Is Anime Bad For Learning Japanese?

If you’ve started studying Japanese you’ve probably heard the two sides of the anime argument.

…Some say it is bad for you and will make sound like a childish cartoon character …and the other side says it is a great form of immersion and can it help you learn the language.

So what is the truth?  As with most things, it lies somewhere in the middle and the reality is that Anime can be an excellent form of immersion. If you do things right it can actually be really useful for you studies, and I will explain how it is actually something you need to be watching.

What Is Anime?

If you are not 100% sure what anime is, this is understandable, it is a pretty broad term and really it just describes the Japanese cartoon industry as a whole.

The name actually comes from the English word “animation” which the Japanese have taken and shortened and squeezed into the Japanese sound system to create the word “アニメ”, which is why it is written in katakana.

If I say “Hollywood” to you, you will hopefully understand I am talking about the American movie industry. It is an extremely broad term and basically covers any movie made in America and covers all sorts of genres and styles.   

This is exactly what anime is, but its Japanese animation. It covers multiple genres with different styles and themes. You will also find it covers both animated movies and TV series, which are all aimed at different age groups and fan groups.

Anime is often mistaken for its own genre, meaning some people might watch something aimed at small kids and just wrongly assume everything anime is just for small kids.

One of the most famous anime series in the English speaking world is Pokémon …which is a kids show. It’s great, but there is a lot more to anime than this, and there is plenty of movies and shows with more adult theme and are probably not suitable for children and really everything in between, which is why it can be a powerful tool to help you learn Japanese.

There is always going to be a show that interests you and is at the language level you are at.

They Speak Japanese In Anime

It will hopefully be no surprise that they speak Japanese in anime, which is why they are a perfect way to learn Japanese. If you have read anything else on this site you will know that I talk about how important immersion is when you are learning a language.

You need to spend hundreds, if not thousands of hours listening to Japanese and anime facilities this.

Of course you need to study in other ways too, but that listening component can be achieved with anime. There is pretty much an endless library of anime, if you need to hear people speaking Japanese, this is the place to go. 

(You can read more about – Why You Need To Learn Japanese Like The Japanese)

They Use Kids Language

Those who are against using anime will try and use the argument that it’s all “kids language” …which itself isn’t true. If you are watching a kids anime, then yes this will be the case, but not all anime is aimed at kids.

But either way, this is not an issue, if anything it is actually good. Kids stuff is pretty simple and as a learner that is exactly what you need.

You will always hear the advice “you should watch kids shows” and I agree with that, but for some reason anime gets hated on, even though it can fall into that category.

When you are starting out you need the simple stuff aimed at kids, I know it can be a little boring as an adult, but your new Japanese language brain needs this stuff, as you grow and develop, you can move on to more adult based anime, just like how a real Japanese kid would do when they develop their own language skills.   

The Dialect Is Pretty Neutral

You will also get a lot of people complaining that anime uses some kind of strange dialect, which simply isn’t true. Most anime will actually have a pretty neutral dialect and will usually focus on the Tokyo way of speaking.

You will obviously get some characters speaking with slightly different accents and that is fine, it is no different than speaking to real people. It isn’t going to break your brain and make your Japanese sound terrible.

You will also get kick back about the over exaggeration of the language from some characters, especially in the shows aimed at kids. This is also nothing to worry about. We are all cognitive enough to understand when someone is being dramatic and over the top, we automatically know this is not a “normal” way to speak …so it isn’t going to affect or immersion.    

Anime is Fun And Entertaining

You need to spend a lot of time with the Japanese language if you want to make progress, which really means you need to be enjoying yourself during this process …and anime can make this happen.

Anime is a form of entertainment and there is so much of it that you will find a genre or style that you actually like.  Whatever you like, there will be something there for you and it gets a whole lot easier to study when you are having fun.

I have spent countless hours just watching anime, fully gripped by the storyline and almost forgetting that I’m “studying”.

It is very easy to rack up the hours spent immersing in the language by simply watching anime and having some fun.

