I used to work at a Japanese Video store and these girls would come in every week and rent out a whole drama series. I had a suspicion that they didn't understand Japanese at all, but yet they still went ahead and rented anyway. The vids were not subtitled. So I asked them if they understand Japanese and they replied that they didn't, but liked to watch them anyway.
Can people still enjoy the drama without knowing a word they're saying? Do people do this still? I just don't understand this. I guess you can get a lot out of still the gestures and all that....

I'd like to know what peole think!

Yes. I watch them without the subtitles.

I'm also pretty sure that people who don't understand Japanese will watch them anyway. Even at that, I'm sure that the ability to grasp the plot of the drama shouldn't be too hard. Just that the details are somewhat "left out".
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Yeah, I've watched a couple without subtitles. I only understand about 30% of the show though.

kentarou wrote:

I used to work at a Japanese Video store and these girls would come in every week and rent out a whole drama series. I had a suspicion that they didn't understand Japanese at all, but yet they still went ahead and rented anyway. The vids were not subtitled. So I asked them if they understand Japanese and they replied that they didn't, but liked to watch them anyway. Can people still enjoy the drama without knowing a word they're saying? Do people do this still? I just don't understand this. I guess you can get a lot out of still the gestures and all that.... I'd like to know what peole think!

Yep.

I call it "barewatching." Umm hmmm. Did it most recently with an episode of Orange Days and the Hotman special. Helps when a pal who actually speaks the lingua's present to translate a few items; but, even so, I think I wakarimashita.

First time I barewatched was for Long Vacation many years ago. I've not seen a subtitled version since. I've seen the entirety of LV at least three times already. LV is in my top 5 of all time (well, thus far. Maybe we should call it "top 5 of thus far").

So, for me, at least [here comes the joke, folks, (The Man covers face and torso area)], sometimes barewatching is soooooooooooooooooooo good!

I watched the entire Toshiie to Matsu DVD without subtitles. The MPEG-1 captures scattered throughout the Internet was freaking my eyes out big-time, so I bought the DVD set from Japan and watched them instead.

Even more strange, I watched Seija no koushin with NGN subs, but WITH NO AUDIO!!!! I didn't have speakers connected to my DVD player, so I said the hell with the audio.

--- groink

I'm not fluent, but I understand enough Japanese so that I basically understand what is being said & what's going on.
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Regarding unsubbed dramas, i think some dramas are easier to understand than others. For dramas like gokusen and hakoiri musume, i could roughly understand what was going on most of the time. For others like TRICK and night hospital i got lost half the time. But watching dramas without subs can be good practice for people learning japanese as they help train your listening.

m|rA| wrote:

Regarding unsubbed dramas, i think some dramas are easier to understand than others. For dramas like gokusen and hakoiri musume, i could roughly understand what was going on most of the time. For others like TRICK and night hospital i got lost half the time. But watching dramas without subs can be good practice for people learning japanese as they help train your listening.

That's very true! My Japanese improved quite a bit from watching dramas and reading manga!
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I think watching drama's without subtitles is one of the best ways to learn Japanese. You can figure out the plot just by watching whats going on.(People watched silent movies for years)

I'm not sure about the rest, but my television set has this function called "dual sound". It means I can watch it either in japanese or mandarin. So, I usually have no problems understanding whats going on.

Rinrin wrote:

I'm not fluent, but I understand enough Japanese so that I basically understand what is being said & what's going on.

Hehehe..I'm not fluent either but I watched drama without subtitles and I got lost half the time however it's one way to improve my skill. Er..I have not improved much btw..

Rinrin wrote:

That's very true! My Japanese improved quite a bit from watching dramas and reading manga!

Yeah, I noticed that too. Plus all the JPop I've been listening to over the years having been helping out. Well, looks like this first semester of Japanese class coming up should be a sinch with my vocab and kana/kanji knowledge.

Maine wrote:

I'm not sure about the rest, but my television set has this function called "dual sound". It means I can watch it either in japanese or mandarin. So, I usually have no problems understanding whats going on.

It's like that in Singapore where JEM makes his captures of shows. The capture, in raw form, has like Maine said Japanese on one channel, and Mandarin on the other. JEM kills the Mandarin channel, then replaces it with a copy of the Japanese channel. That's why the audio on JEM's captures are in mono.

--- groink

I do so for my favourite actors' doramas.
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Heck no... If I can't understand it I'll usually more than likely end up dozing off...
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Akakage wrote:

Hehehe..I'm not fluent either but I watched drama without subtitles and I got lost half the time however it's one way to improve my skill. Er..I have not improved much btw..

yea, i usually end up getting lost as well....in the parts where its everyday conversation. its not so bad....its just when they start talking about a lot of technical things...i.e. in hospitals...it gets a little confusing...i think watching the dramas improves the japanese a lot...as long as ur actively listening

Heh..I can still understand a little bit when they talk general stuff, or at least grasp the meaning of it more or less...

Every now and then I watch a series without subs if the show is interesting enough... Sat through all of Love Revolution for obvious reasons, but I would like to watch it again with subs to pick up on the details...

No, I don't. I am still catching up with one's that have English subtittles. Maybe after I watch all of them I may.
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back in the days, i used to rent dbz videos with no subs and i can live with it even now on tv, i can still tell what their actions are but i also get lost at times
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