How much Japanese have you learnt from playing visual novels?

[Natalieee62]

For those that are learning Japanese or another language through Otome/and or BL games, how much have you learnt from playing them?

I personally love using visual novels to study, especially since you can replay the dialogue and go back if you missed something. (⁠・⁠∀⁠・⁠) Plus some stories are quite repetitive in their dialogue so it's super easy to pick up on words. I found Diabolik lovers quite enjoyable to read even though I'm probably only around N3, but I'm curious where everyone else is at or any games you thought were easy/hard to read. ^^

Also if you're not actively studying it, then how much have you picked up from just playing? ^^

 

[Daisy Magnus229]

I'm not actively studying Japanese anymore (lol), but I can understand, recognize some kanji, and know how to pronounce them. Otome games really helped me remember their shapes and sounds because certain kanji appear a lot.

But I think manga helps me even more because of the furigana. My siblings, who are at N1 and N2 levels, jokingly say I'm at 'N10' level, and I totally agree because I can't write any kanji! Sometimes I can't tell the difference between ソ and ン too lol

 

[ninnikuryona]

im not learning japanese like, at all LMAO, but i do pick up some bits and pieces of new words here and there. for example, danganronpa taught me words like kibou/zetsubou (hope/despair) and hannin (culprit), because these terms are key to the entire game w
the other fun word i learned is kubikiri, which means being fired i think? but i dont remember where i learned it from..;-;
also, playing gacha games helped me learn various "positions". tabibito (traveler) in genshin, shihainin (manager) in tokyo 7th sisters (rest in peace), shikikan (commander) in azur lane/girls frontline/etc. i generally think that idol franchises and songs are pretty good to pick up some words! lovelive's bokutachi wa hitotsu no hikari is a very cute song, because it uses girls' names in lyrics, so i think it helps to learn their meaning too..
oh and when i was a huge fan of idolish7 and was a yumejoshi for one of the characters, i learned the fun history behind the word "tsunashi"! so yeah, turns out gacha games can force you to learn about interesting cultural stuff too^^
one of the recent ones i learned is akan, which is (i assume) a curse word. thank you hadaka shitsuji

all in all, while im not fluent and never will be, after spending half my life engaging with japanese media, both thanslated and not, i found myself understanding a good portion of japanese speech in audio form. im very bad at reading and distinguishing between kanji (my kanji knowledge is on elementary school level pretty much), but i still can generally understand what exactly is being said to me. this is why voiced games are a godsend..!!

 

[Natalieee62]

I'm not actively studying Japanese anymore (lol), but I can understand, recognize some kanji, and know how to pronounce them. Otome games really helped me remember their shapes and sounds because certain kanji appear a lot.

But I think manga helps me even more because of the furigana. My siblings, who are at N1 and N2 levels, jokingly say I'm at 'N10' level, and I totally agree because I can't write any kanji! Sometimes I can't tell the difference between ソ and ン too lol

Don't get me started with the difference between ソ and ン I just pick one or the other and hope for the best and yeah I definitely use manga too! The furigana is great, I guess since vns aren't primarly targeted towards kids it's very rare to have furigana in them. ^^

 

[Natalieee62]

im not learning japanese like, at all LMAO, but i do pick up some bits and pieces of new words here and there. for example, danganronpa taught me words like kibou/zetsubou (hope/despair) and hannin (culprit), because these terms are key to the entire game w
the other fun word i learned is kubikiri, which means being fired i think? but i dont remember where i learned it from..;-;
also, playing gacha games helped me learn various "positions". tabibito (traveler) in genshin, shihainin (manager) in tokyo 7th sisters (rest in peace), shikikan (commander) in azur lane/girls frontline/etc. i generally think that idol franchises and songs are pretty good to pick up some words! lovelive's bokutachi wa hitotsu no hikari is a very cute song, because it uses girls' names in lyrics, so i think it helps to learn their meaning too..
oh and when i was a huge fan of idolish7 and was a yumejoshi for one of the characters, i learned the fun history behind the word "tsunashi"! so yeah, turns out gacha games can force you to learn about interesting cultural stuff too^^
one of the recent ones i learned is akan, which is (i assume) a curse word. thank you hadaka shitsuji

all in all, while im not fluent and never will be, after spending half my life engaging with japanese media, both thanslated and not, i found myself understanding a good portion of japanese speech in audio form. im very bad at reading and distinguishing between kanji (my kanji knowledge is on elementary school level pretty much), but i still can generally understand what exactly is being said to me. this is why voiced games are a godsend..!!

Haha yeah I definitely feel like my audio side is much better than my reading too. ^^' Kanji is a scary place...but yeah I love when they repeat the same words all the time (like despair in Danganronpa ) you can just naturally learn them through repetition without having to study or do flashcards for it (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠) and if a game isn't voiced I definitely struggle so much more!!

 

[ninnikuryona]

Haha yeah I definitely feel like my audio side is much better than my reading too. ^^' Kanji is a scary place...but yeah I love when they repeat the same words all the time (like despair in Danganronpa ) you can just naturally learn them through repetition without having to study or do flashcards for it (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠) and if a game isn't voiced I definitely struggle so much more!!

yep!! generally if a word is hammered into my ears the entire playthrough, i will more or less learn it by the end LMAO
might be a bit impractical, but you know. as long as it works!

 

[nerim-w]

I only know the basics good with hiragana but dont even try to get me to read kanji, unless its 私 lmaoo

Visual novels are good sometimes but when the they speak historical language or the plot is complex its hard to pick up words easily. I find that listening to CDs with translations have helped more since theyre often alot simpler!

 

[24ku]

Since I started playing visual novels, I think my Japanese skills gradually improved naturally without having to study separately. Since I get to listen to the voice actor's voice for several hours, it also helps with listening. Moreover, I was able to come across various background knowledge and related vocabulary as well.

Now, when short phrases or audio that a translator can't recognize plays on the screen, I can understand about 80% of it.

 

[raccoonNiko]

I definitely can't write or read anything on my own, and I don't make any active effort to learn either, but being into Japanese media for years has made me pretty good at understanding the language through listening! I'm playing Ayakashi Gohan FD rn, and since it's fully voiced and the language is relatively easy too, I find myself understanding every spoken line without needing to check the translation (＾ᗜ＾)

 

[Marrychan]

I can't really read Japanese, but I understand it relatively well when I hear it—partly because I associate what the character says with what is written. I'd love to learn to read it someday, but I don't have the time. I think what I know is enough for me.

 

[Karoliuxx]

Well reading wise i recognise some words, but from the amount of anime i watched and visual novels i played, i can understand spoken language pretty well. Sometimes i will listen to the audio and translate it in my mind to see how well it matched to the official translation. I remember playing steam version of hakuoki, listening to what the character was saying and seeing what nonsesnse the translation was saying was funny.

 

[blackflag]

Using the learning method mentioned in the stickied post, I have went from around 2000 vocabulary to around 5000 in the last year.
I speak japanese at home generally but my reading has improved significantly.

 

[Natalieee62]

I only know the basics good with hiragana but dont even try to get me to read kanji, unless its 私 lmaoo

Visual novels are good sometimes but when the they speak historical language or the plot is complex its hard to pick up words easily. I find that listening to CDs with translations have helped more since theyre often alot simpler!

Yeah I really struggle when it's anything to do with historical or when they're speaking in really high politeness keigo ^^' The paragraphs of really descriptions are also so tricky!! I listen to CDs too with translations they're definitely another way to pick up on some stuff (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)