People used to ask me if I learned Japanese purely because of anime and manga, and my answer has always been, "No." I didn't learn it because of otaku tendencies -- or should I say, purely out of otaku tendencies -- and took it up because my school offered it and it was the closest language to my own. I never lied about it, and still reiterate even now. I just so happened to also like anime and manga, and I am glad that I do, because if not for the fact that these two things existed, I wouldn't even be able to pick up the language as quickly as I have. When you have interest in something, you learn it quicker and when you have the means to speed up your comprehension, why not use it?
For me, I started out with reading Chinese manga to learn Chinese 'cause there were pictures associated and unless the story was highly technical, you can pretty much fill in blanks and remember certain words after seeing them numerous times, but in the end, I just would prefer being able to know what the actual, original text would have been. Then I took up Japanese in senior high and tried every so often to read Japanese manga with it to test my knowledge of the vocabulary and grammar. It wasn't until my second year in college that I was able to start reading a bit more fluently, but even then I still had to basically marry a dictionary in order to decipher what is going on.
I started watching drama over anime sometime in college, because the quality of the anime basically started going downhill. I had certain series that I would pick out to watch, because they were interesting, but for the most part, nothing really captivated me. However, drama was really interesting to watch and I started to train my listening comprehension first with watching fansubbed versions, and then when impatience hit due to the wait in between subbed episodes, I started watching raws. Sometime after, I started using Japanese subtitles when watching drama and began recognizing more kanji and sentence structures, plus contractions. Now, I do a combination of all-the-above.
While watching drama, I also started to read less English manga in the past five or six years, and started buying more Japanese manga instead (I think my overall collection is worth at least $10k). I still read scanlations, but a lot of times I end up reading raws or buying a copy for myself in the original text. I also started buying novels somewhere down the line since I have always wanted to translate a whole book. Right now, my translating skills are not exactly top-notch, but I can make it through a book with maybe 70-85% comprehension depending on the difficulty of the language. With manga, it is easier because it is visual, so then even if you do not know a character, but if you have heard phrases said in a similar situation from a drama or something, you can usually fill in the blanks. I used to be pretty dependent on furigana and while it is still helpful now, it is kind of nice to realize that even without it I can read just fine.
I think at this point, if someone asked me if I wanted to translate manga, I wouldn't mind doing it, but it's just very time-consuming so I don't participate in scanlating anymore. If I had more time, I probably would love it, but having to meet deadlines over something I don't consider top priority in my life has never been my forte so I slack off... often lol. I think even now, quality checking is probably the best role for me. Though I am not an editing expert, I am good at fixing language and text. And while my grammar skills have kind of gone down the drain since college, I know enough basics to get me through what I need lol ^_^
And while I do love manga, drama, and anime, I discovered over the course of my studying that I just love the language on its own. Even if these three things didn't exist, I think I may still love this language. To me, it is just so interesting, intricate, and sounds so pretty. Though some will argue that French or Spanish may sound prettier, to me Japanese is probably the prettiest language. I love the division of status in context, and the politeness of the language. I also love distinguishing dialects and learning about the culture, plus history. Sometime along the way, I just started loving the classics, literature and history of Japan. They are such a fascinating country, and I have always had a thing for old, feudal times so it only increased my like of Japan in general. Being able to read the Japanese wiki is a lot more useful than the English ones for this sort of thing, so I thank being able to understand parts of it.
Also, I love Japanese food, and want to go visit the country someday, so I find my learning this language extremely useful. If people are going to ask me why I picked this over Spanish or some other "useful" language in America, I'm still going to answer the same as I always have, and what does it matter to them even if I like Japanese over Spanish? I just do. I don't care that it's not as useful as Spanish, I already know enough Chinese to have a conversation anyway, so if we're talking useful, who is more useful? Me, who knows 4 languages, or someone who only knows 2?
I guess, in the end I just wanted to say that I am happy with the fact that I do love manga and that it has helped me in my learning process and why I am not ashamed that I like it. I just don't want people to mix it up in their heads in thinking that I learned Japanese purely because of anime and manga, because that is not the real or ONLY reason at all. Plus, what is so wrong with learning something because of something else you're interested in? I do have a hard time liking someone when they admit that they only learned it for just anime and manga though, because it always feels shallow to me, but I am not going to write them off.
Anyway, that's just my spiel for the morning. Have to head to work now lol.
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