It’s fair to assume that people who watch anime have at least a passing interest in Japan, and by extension, the Japanese language. However, learning a new language is a difficult undertaking. One of the biggest tips given to any new language learner is to make the learning process fun. The more enjoyable the process, the easier it is to improve. Luckily, anime fans have plenty of fun resources to make learning Japanese fun, even for beginners.
The difficult part of this process is knowing where to start. After all, there are so many anime to choose from that it is difficult to determine which are the best to study, especially for new learners. Note that we can learn useful vocabulary and grammar of any animebut some shows are definitely easier than others.
Anime slice of life and learning Japanese
A fantastic anime to start learning Japanese is Sweetness and Lightning. Released in 2016, the show follows a single father who learns to cook for his daughter. Slice of life anime are pretty good generally for learning Japanese, as the topics are grounded and much of the vocabulary is encountered in everyday conversation.
Which makes Sweetness and Lightning a particularly good show for beginners is the character of Tsumugi, the protagonist’s kindergarten daughter. Her limited vocabulary makes her easy to understand, and other characters simplify the way they speak to her so she can easily understand them. The simple, recurring vocabulary makes most scenes easy to follow, even if you come across a word you’ve never seen before. Another benefit of this show is that it also teaches the viewer food vocabulary – a very handy skill to have.
Another food-focused show great for learning Japanese is also a 2016 series, Dagashi Kashi. This series is about a young man whose family runs a candy store in the countryside. Each episode covers a real-world Japanese candy, so the show has both cultural and linguistic uses. Whereas Dagashi Kashi has an incredibly specific topic, it’s an easy-to-understand topic, which makes it useful for those new to Japanese. The series has no continuous plot, making it simple to follow from episode to episode, and since the core concepts are the same throughout the series, the viewer is consistently exposed to vocabulary. recurrent.
While both of these shows are an incredibly useful resource for those just starting to learn Japanese, some might find them a little dry. For something a little funnier, we could take a look at the 2010 series Work!!, a workplace romantic comedy. The show takes place in a family restaurant and features a wide variety of colorful and charming characters. Comic Anime Can Be Tough to learn, even when it comes to a slice of life. Many shows have reference humor or weird gags that rely on puns or jokes about Japanese culture that can go over the viewer’s head. However, Work!! doesn’t have that kind of humor too much – as a result, it’s both fun and relatively easy to understand.
Anime can be a fantastic resource for learning Japanese, and the key to using it successfully is choosing shows that you’re interested in watching. While some shows are certainly hard to study, that shouldn’t put people off trying to learn Japanese with their favorite anime. The great thing is that once one gets good enough, all anime becomes a resource for improving the language. After all, the key to getting better at any language is to set goals and work with enjoyable content.
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