Absolute Anime

I was just wondering how many other people naturally picked up bits and pieces
of japanese though watching anime?
I learnt a couple of common phrases and words just from shows like Azumanga Daioh and Ouran high host club.

I don't think you can learn everything just watching animes.
They won't teach you grammar, for example.
But it helps ^^ XD

You can pick up a lot of individual words by reading manga and watching anime (I did, lol) but some of what you pick up might also be translated wrong for whatever reason, or if a word has multiple meanings, and on and on. Also, depending on the manga, its also common to hear slang from different dialects used. But that's just what I picked up from a few mangas. ^ ^;;

I'm in Japanese class, so most of what I picked up out of manga isn't used at all, or the words I picked up are used very little.

Also, please realise that Japanese culture is, in some aspects, vastly different than how it is portrayed in anime and manga. It's a very reserved culture, but all that crazy stuff they can't do gets out on TV. They have prank shows, I mean, c'mon.

I wouldnt try to learn from watching anime. It could be wrong or used in the wrong context but I might be wrong. Its better if you just take a class or something.

Well, yeah, its better if you take a class, and yeah, it is a reserved culture, but still, there are a lot of words that you can pick up by watching the subbed, or even the dubbed versions. If you take a class, then watch the subbed, you're more likely to be able to pick out words. But if you spend a lot of time watching the subbed, then take a class, you're also more likely to pick up words that way, or find out that you already knew the words, just not the exact meaning.

But really, anyone can make the mistake of believing they know a word and then using it in the wrong context. For example, a lot of Japanese words are off only by a sound.

びょ印　is beauty shop, and 病院 is hospital. The only difference is the extra う in hospital.

and there are those words that have exactly the same sound, same hiragana writing, but the kanji are diferent.

Oh Dreaming Awake, actually the kanji for beauty shop is 美容室 (biyoushitsu) or 美容院 (biyouin) ^^
so the only difference isn't just the extra う . And it's not "びょ", but actually " びよういん "

^ ^;; I don't have my Japanese notebook from class with me, so I was just going off what I remember. Also, it was the first time I used the Japanese setting for typing and all that, so yeah. But thanks for the fix on it!

I feel that a combined approach is best. in my case, I watch anime subbed (i hate dubs anyhow), listened to a bunch of audio lessons, and added on to that I already know Chinese and my mother knows Japanese so that makes things even more convenient.
The way it's working right now, I plan to just keep increasing my knowledge over the next few years, by which point I should know a lot more meanings of the kanjis (from studying Chinese), and therefore memorizing the ways to say them will be easy.