time you have available. The most important part is that you do a little a day!!

Helpful links to some Japanese Shows, Dramas, Movies, etc.

DVD’s From japan
Region Free DVD Information
Japanese Music

PS. If you aren’t lucky enough to move to Japan or live in an area that has Japanese TV like Hawaii. Check your local cable provider or I know that Dish Network has one channel called TV Japan available.