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Best subbed anime for learning N5 & N4 levels? Animanga Daioh maybe?

Mherrador

Kouhai
29 Jun 2020
25
15
13
hi there, I got N5 level passed few years ago and I would like to re-take the study with N4

I think Animanga Daioh is the best maybe? slow and basic as can see:



any other suggestions? TIA
 
I don't think you should watch anime with English subtitles at all for Japanese learning. Also, listening is a very small portion of the JLPT, it is primarily a test of reading comprehension. Still, developing some listening comprehension skills is necessary for the test and is essential if you want to converse with Japanese people or enjoy Japanese media.

However, I think Flying Witch and TariTari are pretty easy practice with mostly everyday language. Chi's Sweet Home is often recommended, but Chi himself has slurred speech and a lot of contractions; this isn't so bad in the anime where the words still sound roughly like what they are meant to sound like, but can be difficult in the manga where you have to infer the mispronunciation being indicated by the writing.

Most anime streaming services (hulu/funamation, netflix, crunchyroll) allow you to toggle subtitles off.

If you have Netflix, all the Netflix-original anime can be watched with Japanese subtitles, as well as some non-original titles like Cardcaptor Sakura and Evangelion. If you are not in Japan, you may have to set your profile language to Japanese for these options to be shown. If you are in Japan or can access Netflix-japan through a VPN then you would have access to Japanese subtitles on even more shows.

Unfortunately, shows that were not originally written in Japanese usually have separate translations for the subtitles and the audio. Which didn't stop me from watching Stranger Things and Jessica Jones in Japanese, but still.

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How to Practice listening

It's never too soon to start listening practice.

Just like reading, it's most effective to spend some time doing
intensive (in-depth) practice, and some time doing extensive (in-breadth)
practice.

How to intensively listening practice:
- Pick a material with a transcript or Japanese subtitles (also with an English translation if you are not confident in reading Japanese).
- Listen to a small segment unaided, understanding what you can.
- Relisten, reading along with the Japanese.
- If the written isn't clear, look up what you need to to understand it.
- Anything that you don't hear correctly even while reading along, rewind and relisten a few times and try to catch it. Don't overdo it, after a handful of tries it'll start sounding like noise and not words (this is a well-known psychological phenomenon of over-repeated words losing their meaning, regardless of language), so if you still don't hear it after half a dozen tries, move on.
- Relisten to the segment without reading along, you should now be able to catch everything.

How to extensively listening practice:

- Play anything comprehensible in Japanese. Material that is easy, material that you already know.

Reading along with Japanese subtitles or transcripts raises comprehension and is decent listening practice *if* you can read fast enough to keep up -- if you can't read fast enough, you'll end up just reading and not listening, instead of reading along. However, the accompanying kanji are a bit of a "cheat" even when reading along in sync, so it should not be your *only* way of doing listening practice or you will not develop the ability to distinguish homonyms in pure spoken Japanese.

Note: Watching anime with English subs is not effective listening practice. It's entertainment, in English. The language parts of your brain will be almost entirely engaged with whichever language is easier; if you don't need the subs, then turn them off. If you do need them, then you aren't really listening.

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Why do you call Azumanga "Animanga" in the first place?
As for the topic - after you finish Azumanga i suggest you give Nichijo a try, since they closely resemble each other.
 
thanks @SomeCallMeChris for the crazy extensive answer, the point is anime is fun and entertaning, so makes the listening more easy and interesting than the typical exam-based dialogues (that of course will follow as well)
@Lomaster I chose it because they have kind of slow dialogues and about everyday's stuff, thanks I will check Nichijo as well
 
Last year when I was in Japan, I met a young woman that moved to Japan. She attend university and works there. She told me watching anime to learn Japanese is not good. Her college professor told her class, watching anime to learn Japanese is not proper Japanese or something like that.

In my opinion, I see nothing wrong in watching anime to hear Japanese conversation and pick up words you learn. But to learn Japanese, i'll stay with my learning free apps.

Stay away from action anime if your going to use anime to learn Japanese. Stick to the normal little or no action anime.
 
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