On one hand, anime is the Japanese shorthand for 'animation', and people in Japan generally make no distinction between animation made by studios from different countries. Animated movies such as Frozen and Toy Story are still referred to as 'anime' in Japan.
On the other hand, 'anime' is a Japanese term, and is commonly used by the western audience to refer to animation specifically made by Japanese studios in Japan. It's clear that western animation fell out of favor, with more and more people preferring to consume Japanese animation instead. Western studios know this, which is why they are trying to copy Japanese animation styles and calling their animation 'anime' rather than 'cartoon' or 'animation'. The choice of word is deliberate here.
Orange vs orenji
Perhaps a fitting analogy is the difference between orange and orenji. Both refers to the same fruit, with the latter being a Japanification of an English word. Suppose that people in the west and Japan consume orange, but for whatever reason, the taste is completely different. Orange produced by western farms taste bitter and leaves a bad taste in your mouth, while the orange fruit in Japan taste sweet and delicious. People start to notice the difference in quality between the fruits and many prefer to consume orange fruits from Japanese farms. Orangeophiles start making the distinction between orange fruits from the west and Japan, specifically using 'orenji' for orange fruits made by Japanese farms. Farms in the west notice this and also start calling their fruit as 'orenji'.
1. you skimp on the grammar
granted, you don't need to be a grammar wiz. it's still a good idea, however, to have a solid grammar foundation. using the correct verb conjugation, the past tense or present continuous, etc, can make a world of difference when it comes to fluency.
studying the target language's grammar rules may not be fun in the beginning, but it pays dividends in the long run. at some point in your study, you will even be able to tell if "something is off" and there is a grammar rule violation, even if you can't quite pinpoint what that rule is.
2. you only learn the language and not the culture
it's not just about learning the language. it's about learning the language and the culture together. if you don't know one or the other, everything falls apart.
- Koichi, 2007 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8JTf2qc7F4
different countries have different set of values, which is often reflected in the language itself. sometimes, raw understanding of the language is not enough - you also need to understand how a fluent speaker would communicate in a given situation. some languages may discern between polite, formal, informal, familiar, and respecful speech, and the usage of each is strongly context dependent. it might be grammatically correct to use a different speech pattern. you might, however, inadvertently insult or appear too "distant" to other people.
3. you rely way too much on your mother tongue
it's ok to rely on your mother tongue when you are beginning to learn a new language.
once you have advanced enough in your language studies, however, try to avoid falling back to your mother tongue. instead of asking, "how do you translate xxx expression in one language into zzz language", you should instead try to understand the same expression in the target language itself. not every expression has an equivalent in your mother tongue. even if there is, the nuance may be different.
relying too much on your mother tongue becomes a clutch in your language studies - a clutch that the more you use it, the harder it is to let go. release your clutch. be free.
4. you dont have a consistent schedule for learning the language
learning the language takes a lot of time and practice. one easy mistake people make is to learn "a lot" in one sitting, and then have a long period where they dont touch the language. this is a mistake. the brain is constantly trying to forget what you learned. your brain hates retaining information - you have to force-feed language knowledge on a consistent basis or risk forgetting what you've learned.
5. you are afraid to make mistakes
Contrary to what many of us might guess, making a mistake with high confidence and then being corrected is one of the most powerful ways to absorb something and retain it.
...
“Learning about what is wrong may hasten understanding of why the correct procedures are appropriate,” they wrote, “but errors may also be interpreted as failure. And Americans … strive to avoid situations where this might happen.”
The American allergy to errors began to ease with a burst of new studies by cognitive psychologists beginning this century. They showed clear benefits to engaging with mistakes—in both verbal and math tasks.
contrary to what you might think, making mistakes is actually a good thing when learning. you are challenging your understanding of the material, which in this case is the knowledge of the target language. by making a mistake and then learning from it, you are more likely to retain the information and is a significant step towards becoming proficient in the language.
Tae Kim is overall a very good and free resource for Japanese grammar. having said that, it does have its limitations, one of which is his explanation of sentence ending particles.
The problem here is quite clear: human emotions are embedded within the language itself, unlike English. sentence enders are used to indicate several different tones and nuances which are not really translatable - at least there isn't a single translation that works for every sentence that ends with ～よ.
According to Prof. Sue Kawashima (MA from Columbia University, now working as a lecturer in Japanese language at Hunter College of the City University of NY), よ can take on several different meanings depending on context. for example, it can be used to make a sentence much stronger, emphasize a command or to express a tone of criticism (Kawashima: A Dictionary of Japanese Particles).
When 「よ」 is attached to the end of a sentence, it means that the speaker is informing the listener of something new. In English, we might say this with a, “You know…” such as the sentence, “You know, I’m actually a genius.”
- Tae Kim http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/adverbs#_sentence_ending-2
this is not quite true, but it may make sense depending on the sentence. again, it's a mistake to put a blanket definition on a sentence ending particle made to encapsulate a human emotion. in this case, よ would be used to indicate certainty, so a better translation might be "i'm pretty sure", "i'm confident", though again, one needs to be careful not to use this suggested translations for all sentences ending in よ
私は天才ですよ。
Tae claims this should be translated as
You know, i'm a genius.
though in this instance, a better translation may be along the lines of
"I'm totally a genius", "I'm quite sure I am a genius", etc.
once again, if we were to believe Tae, we would translate this to be
"you know, i can do it by myself"
though i'd argue that it should be more along the lines of
"i can do it by myself (and i'm pretty sure of it)"
one pitfall when making blanket definitions is evident in this example:
こっちに見るなよ。
Tae would say this means
"You know, don't look here"
but taking into consideration it's context, a better translation would probably be
"Don't look here." with emphasis on "don't"
the Tae Kim's translation is fairly neutral as opposed to the more emotive and emphatic "don't".
in general, よ makes a sentence stronger, but the actual translation for it can change significantly depending on the sentence. this is even more so if it is used in conjunction with other sentence ending particles.
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might add more resources as i find them. if anyone reads this and know more sources, feel free to list them, and I'll add them to the list.
also, for those wondering why i chose kin-iro mosaic:
1. you absolutely need to link at least 1 anime, regardless of the actual content
2. kin-iro is about a girl who loves Japanese culture. well worth watching if you like Japanese / is interested in Japanese culture. it's quite easy to follow, too.
update Oct 15, 2021: added Wanikani. thanks @Thochu
updated Oct 16, 2022: added Japanese from Zero! as a grammar resource, removed dead resource and added a few Youtube clips that teaches the correct pronunciation and how to write kana.
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