Howdy,

In the past, I found that learning a second language through learning songs is one of the most efficient methods for me and I would attribute that to the “fun” factor. After all, when you listen to something you like, there is no problem for you to have it repeated over and over again and that makes memorising a breeze. By learning a song you acquire/practice new vocabulary, new sentence structure, you improve your listening skills, you improve your pronunciation (assuming that you are willing to sing what you are listening to...).

A crucial point of doing “by-song-learning” though, is to understand what the lyrics are about – and I mean thorough understanding. Vocabulary items just by themselves don't seem to be that useful. I approached Japanese songs couple of times already but I admit I'm loosing that battle. And the reason is that although I might know (or be able to look up) all the the vocab and the grammar points, when it comes to real Japanese sentences that are more complex than textbook or dictionary examples, I'm stuck. To give you an example (one of couple):

From 叱って by FliP:
約束やぶってみた 誰と何しても
愛しているんだから 甘やかしてね

So, I'm writing this post in hope that somebody is familiar with resources that would help with “by-song-learning” approach. Something like “Read Real Japanese” but song orientated would be great.

Sorry I can't help but that song is pretty cool, downloading the album now...

Once I've finished Yotsuba I hope to do some songs as well to vary it up a bit.

so that's an example of a song with useless vocab? that's what you're trying to say?

yeah japanese lyrics tend to be really simple and boring and repetitive or whatever but there are some that are well written with wide vocab... but you know you gotta find those songs

you shold check this out:
http://tsukinofune.tumblr.com/post/8828216360/j-pop

you should get the joke. I thought it was ihlarious.

You can also learn Japanese from watching TV dramas (with Japanese subtitles).
The subtitles are word-for-word exact transcriptions of what the characters are saying.

Since it's 100% spoken dialogue, it's very good for gaining conversational skills.

I love learning from songs and find them to be very helpful but I agree with chamcham here, watching dramas with J-subs helps improve/understand how Japanese people speak in real-life situations.

All I know is that, use whatever will help you improve your speaking. I've left it alone too long now and it's annoying not being able to speak as well as I can read/understand/understand kanji. (Then again, it's just a matter of time!)

I understand the point of watching dramas to develop spoken Japanese skills. But I would think that if the drama you try to follow has complex phrases then the task of parsing the text is of the same difficulty as that of parsing the song's lyrics.

And if the phrases are sort of “すしを召し上がりますか。” then what's the point? I can easily understand simple phrases already. I find approach taken by “Read Real Japanese” wonderful but I would love to see more of that kind of stuff...

What would be some good songs to learn for karaoke purposes?

@lardycake

I would think that any song that catches your ear can do for karaoke. But the main point is that you don't want to produce meaningless stream of sounds that sound like the lyrics. First of all it's hard to remember such a "white noise", secondly you don't get much out of it, do you?

For the exercise to have any value, you need to understand the lyrics - vocabulary and grammar wise. IMO, only then you benefit from such a production.

@Inny Jan

It all depends on which drama you use.
A lighthearted comedy that takes place at a company is far more likely to contain useful daily conversation vocab than a drama that is about saving the world from some threat (for example Ohitorisama vs. Bloody Monday, both were good dramas IMHO).

If you've finished RTK1 and know grammar, reading drama subtitles isn't too hard.
Roughly speaking, a drama episode uses about 400-500 RTK1 kanji.
A modern novel uses about 1300-1800 RTK1 kanji (and potentially kanji not in RTK1).

Drama is all spoken dialogue. So it's good for learning conversation.

Anyway, if you don't like drama, that's fine.
But it's a really awesome way to build listening,
reading, and speaking skills (especially if there
are no japanese people living in your area).

@lardycake

Enka is very good for learning karaoke.

The 2 biggest reasons are:

1)The musical arrangement is usually the same in all the verses. So if you can sing the first verse, you can sing all the other verses (they just use different words).

2)Many enka single CDs come with sheet music! (even many of the enka single CDs on j-music download websites).

Really awesome for learning how to sing.

They usually contain the sheet music for the main melody
(that is, the singing portion of the song). Since you have
the music written down, you can use a piano to check if you're
singing all the verses correctly.

I think it all depends even more than that! A drama about saving the world from aliens will include more words that you'll come across in newspapers (軍隊、大統領、首相、戦争、侵入、and even 宇宙, and many others depending on the exact plot.)　A family drama will contain words that are more useful for general conversation. A romantic drama will contain words that are useful for meeting and wooing members of the opposite sex (or the same sex, as the case may be.)

I also think that there's nothing wrong with memorizing a song that is beyond your understanding if you happen to love it for some reason (musically, or because of the PV, or because it's the theme to your favorite show). Once upon a time I memorized the entire opening theme to Ranma 1/2 before I really knew any Japanese at all ... over time I've been struck with recollections of lines from it and suddenly understood them as I learned. It's not an -efficient- way to study, certainly... but it's not entirely without value.

