For the time being...

I've been trying to spread the word about this site but in the meanwhile I've been working on a few projects myself.

Neon Genesis Evangelion: I'm up to the sixth episode now. The first two are already up on kitsunekko.

Cowboy Bebop: I've got the scripts for around 20 episodes, and I have someone who's already transcribed another episode. I'll start working on this after I finish with Evangelion (which looks like it'll take awhile...)

FLCL: Not yet started but the first three episodes' scripts are online.

If you'd like to help with any of these, I'd be really appreciative~

The projects I'd personally want to do are Friends (the Japanese dub, not the drama), Star Wars, The Matrix, and Samurai Champloo. The biggest obstacle I'm facing: transcripts! Well Star Wars does actually have them up online but I have to buy the Japanese DVDs first before I can do anything.

So we've already gotten a few suggestions but, like I said, these would have to be group projects since I've got my hands tied. Nevertheless, I plan to release tutorial videos to teach people the different steps of fansubbing. It's not difficult at all though, 約束するよ :)

So, what can I do?

There are different parts of the fansubbing process that range in difficulty.

1) Finding/making transcripts

Once you have the transcript, the rest is relatively easy. The only problem is, full transcripts are hard to find (but do exist) and take time to make.

As individuals, I don't think anyone of us would be able to handle transcribing an entire series. This is why the more people we have to contribute, the less work we all have to do, and we all benefit equally.

2) Timing/matching timing

This sound more tedious than it actually is because for many shows and movies there are already subtitle files on the Web that can we just paste the Japanese subtitles over. All that this really takes is matching the lines to fit properly, which I'll explain in video tutorial coming soon.

3) Double-checking

Watching the anime with the subtitles and making sure that there aren't any typographic or timing errors. This is probably the easiest of the tasks needed and does not necessarily need to be assigned.

So the fansubbing process is mostly reliant on transcripts. Thankfully there are a few sites that offer transcripts, but a main source is still lacking. I hope that through our subtitling efforts we can upload more as a resource for the online Japanese learning community.

So, interested in helping Baka Neko Subs out? Have a specific series in mind? Leave us a comment~

So, how will this work?

Fansubbing is much easier and takes much less time than you may expect, especially if you're working as a group.

There are a few programs you will need. The main one is Aegisub, which will allow you to create the subtitles. In order to display the subs, I would suggest VLC Player (make sure you tweak the options to display Japanese subtitles). There are other video players you can use, but I find VLC the easiest to use.

From there, all you need is the video file. While this group does not advocate piracy, for the purpose of creating subtitles I was thinking that we could share video segments that each person would be responsible for. This would be done through our Google Group.

The rest of the process depends on what we're working on and what role you choose to play. Full tutorials on each task will be posted soon.

So, how will this work?

Fansubbing is much easier and takes much less time than you may expect, especially if you're working as a group.

There are a few programs you will need. The main one is Aegisub, which will allow you to create the subtitles. In order to display the subs, I would suggest VLC Player (make sure you tweak the options to display Japanese subtitles). There are other video players you can use, but I find VLC the easiest to use.

From there, all you need is the video file. While this group does not advocate piracy, for the purpose of creating subtitles I was thinking that we could share video segments that each person would be responsible for. This would be done through our Google Group.

The rest of the process depends on what we're working on and what role you choose to play. Full tutorials on each task will be posted soon.

Wait, what if I'm not into anime?

Although the title of this blog may suggest an inherent オタクness of it all, Baka Neko Subs can create Japanese subtitles for just about anything if we can find groups of people willing to help.

Want exact subtitles for the Japanese dub of Friends? How about for The Matrix or Star Wars? Or how about リング? Making Japanese subtitles may take awhile, but as long as we are working together as a community we can accomplish anything.

So go ahead. Make suggestions for anything. Just know that the best way of assuring you get those sweet Japanese subtitles you've been dying for is to contribute. Once you take the initiative, everything else is downhill.

Why Baka Neko?

I chose the name for this blog because I figure "baka" and "neko" are in the basic vocabulary of anyone who's a fan of Japan, i.e. オタク.

But I also chose the slogan "Don't be a 馬鹿猫！”for the precise reason why these two words are so common. I always thought it was strange that a person could experience so much of the language watching subbed anime and in turn take away only a handful of words. In the same way that their inhibitions keep them from fully delving into learning the language, their misconceptions of kanji mislead them into thinking that  馬鹿 and 猫 look overly complex and incomprehensible. (credit to Heisig for proving otherwise) 

Though to be fair you commonly see both words as バカ and ネコ, the point is still the same: these fans of Japanese media go for years with constant exposure and yet no natural gain in language abilities for two reasons:

1) they tell themselves Japanese is too difficult/time-consuming/painful, etc. and give up before they even begin

2) use shoddy learning methods that lead to failure, and then blame themselves for their inadequacies to be "disciplined"

I didn't mean to single out otaku on this site or somehow aim to generate content with them as my primary audience, I just thought it would provide some food for thought for Japanese learners （笑い）

So don't be a 馬鹿猫. Join our community and help contribute to subtitling groups of your favorite shows and movies.

Suggestions needed!

Have an anime, drama, dubbed show or movie you want to learn Japanese from?

Can't find the Japanese subtitles anywhere?

Post your suggestions here!

While I can't guarantee every request be fulfilled, popular requests will garner bigger groups of people who will continue on to pursue other projects that catch their interest.

If you're a complete "beginner"...

