@Paule :‘‘I guess it´s because most children can´t read subtitles and don´t speak foreign languages.’’
Well unfortunately you are right when saying that most children don’t have the chance of using other languages.
The example I had in mind was linked to the fact that here in Romania for some time now , all cartoon channels(as far as I know) only air programs that have been dubbed in Romanian.For me the only benefit that these cartoons offered is that kids could’ve learned English without realizing and now that that’s gone , they’re just losing their time and damaging their focus ability .
I loved that video. All the women are gorgeous, have absolutely wonderful voices and very charming smiles.
ad MADARA: (…) … For me the only benefit that these cartoons offered is that kids could’ve learned English without realizing and now that that’s gone , they’re just losing their time and damaging their focus ability . (…)
I don’t think they are wasting their time but they are simply being kids. I’m glad not all parents want to turn their children into some “study machine”. Life is more than just studying, working, trying to please some higher being…
Btw, I enjoy watching these movies with my nephews and nieces. They always get so excited and I love to see that sparkling in their eyes when the hero/heroine triumphs at the end
If you haven’t seen a happy child, you have missed out on one of the most beautiful things in life. Sadly enough, there are lots of kids out there who have pretty little to smile about…shame on us adults, I guess.
I like that Disney dubs their movies, including the music. I’ve found that the Disney films are fairly useful for language practice, especially at the early intermediate levels. Some films are even better in the foreign language. Pinnochio was good in English, better in French, and I’m sure it’s great in Italian. I can’t wait to watch the Disney movies of Grimm Brother origin in German.
@lovelanguages: I’m not saying that it is bad let you kids have fun but I noticed from my own experience that watching TV(too much at any rate) can be harmful . Also as you know there isn’t a more suitable method for one to follow except leaving their kids to be immersed in an environment where the language is used naturally be native speakers .
I was thinking that there is no wonder that America is number 1 when it comes to advertising. I say this because even though the cartoons made by Disney are the most popular animations , they will never in a million years reach the status of anime. The imagination of the Japanese manga and anime creators far exceed anything you could ever see in a cartoon in terms of adventure,action,drama, comedy etc…
@Madara
Why do we need to compare things this way? Modern Japanese cartoons were “sparked” by Japanese interest in Disney in the post-war years. The Japanese have gone in a different direction than the Americans, but I would not necessarily say one country does it better than the other. Perhaps you didn’t know this, but there are nuanced cartoons here, too. There is a whole genre of satire that is animated, for example. If you even rewatch Disney as an adult, you’ll find that they are really nice stories. Pixar does some great stuff, too.
@David: I admit that I am over subjective here but this is just my preference. I’m not saying that cartoons are not interesting,not to mention that I owe them a lot, but this is how I see things.
One of the things I like most in anime is that there is a story which is generally developed with each episode that appears .This is one the other hand is a rare factor in cartoons in which they make random episodes related to a central subject.
ad MADARA: (…) … I say this because even though the cartoons made by Disney are the most popular animations , they will never in a million years reach the status of anime. (…)
As much as I love Japanese, I have no interest in anime at all. To me anime is the kind of TV programme a hyperactive kid might enjoy watching, with all those bing, bang, woosh, boom sounds, the quick cuts between the scenes etc.
Some stories are quite interesting, but I find the whole cutting and the sound effects very disturbing both to my ears and my eyes.
However, they are hugely popular, so they obviously appeal to a lot of people.
Personally, I have no idea what people find so interesting or appealing about them. But as long as people enjoy them, they should watch them.
I certainly prefer Disney, Pixar etc. productions over any anime I have seen so far (and since so many people seem to like them, you can hardly avoid them when you take Japanese classes in a language school; that’s why I usually prefer to have classes with people my age who are not “infected” with the “anime virus” ;-)).
“I usually prefer to have classes with people my age who are not “infected” with the “anime virus””
Yeah, it’s not necessarily the anime that’s bad, it’s the fans. I had friends in high school who were ‘infected’ and would say things in an ‘anime voice’ and add ‘ne’ to the end of their otherwise completely English sentences and stuff like that. It was very hard to not want to hit them when they did that.
Robert wrote: “As much as I love Japanese, I have no interest in anime at all. To me anime is the kind of TV programme a hyperactive kid might enjoy watching, with all those bing, bang, woosh, boom sounds, the quick cuts between the scenes etc.”
I guess you have seen the wrong animes. You should watch (for example) the wonderful movie “Chihiros Reise ins Zauberland” (千と千尋の神隠し/Spirited Away). I assume this one is completely different to what you have seen so far.
“I don’t want to sound naive, but isn’t Anime just poorly animated Japanese cartoons about fighting robots and stuff like that?”
What an ignorant comment. In reality, Anime is about about teenage girls wearing cute dresses, hanging out with friends and going to the cemetary to chainsaw demons who look like super-sized seafood.
It may be that people can become passionate (obsessed?) about many subjects. That might be vampires, anime, pop stars, star wars, horror movies, or even learning languages. I am ‘infected’ with the passionate desire to learn Korean, and I am certain my friends think it is strange how much time I am devoting to this pursuit. If you are a fan, people outside of the fandom won’t understand.
“In reality, Anime is about about teenage girls wearing cute dresses, hanging out with friends and going to the cemetary to chainsaw demons who look like super-sized seafood.”
Yeah… there are a lot of different kinds, it’s not ALL seizure-inducing. You have the ones with fighting robots and ninjas and way too many characters, the “school girls with chainsaws”-genre, and then there’s whatever the hell this is: - YouTube
I don’t really get this anime thing, but whatever, everyone has their interests. Basically everybody has some pretty mindless nonsense that they are into. For me it has been a few things, such as my obsession with Andy Murray winning Wimbledon, or the fact that I have seen Schwarzenegger’s movie Commando more than twenty times. None of this is any more or less mindless than watching cartoon ninjas fighting trashy cheerleaders.
ad Sebastian: (…) … “Chihiros Reise ins Zauberland” (千と千尋の神隠し/Spirited Away). (…)
Thanks for the tip. I’ll give it a try.
And just for the record, my usage of “infected” and “virus” was not to be taken literally, of course ;-).
It is just that about 90 % of the students at language schools in Japan that I met and who were between 15 and 20 said they wanted to study Japanese because of the anime they watched. Nothing wrong with that. Whatever makes you pursue your dream is good, I guess. I was just surprised how strong their passion for anime was while they seemed to have pretty little interest in any other aspect of Japanese culture and/or history.
Unless the anime suggested to me by Sebastian is completely different from what I’ve seen so far, I don’t think I’ll ever become a fan of it. This does not mean, however, that it is something bad or useless, just not my cup of tea.
I watch lots of stuff other people probably would find boring, kitschy or whatever. I guess there really is no accounting for tastes. People are just different and that’s good.
There´s a huge variety of animes out there. Anime is not a “genre”, it´s more like a medium. Here´s a list of anime-genres that I copy´n pasted from a streaming-site:
action, adventure, comedy, demons, drama, ecchi (ecchi means “dirty”, it´s not porn, but it´s…well…dirty) fantasy, historical, horror, magic, mecha (robots fighting each other…) military, music, mystery, parody, police, psychological, romance, school, science-fiction, seinen (“seinen” is for male audiences between the ages of 17-40)
shoujo (for girls between the ages of 7-18), shounen (for boys), slice-of-life , space
sports, supernatural, thriller, tournament, vampire, yaoi (“yaoi” means “boys love”), yuri (“girls love”)
