After reading Lupus’ post on watching raws and watching subtitled anime, his listing of reasons prompted me to put on my thinking cap. Why have I been watching raws?
There are a couple of reasons as to why I’ve been watching most of my media raw, as compared to watching with the aid of English or Chinese subtitles. Now, before I get the “Hey, stop showing off that you understand moonspeak” comments, let me assure you that my grasp of the language is by no means proficient, unlike Lupus who understands 83% of what he watches, since I’ve only been studying it for slightly more than a year. My level is probably even lower than that of the average Japanese middle school teenager.
The first and simplest reason is that I’m lazy. This is a fact that I can never deny. I’ve always been lazy, even before I started watching anime. Why bother getting all tracking if a series has raws or subs released? The lazy me just wants to watch it. Also, I’m one heck of an impatient person. I hate waiting, and want my dosage of entertainment as soon as I can get it. Hence, with 2 such traits placed within one being, more than often, I’ll decide not to wait for a couple of hours more. I’m sure there are many fellow lazy or impatient people out there too.
Next, I perceive watching raws as a form of a challenge. For someone who as barely attained the communication skills in a language, such as me, it’ll be interesting to try and put in some effort to try and understand what’s actually being said with what I’ve been learning, be it in or outside of class, without the aid of subtitles. The satisfaction one gets from being able to understand something after attending months and months of lesson is pretty rewarding. In fact, I might be able to pick up some new vocabulary, as well as increase my profiency a little in the listening department. Isn’t it ideal if you can combine entertainment together with education?
I actually came to the realisation that if subtitles are present, I often become overly reliant on them, and frequently omit the spoken dialog due to poor multi-tasking skills. This comes from the laziness as mentioned earlier on.
Finally, some of the stuff which I have an interest in just doesn’t get subbed. I used to hate that helpless feeling of not being to watch or read media that you have an interest for, just because of the language barrier. I’m sure many of you share similar sentiments as well. That was one of the reasons why I began my Japanese learning journey.
However, it’s not as if I’ve totally kicked off the habit of watching my media subtitled. Watching raws, however, does have its drawbacks, such as the rather high possibility of not being able to obtain total understanding of every single thing that’s going on in the anime. This might hinder one in attain the maximum enjoyment of the media. Also, it seems like some of the subbed anime actually have better video quality as compared to the raws counterparts, even at a smaller file size.
The whole point of this is, it’s not much of a deal over watching anime with or without subs. It’s just like food. Some people like their food with additional sauce to aid them in attaining a better consuming experience, while others just like their food in the original taste. Watching anime raw doesn’t make you cooler than watching your anime subbed. What matters is your very own personal experience.
As long you enjoy it, who cares if you dip your fish and chips in black pepper sauce instead of eating it like most of the rest do with tartar sauce?
And in case you were wondering, I do eat my fish and chips with black pepper sauce. Weird, I know.
Does not make sense. Watching raws require real focus and effort, which a lazy person will not commit. Watching raws reduce pleasure, since you’ll miss out on jokes and references or spend too much effort deciphering them to find the humour funny.
I guess that makes me more impatient than lazy then?
I sometimes watch raws of simple anime with not a lot of “heavy” dialogue…like Shugo Chara or Akane-Iro ni Somaru Saka. I won’t even try to watch a raw episode of Gundam 00 S2…I’ll be completely confused as to what’s going on.
But yeah, mostly I watch raws to see how much I can understand and for listening comprehension…but for the most part, I watch most stuff subtitled.
Watching raws it’s like having sex with a woman without protection u_u
Hey, stop showing off that you understand moonspeak
I would have really appreciated it, if someone released a transcription kind of subtitles. I know pretty many japanese words, but still not enough to just fluently notice them on the fly, so those kind of subs would help my learning immensely…
ã²ã•ã—ã¶ã‚Š(´∀｀)元気～??
ãªã‚“ã ã‹æœ€è¿‘å¿™ã—ãã¦ã¡ã‚ƒã‚“ã¨ãƒ¬ã‚¤ãã‚“ã®ãƒ–ãƒã‚°èªã‚“ã§ãªã„&英語分ã‹ã‚“ãªã„笑
ã¾ãŸmsnã§ãƒãƒ£ãƒƒãƒˆã—ã¾ã—ょ～
Well I havent inmersed in raw yet, but I think I understand you.
In my case Im very impatient with Spanish subs and I like to get the files in English subs (which appears faster) and I have to wait long time before I can see it with Spanish subs..
I guess I havent got into raw because of the language..
Hmm, interesting post… but I’m a little obsessive-compulsive about getting the “full meaning” of whatever’s going on. However, I used to watch anime via Youtube way back when- and, to my surprise, I found out that I could understand between 50 and 80% of the dialogue without subs (when I couldn’t find a subbed vid). I think it was fun, a good challenge- but yeah, as you said, I became pretty dependent on subs now and rarely watch raws.
>>And in case you were wondering, I do eat my fish and chips with black pepper sauce
WHY DO YOU DO THIS.
WHY DO YOU DO THIS ;_____________;
Nowadays I don’t even realise that I’m listening to Japanese. It takes some time for me to understand that people around me have no idea what I’m listening to.
53RG10 > Subs would be required if I watch heavy dialogue anime too. My standard just isn’t there yet. In fact, I’ve still a very long way to go.
louki > Wow, I like your analogy.
satomi >　久ã—ã¶ã‚Šã€‚ã¾ãŸãƒãƒ£ãƒƒãƒˆã—よã†ï¼
C.I > Because I have weird taste buds.
LianYL > Wtf?
well i do watch raw of some series and i don’t have japanese classes (i haven’t found cheap ones XD) but i do get to understand many things now i’m a fortunate man with a lot of multi-tasking skills so well i’m learning that way XD (but i still can’t read buuu)
Watching raw sometime can be fun. But since I am not that fluent, and when I really want to watch an anime series seriously I guess I watch it with sub. Well just my personal opinion
I think that even if my japanese were better I would still watch subbed anime. I wouldn’t want to miss out on anything and I could tell when the fansub group isn’t doing their job right.
I’m not very fluent at Japanese either. (I can hear, write and listen but I can’t even speak it. T_T)
But I do agree with your point on watching RAW at times. For those light hearted series, I’ll tend to watch RAW. And for a little heavier, I might switch to subs.
Or if I’m having just a very bad week, I’ll watch subs since I don’t want to overload my mind already.
well, i really wanna watch the anime in its raw, but i can’t grasp any single word
yeah. most subs aren’t really accurate with what the anime characters are saying. but as long as it’s close to whatever they’re trying to say. i’ve watched a few raws, i did try my best to understand. i might only know bits and pieces of sentences eg. dokyusei, neko, betobeto suru.
i find raws and subbed anime the same.having the opening ending theme and no cut out scenes… i can just ignore the subtitles, right? making it ‘raw’.