A lot (most? all?) of Japanese subtitle files out there are taken from the closed captioning stream by some black magic or other (and if you're getting the subtitles from your actual DVD, of course they are the same as the closed captioning.) Anyway, they don't always match up exactly to what's being said - sometimes there just isn't any sound there where the stream shows a particle that was actually dropped, or there's one word spoken and a synonym in the subtitle. The japanese subtitles I've watched, however, are well over 99% accurate, these quirks are relatively rare... a few per episode maybe... well, that I've noticed. (I'm not usually trying that hard to hear every particle explicitly.)

There's also dialogue that isn't subtitled at all - a secondary speech or conversation in the background of the main characters, that may be comprehensible but isn't subtitled. That shouldn't be any kind of problem though in terms of practice.

Anyway, don't be discouraged the first time there's a particle that you can't hear no matter how many times you try (or a particle that you're sure you hear that isn't written... ) -- the subtitle files are much better than -my- listening ability, certainly, and have helped my listening comprehension greatly, but they aren't perfect.

(All of that meaning drama/anime/movie subtitles.)

As far as songs are concerned, I wouldn't recommend those for listening practice. Song pronunciation is different from spoken pronunciation. Well, but, it depends on your goals - practice with music if your goal is to enjoy Japanese songs and comprehend the lyrics fully.

My listening skills are good, I don't have trouble understanding Japanese nowadays or reading it but when it comes to transcribing, that's a whole different story. I've found that, it really comes down to practice to get transcribing right. One thing I've learned is, sometimes you will have to do research for Japanese names or places or any other rare vocabulary that one wouldn't know(that relates to the show,song,etc). I'm going to follow subtitles+songs and follow in transcribing it(typing it into word, while I listen+watch)

P.S. going to transcribe this one:
忍者活劇　天誅 紅 Portable　プロモーション映像「復讐篇」.

this will sound insane but, I think once I do 1000 or so of projects(small or big). I should have a solid grasp on how to transcribe well(advanced).

Oh, well, if you're on that level my cautioning you is probably only telling you stuff you already know

(and yes, it does sound slightly insane, but, what the heck, 'learning Japanese for fun' sounds insane to many people and yet here we are!)

I think it's a good idea to transcribe conversations or longer speeches as well. So far all the links you've posted seem to feature short, disconnected sentences.

SomeCallMeChris Wrote:Oh, well, if you're on that level my cautioning you is probably only telling you stuff you already know

(and yes, it does sound slightly insane, but, what the heck, 'learning Japanese for fun' sounds insane to many people and yet here we are!)

lol, well actually, I think that's the reason I'm doing it haha.

The thing is, my listening is good but I always remember, whenever you try something new, it's always going to be hard. I like to treat everything as a different skill(when you think about it)

pudding cat Wrote:I think it's a good idea to transcribe conversations or longer speeches as well. So far all the links you've posted seem to feature short, disconnected sentences.

yea i'm going to transcribe this news report soon(not sure if I posted it on the forums yet) but that's something new and refreshing today. I think your probably referring to doing different lengths for transcribing? (shows,movies,news,speeches,etc, I presume)

ta12121 Wrote:

pudding cat Wrote:I think it's a good idea to transcribe conversations or longer speeches as well. So far all the links you've posted seem to feature short, disconnected sentences.

yea i'm going to transcribe this news report soon(not sure if I posted it on the forums yet) but that's something new and refreshing today. I think your probably referring to doing different lengths for transcribing? (shows,movies,news,speeches,etc, I presume)

Not so much to practise transcribing different lengths but different manners of speech. For example, in adverts the speech tends to be people shouting/making a dramatic statement which is quite different to someone speaking at length in a normal voice.

pudding cat Wrote:

ta12121 Wrote:

pudding cat Wrote:I think it's a good idea to transcribe conversations or longer speeches as well. So far all the links you've posted seem to feature short, disconnected sentences.

yea i'm going to transcribe this news report soon(not sure if I posted it on the forums yet) but that's something new and refreshing today. I think your probably referring to doing different lengths for transcribing? (shows,movies,news,speeches,etc, I presume)

Not so much to practise transcribing different lengths but different manners of speech. For example, in adverts the speech tends to be people shouting/making a dramatic statement which is quite different to someone speaking at length in a normal voice.

I see your point, should transcribe things that are intended to be normal speech(animes and games may not be close to what people speak but it is real context). No problem, I'll find those and transcribe a few(good practice on my end)