掲示板 Forums - "Anime Accent"?

Simply don't base your studies off of animé only.

Listen to podcasts, Japanese vlogs, converse with natives, etc... You can still watch animé and you can and still will learn Japanese with it to a certain extent, but since animé tend to use very casual speech and/or end of speech particles like ぜ/ぞ that are quite strong and used very often in animé it might make you sound a bit odd when you speak.

The better you get at Japanese, the easier it becomes to recognise what's natural and what's "anime speech". You also simply can't reach a high (or even moderate) level of proficiency from anime alone, so there's pretty much zero risk of being both fluent and speaking like an anime character. Any bad habits you pick up from anime tend to correct themselves naturally as you keep interacting with the language.

Anime also covers a wide range of speaking styles, and depending on what you're watching, characters may already be speaking fairly close to real-life Japanese.

By the way, I also think it's worth branching out to other media :) Particularly podcasts, vlogs, and livestreams.

PS: I've watched hundreds of shows over the past few decades, and I've never had any issues. Although I also feel like anime didn't help me with conversational skills at all XD

Try to interact with more native Japanese, anime may be nice but other movies or series with native Japanese is great. I don’t expect every anime to be high pitched or bubbly though, as I am a great fan of the Japanese anime Detective Conan, and there is nothing wrong with my voice. I also find listening to simple Japanese audiobooks are great too. For audiobooks I recommend Japarrot on YouTube.

Even within anime, there's a pretty big difference between the kinds of speech used in a battle shounen, a fantasy isekai, a highschool romcom, or a seinen drama. So when you say "anime accent", that could mean anything from Jotaro Joestar to Bocchi to Makio Koudai.

In general, the best thing you can do is diversify your input. Obviously that means watching more than just anime, as others have noted, but even when you do watch anime try watching more genres too.

There are some words in anime that everyday people just don't use particularly 俺様(おれさま)​ which is an extremely informal way to say one's self and no one uses it in everyday life.

Also, tones in animes are very exaggerated in tone and tend to use informal Japanese speech. It's a bit hard to explain but think of your faveroite English cartoon or movie or drama. The way they speak is very exaggerated but you don't exaggerate your tone when you speak normally to your family, friends, co-workers and such.

Sure, go ahead and learn some Japanese words, phrases or practice listening. I'm happy to admit I sometimes do that since I have no one to talk to. It never hurts to watch anime, Japanese movies and dramas but keep in mind everyday Japanese people won't exaggerate their tone that much as we would not exaggerate in our everyday lives.

Do most Japanese people tend to find an "anime accent" offensive, though? I talk like an anime character in English just as much as Japanese, purely because I enjoy the extra expressiveness that comes with it and think it makes talking way more fun. In English it seems to be viewed as weird, but nobody knows or cares why it's happening so it just gets written off as quirky. In Japan, though, might it be more actively viewed as insulting or rude even though it's not intended to be? Or do they generally really just not care how weirdly foreigners speak? I just really don't want to accidentally offend a Japanese person one day with the way I talk

It can *absolutely* be offensive, on multiple levels.

1. On average, language in anime/manga is extremely casual. So many young characters, without many opportunities for the viewer to see any or much code switching going on. So you see teenagers talking to each other and screwing around, and possibly the same teenagers talking to some demon and telling them how they are going to rip them apart. You do *not* (again, on average) see them speaking with a teacher, or to a friend's parents, or their boss at a job.

So I feel that it's too easy to see someone who you feel is similar to you (they're a young (insert gender) about my age, I feel like they have a similar personality to mine, perfect!), but you're not getting the whole picture linguistically.

We're jumping topics here, but this is similar to those frustrating youtube series where they (for example) talk to foreigners living in Japan to see what they think about topic X. They're going to primarily (if not only) show ones that advance their agenda (which doesn't have to be nefarious - something as benign as "I want to make a fun and interesting youtube channel"), so you're not getting the full picture of opinions/views/experiences. You're getting the "good" stuff, in the same way that anime wants to show you good stuff.

So, it can be more difficult to get a feel for formality levels and language usage (code-switching) through just anime.

2. This overlaps a bit with #1, but WORD USAGE - there are so many words/phrases used in everyday anime that, again, are used with such frequency that you will be more likely to think "oh, this is commonly used". One that pops into my head is the てやる​ suffix, which can be used to forcefully push someone lower than you socially. This simple definition doesn't cover the full set of nuances, but you hear it all the time in certain series.

Then you've got things like ぶっ飛ばす(ぶっとばす)​, or anything with the ぶつ prefix. Again, this is not something you use in *most situations*.

So if you're talking about an affectation in your voice and referring to that as an "anime accent", then yea, people may not care, they may think you odd, or whatever, but I cannot see them taking offense to it.

However, the slanted Japanese that gets overly used in anime can definitely cause problems if your Japanese level is not high enough to recognize when and how things should be used.

As マイコー said, it definitely may lead to unpleasant or uncomfortable outcomes. I can only speak to my own experience living in Japan for a decade, though so be sure to read other people's opinions, too. A lot of the language you will hear in anime or read in manga is very casual and/or not commonly used outside of that sort of media. I'm unsure of what you mean by "accent" so again, take this with a grain of salt. Generally speaking, you should absolutely be using です/ます with strangers, especially people older than you. A lot of the language is very exaggerated depending on what genre of media you consume, especially shounen stuff. It all really depends on context as well. I know in office jobs colleagues will use "おまえ" or "てめえ" or whatever but that's usually between people who know each other well. I had an older colleague that would jokingly threaten to "ぶっころす" someone if they messed up. I guess my point is, learn proper, standard Japanese and use it with people you don't know. Obviously learning casual things is also good, but keep it in mind that it is for talking with friends. If you have Japanese-speaking friends you'll eventually get to speaking in more casual ways but it's better to be safe than to accidentally offend someone because they think you're acting too close, too early. Also, as was mentioned above, using "anime" or "manga" phrases and styles of speaking (again, genre and context are important here) can lead to people giving you the side-eye, especially if you are obviously foreign.

To be clear, I watch a lot of anime and read manga but I have been speaking the language a long time and know when to use what type of Japanese. The more authentic exposure you have to the language, the more you'll be able to see the different levels or types of Japanese and use them accordingly. Also, I'm not perfect, either so hopefully this doesn't come off as a lecture rather than equals discussing the language.