squarezebra
Member
From: England
Registered: 2009-10-06
Posts: 124
Reading .ass subtitle files from Kitsunekko line-by-line BEFORE the audio on the drama/anime etc... anyone tried it?
Let me explain, whenever I watch a subtitled drama/anime I usually find that I miss half of what was said because I'm reading the English subs and by the time I've finished reading the plot has moved on, and I'd end up having to rewind to listen to it again. It's like my brain struggles to process the english sub and Japanese audio at the same time. So, I put some sub files on my ipad to read whilst/before watching drama/anime, rather than relying on the subs on-screen. It's fantastic! I can control exactly when I read the english sub (which means I can easily scan ahead - especially when there is a break in speech, or you can pause before a long piece of dialogue etc). This way I find that I am picking up about twice as much Japanese as I was earlier.
Is this a common method? With exception of "don't use subs", or "use subs2srs", does anyone have any advice, or other methods they use?
HelenF
Member
From: UK
Registered: 2012-04-11
Posts: 39
That's interesting. There's something called the "Listening-Reading method" where the core step is listening to an audiobook while reading the translation. And there's been a lot of discussion on why this seems to work better than video with English subtitles. Perhaps the most important difference is the timing (having control over when you read each sentence; being able to read ahead rather than at the same time or afterwards).
http://forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?id=6188
wildweathel wrote:
If Step 3 is the heart of L/R and there isn't some massively fundamental difference between text and subtitled TV then L/R is strikingly similar to watching anime with English subtitles. A lot of people do that and don't learn Japanese at all, so...
http://www.how-to-learn-any-language.co … ?TID=14297
aYa wrote:
You should read BEFORE you hear to have time to attach the meaning to what is being said. The subtitles appear on the screen at the same time or after, so it's not possible. And what's more, they usually disappear too quickly, so you can't check by reading once more.
Last edited by HelenF (2012 May 27, 4:06 am)
chamcham
Member
Registered: 2005-11-11
Posts: 1444
If you're studying Japanese, I'd recommend using the Japanese subtitles.
If you don't know many kanji, use RTK and RevTK.
Anyway, good luck.
NOTE: Has anyone seen "Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo"? It was a manga, and then they had a Japanese drama. It's about a substitute teacher that teaches Japanese for foreign students. Really funny show. Anyone who studied Japanese will like it.....and yes, there are Japanese subtitles for it, too.
Last edited by chamcham (2012 May 28, 9:34 pm)
squarezebra
Member
From: England
Registered: 2009-10-06
Posts: 124
Yeah, I'm not a beginner at all. Well, at least I can read NHK pretty much seamlessly without a dictionary, but my listening absolutely tanks. If I get JP subs that'll be worse because I'll just be reading them, and that defeats the object.
I did try subs2srs a while ago, but I'm not at all technically minded, and I couldn't get it to work. Plus having a pretty low monthly Internet limit means downloading raw drama is really expensive.
Maybe I should mix it up a bit, and watch some stuff without subs too. Just really frustrating when you know you're not a beginner, but you still can't understand jack lol.
chamcham
Member
Registered: 2005-11-11
Posts: 1444
Listening comprehension is also a matter of vocabulary.
If you've hear words that you know, it's easy to listen.
When you hear something you've never heard, sometimes it's hard to know what someone is saying. There's a lot of words in drama that I would've never figured out without the japanese subtitles. Japanese often talking with a muddled, speedy, unclear tone.
Build you Japanese vocabulary and listen becomes really easy.
That's another reason I'd recommend watching Japanese drama with Japanese subtitles.
If you can't read kanji, learn RTK and use RevTK (this website).
Anyway, good luck.
Realism
Member
Registered: 2011-05-01
Posts: 206
chamcham wrote:
Listening comprehension is also a matter of vocabulary.
If you've hear words that you know, it's easy to listen.
When you hear something you've never heard, sometimes it's hard to know what someone is saying. There's a lot of words in drama that I would've never figured out without the japanese subtitles. Japanese often talking with a muddled, speedy, unclear tone.
If you can't read kanji, learn RTK and use RevTK (this website).
Anyway, good luck.
Sometimes even if you know the word you still won't understand what the person is saying, because they're pronouncing the word in a way that's completely different from how you think the word is pronounced.
Like somone will say ちゅうおはろう, what the hell does that mean?
It's actually 注意を払う, spoken real fast
So listening is more extremely important, with or without subs.
