Informal learning of Japanese as a foreign language through watching anime

With the rise of global interest in anime among young adults, several studies have examined the acquisition of Japanese through watching anime in formal settings; however, studies focusing on learners with no formal training in Japanese are scarce. The present study focuses on this latter population of anime viewers and examines their L2 listening development and whether it is impacted by years of viewing and anime genre. This study also investigates the extent to which relevant vocabulary can be incidentally acquired from watching anime. Native English-speaking anime viewers in the US, who had never formally studied Japanese, completed a questionnaire and took the listening comprehension portion of the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test. They also viewed 12 subtitled episodes of an action/adventure anime series and took pre-tests and post-tests assessing meaning-recall of 40 relevant target words. 38% of the viewers correctly answered at least half of the questions on the listening test, yet years of viewing and anime genre appeared to have no significant impact on the listening scores. The vocabulary post-test also showed significant learning gains. These findings emphasise the potential benefits of extensive viewing – more specifically anime viewing – in L2 development, even in the absence of formal language study.