Snowflake Challenge: Day 5

[lebateleur]

Talk about what has improved in your life thanks to fandom.

Here's a very prosaic answer: my Japanese proficiency. Sans fandom, I would have had textbook Japanese, which is fine but focused on prosaic topics like self-introductions, ordering food, making travel plans, and discussing hobbies and work. Thanks to fandom, I can talk intelligently about demons, magic, curses, and force fields (Seimaden, The Ice-Cold Demon's Tale, Mushishi, Saiyuki, Yami no Matsuei); science, technology, military, and space (Planetes, G-Defend, Fullmetal Alchemist); policing and criminal investigations (Death Note); land and sea travel (Saiyuki and One Piece); and a billion varieties of high school drama (Bleach, DNAngel, and Mikan no Tsuki). I can also curse fluently (Bleach, Saiyuki, and Trigun) and handle historic speech modes from the Heian through Edo periods (Onmyouji, Ouchou Romanse, Yukimura-dono ha En nite Sourou, Ooku, and Takemitsu-zamurai).

And sure, I could have learned some or all of this from other sources, but it would have taken longer and been far less fun.



これで以上です。

Comments

[dolorosa_12]

This is delightful!

[lebateleur]

It's a really fun way to learn...especially compared to how alarmingly dry Japanese textbooks often try to be 😁

[pauraque]

That's great! I've gamed with a few people online who learned a lot of their English from games, and it's interesting how they can seem 100% fluent when talking about gaming, but if the conversation drifts to other topics they have big vocabulary gaps.

[lebateleur]

I believe it. I was definitely in a more than one conversation where I struggled with some basic vocabulary (think "left" versus "right") but then could take off running when things moved on to a more theoretical topic.

[delphi]

That's really cool!

[lebateleur]

It was a very fun way to learn 😁