TV channel that broadcasts on pure Japanese outside Japan JSTV HD costs 27$/month in my country. Yep, just a single channel, in addition to the standard monthly payment for cable TV.
And compared to Netflix, the channel offers very limited set of shows. So I’m afraid such option for Netflix wouldn’t be as cheap as 5$.
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Yeah there are a few websites that have a database of the vocab used in a manga / light novel.
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One of the absolute best things I ever did for my Japanese learning was take it upon myself to translate my favourite singer’s Instagram posts. They post near enough daily, if not more than once, and actually telling myself “OK, now translate it” has made me really appreciate the knowledge I’ve gained in Japanese. I’ve been doing it for a year and a half now, and now I tend to translate interesting interviews as well as just random announcements/news too.
I mention this because it’s probably been the one thing that has made me gain some perspective on my own learning, and I’ve had a lot of fun doing it. I’ve learnt stuff that I wouldn’t have had I just whacked the autotranslate button and left it at that, and it’s been a great motivator for me to actually keep it up.
Sometimes when the studying gets me down, I’ll go and look at the account I post my stuff on and go “Oh, there’s over 1500 posts here, and like 95% of those are translations. I did that!”. Or I’ll pick up the novel that I’m reading right now, and be like “I made it through 150 pages so far of content for native speakers, and I know what’s going on!”.
I’m definitely one of those types who has to learn everything yesterday and mistakes are a no-no, but I’m trying to teach myself out of that kind of mindset and appreciate how far I’ve come, rather than how far I’ve got to go. I can go to concerts and understand most of the MC section! I can read lyrics and know what a song is about! That to me is Super Cool™, and I feel lowkey like I’ve discovered some language learning hack when really its just common sense that if you study in the things you find fun, the studying itself is fun.
Not to go on too much, but I’ve actually quit learning Japanese multiple times for varying reasons. I’m sure part of why it was so easy for me to quit those times was because I wasn’t actually doing the stuff I wanted to do in Japanese, and it ended up not really being the fun experience it should have been. Which it is now!
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Little realizations like this really do make everything worthwhile!
Great to hear that you have found the point you need to be at to enjoy the language on a long term basis!
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I did not mean it to be a grammar point, but an alternative answer instead of いく
I think many of us have vpn subscriptions just for this. It’s a silly loophole, but necessary. I’ve shared some of the Netflix language extensions for learning with natives if they want to use. Many already use Netflix just to watch their favorite shows anyways, so probably already pretty common. Whether they are actively get vpns for more content, I couldn’t say.
From the natives I talk with who have known English for a while, they had their fun activities. Stuff like learning songs or reenacting movie scripts were in their course content and what ever personal lesson they did in juku, many cases conversation development (some of this is quite a few years ago). So I don’t believe it’s entirely been a grey cloud of TOEIC grinding, is this what ALT/JET English teachers are seeing lately?
I’m sure not everyone will agree with this, but I consider learning and studying as two separate activities. Some reading, if breezing through it, is more like reviewing which is maybe a third option. So I do scrutinize how I’m spending my time whether I’m just having fun or what I’m gaining from an activity. Certain material I prefer a feedback loop so I can check my comprehension on a reliable source. Some genre have a very specific vocab focus, which is great for understanding that type of content but not always well rounded. But generally speaking, heavy content crunch-learning is great if you have ALOT of time to do so and can have fun doing it. But for adult learners who work full-time with other obligations need time effectiveness, study methods are preferred…I suspect this is case for many Japanese adults as well. But Japan is surrounded by English, if I see something like kana in US, it’s sort of a unicorn siting.
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It really depends, but Japan is hard to change, their teachers don’t allow english teachers to deviate from the script in order to not steal the spotlight from them.
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