First off, let me begin by saying that I don't believe in language "levels." Nothing should be in terms of "beginner," "intermediate," or "advanced." 

We have defined these because the school system needs a nifty way to carve out how we should approach language learning. For example, while you can pretty easily say you're a complete beginner in a 101 class, who's to hold you back from learning straightforward concepts from the 201 or 301 classes? Who's to force you into taking a whole year of classes to learn basic grammar and vocabulary to begin with?

Rather, in the same way we need to rethink language learning outside of the classroom box, we need to renovate the way we see language abilities.

Personally, I would say the only thing that separates "beginner" and "advanced" is comprehension of various sentence structures and amount of words and phrases to build these sentences.

 

What does this have to do with Baka Neko Subs?

I want to incorporate as many potential Japanese learners as I can because I don't want discourage anyone from who could immensely benefit in their knowledge of the language through contributing in the process. That being said, some things are a given.

1) Become familiar with hiragana and kana.

You can use Anki to do this. Go to File -> Download -> Public Decks -> Kana with sounds. (If anyone else has any other useful resources for this, you're welcome to post in the comments.)

2) Learn kanji meanings.

Learning kanji may be intimidating to anyone not well-versed in Chinese characters, but that's only because of the undeserved stigma behind pictographic characters. James Heisig's Remembering the Kanji is, in my opinion, the best shortcut to learning kanji because it introduces kanji in a logical order according to radicals and teaches you the most important part of the kanji, its meaning, before anything else. If you know the meaning, learning the readings and vocabulary associated with kanji becomes infinitely easier. Just read the Introduction included in the sample pages in the link and you will understand.

Also, use this online resource to help you through your RTK studies as well. With the power of a community of passionate Japanese learners on your side, there's no way you could lose.

3) Learn how to SRS!

AJATT has a great page for that here.

4) Find Japanese media you love!

This one's the most obvious since I think a ton of learners will have been inspired by their favorite series and movies to have begun learning the language. Even still, this needs to be said: make sure you find media that intrigues you so much that you want to learn every line of its dialogue because this is the endpoint to all of the subtitles this fansub group makes.

If you have any questions, insights, or links that you'd like to share, どうぞよろしくお願いします。

Why a Japanese fansub group? / How the heck can we use Japanese subtitles to help us learn the language?

I'm writing this post as an introduction to Baka Neko Subs with beginning Japanese learners in mind. If you've read AJATT then you'll know this is more or less a rehash to describe the purpose of this group and the goal I have in mind for it.

So, we've already got a ton of fansub groups dedicated to making subtitles for popular anime and drama, bridging the gap for non-native speakers or people not currently studying the language. Why would we need one to help create Japanese subtitles?

The answer lies in the philosophy of the website that inspired this whole endeavor: All Japanese All the Time. The message it holds can be boiled down to this:

Maximize your fun immersion to the language + frequent review with text and audio = getting used to a language = mastering it

Simply listening to Japanese, even if you don't understand all of it, will give you the ability to adapt words and sentence patterns that you can use to understand and communicate properly. Through constant listening, you will naturally get used to the language. "Learning" a language has nothing to do with rote memorization aimed at passing class tests*.

Since a maximum amount of listening exposure is part of the process of adopting Japanese as your own, watching Japanese media that interests you is essential to discovering various words and sentence constructions. 

Exact subtitles in the original language will aid you in this process as it will improve your comprehension which in effect will boost your listening abilities and reinforce your reading skills as well.

As much as subtitles in another language can help explain what's going on, they are still only approximations and interpretations of what's being said. No matter how excellent a fansub is, it will never be able to convey 100% of the original meaning or feeling intended simply because it is in another language.

So, this begs the question: how exactly can we use subtitles to learn the language of our favorite shows and movies?

This is where frequent review and a few handy programs come into play. 

SRS, or short repetition systems, allows you to review and retain information by constantly exposing it to you. For what it's worth, I would vote Anki as the best resource. 

The best thing about this powerful learning tool is that it is free and can be easily made and more importantly easily shared. With repeated exposure comes understanding, which then leads to mastery as what you review becomes ingrained into your memory with long-term exposure. 

Using subs2srs, we can create decks from the subtitles we create shows and movies. These cards will contain the audio from the show/movie along with the text from the subtitles. This will act as the ultimate prize for making the subtitles--they allow us the frequent exposure needed to fully intake vocabulary and grammar found in dialogue.

This is the reason why I created Baka Neko Subs. Only through collaboration can we tackle otherwise impossibly time-consuming endeavors, and only through group teamwork will we improve in our individual language endeavors.

I'll be posting tutorials on what each step of the process of fansubtitling endeavors. Whatever level you consider yourself in Japanese, you will gain more experience and in turn both benefit and contribute to. It's as simple as that.

*While this has been widely discussed on the Internet, I personally believe in the positive role classrooms can play in language learning. That being said, I do believe the role language classes play in language acquisition should evolve to include more time for actual exposure. While quizzes, grammar explanations, and reading passages can solidify your knowledge of individual grammar points, only genuine exposure that you enjoy is the secret to continually growing in the language you hope to learn.

Baka Neko Subs: Recruitment

Hi everyone!

Baka Neko Subs has just been launched and we're looking for enthusiastic Japanese learners to help us generate community content. This can involve any of the following:

1) Finding/ generating transcripts
2) Timing
3) Editing

If you are interested, please leave a comment. Know that any contribution you make can not only advance your Japanese studies, but also help others who wish to conquer the Japanese language.

I hope to hear from you soon!

よろしくお願いします。