Easily Comprehensible

Anime is also very useful for immersion as it is easily comprehensible. Immersion is pointless if you can’t understand anything and as anime is very visual, it is pretty easy to work out what is going on.

There are a lot of anime that you could watch on mute and you would still get the general idea of what the story was. Of course it really depends on what you are watching, but in general they are easier to comprehend than other forms of media.

You can also easily find out information about each anime. A quick online search will bring up the storyline and even the scripts and translations if you need them, making them even more comprehensible. 

(You can read more about – What Is Comprehensible Input In Language Learning?)

You Can Get Repeat Exposure

As a lot of anime can quite simple, they use a lot of the same language throughout. This helps with being able to comprehend them easily, but it also helps you get repeat exposure to the same words over and over again, which is very important for letting your brain acquire Japanese.   

You will also find that a lot of people are also happy to watch their favourite anime over and over again, meaning they are certainly getting repeated exposure and you can also rewind parts and play them again if you didn’t quite hear something the first time.

A lot of anime series also have the same intro for each episode and there will usually be a button to “skip” this as you’ve seen it 100 times already …but you shouldn’t, this is free repeat exposure and most times the intros have cool songs so embrace them, they help with your Japanese.

You Can Sentence Mine

When you are watching anime, you are going to come across new words and this is perfect. You can look up these words and learn them and the beautiful thing is that they are in context. You are hearing the words being used in a real sentence and they are part of an actual story.

When you take these words you can add them to Anki by themselves, or you can add the whole sentence, either method works and I guess it really comes down to the word and how you feel you will best remember it.

Either way, anime does give you the repeat exposure of the words you do know, while also introducing you to things you don’t, which is exactly what you want from something you are using to immerse with.  

You Learned a Lot Of English From Cartoons

One of the main arguments against anime is that you will end up speaking like a cartoon character, which is utter nonsense and you are your own proof that this is not true.

I am fairly certain most of you reading this will have watched a lot of cartoons as a kid and I am sure you gained a lot of your English language skills from this, even if you didn’t realise it.

…but you don’t sound like Micky Mouse or whatever cartoon you watched!

This is going to be the exact same experience you get with Japanese and anime. You can watch as much as you want, you are not going to start talking like them. Sure you might throw in a quote from something every now and again but this will not affect your overall speaking ability.

It is the same way we let today’s kids watch peppa pig …I’m yet to hear a kid walking around oinking in between every few words as if they have been brain washed by the cartoon. It just doesn’t happen.   

Be Careful With Subtitles

While anime can be very helpful for learning Japanese you have to be careful with the subtitles. It can be very easy to end up just rely on these and not progressing.

This is both true for subtitles in English and Japanese. Both of these have their place, especially in the early days, but over time you need fade them out as they do not help with your listening abilities and instead make you focus too much on reading.

This is of course more problematic when it is in English, at least in Japanese you are still reading in Japanese, but the point of anime is to improve your listening, so make sure that is happening.

Avoid Dubbed Anime

As I just mentioned, the point of watching anime is to improve your Japanese listening and this is 101% impossible if you are listening to a dubbed anime.

Having the anime dubbed into English means there is no Japanese. While it means you can understand everything …it makes it pointless for your studies. NEVER watch a dubbed anime.

Some people will try and say they watch it in English first to understand what is going on and to make it comprehensible, and then watch it again in Japanese after. While that might work, I don’t think it is efficient. If you are not good enough, watch it with English subtitles so you can at least still hear the Japanese and also not focus on the subtitles if you can.

Dubbed anime is a waste of time, just avoid it at all costs, it doesn’t help you learn Japanese.   

Conclusion

Hopefully you can see now that anime is actually good for learning Japanese. It offers everything that you need …it allows you to immerse in Japanese, which is both comprehensible and repeatable.

When you look at how to learn a language, this is all you really need so my advice to you is to watch as much anime as possible, it will help you progress and get better at Japanese, all while having fun at the same time.   

(If you are looking to learn Japanese, you can follow my plan – Learn Japanese – The Plan For A Complete Beginner)