I don't recommend memorizing arbitrary songs for the sake of learning - it is a pretty small learning value for the time invested - but if you have a song you love and want to sing, I wouldn't wait to learn every word and grammar point to do it. Many singers sing songs in languages they don't know by pure phonetic memorization (sometimes aided by both word-by-word and line-by-line translations... you can't put any interpretation on lyrics that are completely unknown, of course, although you can simply mimic another singer's interpretation.)

I will mention though - songs don't really help with ordinary listening comprehension or the ability to speak. They have odd timing and intonation, natural timing and pitch being thrown away in favor of following the melody. Many words sound nothing alike in speech and in song. Songs are full of sentence-fragments that evoke a feeling while making little grammatical sense. Songs are, however, very good vocabulary reinforcement, and besides that, many of us simply enjoy them and consider them one of the -goals- of learning Japanese.

This [1]guy translated 福山雅治・桜坂 - I retyped (with minor intervention to the original translation)

Enjoy

[1]

福山雅治・桜坂
（ふく・やま・まさ・はる・さくら・ざか）

君よずっと幸せに
きみ・よずっと・しあわ・せに
For your everlasting happiness
風にそっと歌うよ
かぜ・にそっと・うた・うよ
I softly sing to the breeze
WooYeah愛は今も愛のままで
あい・は・いま・も・あい・のままで
That love still remains as love
揺れる木漏れ日薫る桜坂
ゆ・れる・こも・れ・び・かお・る・さくら・ざか
The sunlight plays through the trees
悲しみに似た薄紅色
かな・しみに・に・た・うす・べに・いろ
A light pink that resembles sorrow
君がいた恋をしていた
きみ・がいた・こい・をしていた
You were there, we were in love
君じゃなきゃダメなのに
きみ・じゃなきゃだめなのに
It had to be you
ひとつになれず
。
But we couldn't become one
愛と知っていたのに
あい・と・し・っていたのに
I knew it was love
春はやってくるのに
はる・はやってくるのに
And spring always comes
WooYeah夢は今も夢のままで
WooYeahゆめ・は・いま・も・ゆめ・のままで
But that dream still remains as a dream
頬にくちづけ
ほほ・にくちづけ
A kiss on the cheek
染まる桜坂
そ・まる・さくら・ざか
sakurazaka turns crimson
抱きしめたい気持ちでいっぱいだった
だ・きしめたい・き・も・ちでいっぱいだった
I wanted to embrace you and my heart was filled with that filling
この街でずっとふたりで
この・まち・でずっとふたりで
Together forever in this town
無邪気すぎた約束
む・じゃ・き・すぎた・やくそく
A promise too innocent
涙に変わる
なみだ・に・か・わる
Turns into tears
愛と知っていたのに
あい・と・し・っていたのに
We knew it was love
花はそっと咲くのに
はな・はそっと・さく・のに
And flowers bloom silently
WooYeah君は今も君のままで
WooYeahきみ・は・いま・も・きみ・のままで
But you still remain as you were
逢えないけど
あ・えないけど
We can't meet
季節は変わるけど
き・せつ・は・か・わるけど
Seasons change
愛しき人
いと・しき・ひと
But you are my love
君だけがわかってくれた
きみ・だけがわかってくれた
You were the only one who understood me
憧れを追いかけて
あこが・れを・お・いかけて
Chasing after my longing
僕は生きるよ
ぼく・は・い・きるよ
I will live on
愛と知っていたのに
あい・と・しっていたのに
I knew it was love
春はやってくるのに
はる・はやってくるのに
And spring always comes
WooYeah夢は今も夢のままで
WooYeahゆめ・は・いま・も・ゆめ・のままで
But that dream still remains as a dream
君よずっと幸せに
き・みよずっと・しあわ・せに
For your everlasting love
風にそっと歌うよ
かぜ・にそっと・うた・うよ
I hum to the breeze
WooYeah愛は今も愛のままで
WooYeahあい・は・いま・も・あい・のままで
That love still remains love

EDIT:
As per Elenkis comment.

Quote:悲しみに似た薄紅色
かな・しみに・に・た・うす・べに・いろ
Making me sad a pale colour of your lipstick

I didn't read the whole thing, but surely that line is something more like: "A light pink that resembles sorrow" (referring to the 桜 in the previous line).

Or am I missing something?

I guess you are right. I wasn't looking at the previous line and my jisho under べに[紅] has:
- rouge
- lipstick

Thanks for pointing this out.

Inny Jan Wrote:約束やぶってみた 誰と何しても
愛しているんだから 甘やかしてね

I would think:
I tried breaking the promise With whoever I did whatever (I have no idea how these sentences relate though, also don't know the context.)
Because I love (you) So treat me kind and sweet, ok? xD

it's simple. just need rikaichan or rikaisama and the song.

then sing along/understand to your heart's content.

@Mesqueeb

It's more like:
Whoever with (and) whatever (I) did (that I) tried to break a promise (I gave you),
please-be-easy-on (me) because (I) love (you).

Easy, once you get this linking between seemingly unrelated grammar points explained. And you don't need extra context to understand the lyrics either.

@howtwosavealif3

I envy you if that's all you need...