Japanese in Mangaland – Study the language with manga

[Read the post]

I would take serious issue with the assertion that Japanese people generally go around speaking like manga characters. Even less than American adults sound like characters in children’s cartoons in daily life.

2 Likes

Way back in the day there was a magazine for this same purpose called (wait for it) … Mangajin

Guess what? It didn’t teach functional Japanese because as @anon62122146 points out, people don’t talk like that.

1 Like

アタシはバカなですねぇぇぇぇぇ ^_^v

Oh wait, nobody really talks like that.

In all seriousness I think using manga is great as a study aid just like the news, kids shows, and so on. I wouldn’t use it as a conversational aid though.

1 Like

In general talking like a cartoon character would make you sound like an idiot, but, in particular, I heard “てめえ” used all of about twice in public in five years in Japan. Once was a guy telling his wife and friend in a restaurant (in a low voice) what he’d have liked to say to someone’s face, but didn’t. The other was an actual yakuza being a violent asshole. You really don’t want to go around talking like that.

2 Likes

I’d never even read or heard てめえ before. I had to look it up in my dictionary. Who supposedly uses this?

1 Like

Cartoon characters, and people in gangster shows.

3 Likes

I remember the American magazine Mangajin which did the same kind of thing, Japanese language learning through manga, from around 1988 to 1996. All the issues are now online I just discovered: http://www.thespectrum.net/features/mangajin/

1 Like

Reminds me of school - two of the more (most?) common teaching materials for Latin are Caesar’s de Bello Gallico and Asterix comic books.

1 Like

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.