Ghibli Twitter Bot: Experience The Magic
Are you using Twitter to learn Japanese yet? If not, you may want to consider doing so. And if you already are, check out the Ghibli English bot.
This account tweets quotes in Japanese from the many Studio Ghibli movies and as its primary audience is Japanese people learning English. It also includes an English translation with each tweet.
The result is a constant stream of interesting and (with the help of rikaikun) easily understandable sentences. Here, for example, are eight recent tweets:
1. I was so happy that you came all that way to see me. /今日あなたが来てくれて、とても嬉しかったの(キキ/魔女の宅急便)
2. Go where you like, and live as you please. /すきな所へ行き、すきに生きな(サン/もののけ姫)
3. Take long walks, look at the scenery, doze off at noon. Don’t do a single thing. /散歩したり景色を見たり、昼寝したり、何もしない(ウルスラ/魔女の宅急便)
4. Why did you interfere with me?! Answer me before you die! /何故、私の邪魔をした!死ぬ前に答えろ!(サン/もののけ姫)
5. Painting and magical powers seem to be very similar. /魔法も、絵も似てるんだね(ウルスラ/魔女の宅急便)
6. Mom, my mind’s made up. It’s tonight. /わたし決めたの、今夜にするわね(キキ/魔女の宅急便)
7. What a cheap shop, full of cheap little hats. And you’re quite cheap-looking yourself. /安っぽい店、安っぽい帽子。あなたも十分安っぽいわね(荒地の魔女/ハウルの動く城)
8. We fly with our spirit. /血で飛ぶんだって(キキ/魔女の宅急便)
Apart from being easy to start, to finish, and then to keep on reading—which is a benefit of reading Japanese sentences on Twitter in general—these specific sentences provide one benefit more: they make watching truly great movies and the books they’re based on much easier and much more enjoyable.
For example, since many of the above quotes come from 魔女の宅急便 (Kiki’s Delivery Service), imagine decoding one sentence after another, one day after another, watching the movie, and then surprising yourself at how much of it you understand. Or imagine how much easier leveling up to the reader world will be when you bring that understanding to those books.
This is what following the Ghibli English bot, and paying attention to what it tweets, makes possible.
Perhaps as importantly, it does this without requiring you to learn how to use a tool such as Subs2SRS or to spend even more time in Anki than you already do. You can simply enjoy each line as it comes with no pressure to review it until the end of time.
Now doesn’t that sound good? If it does, be sure to look for other such bots. And if you find any that you love, please share in the comments below!
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Written by: Daniel
I love reading books in Japanese and plan to start translating them into English in 2015.
This is fantastic, thanks for passing it along!
My pleasure. And stay tuned–because I hope to share more resources like this in the future.
Thanks a whole lot, Daniel! I’m so happy I’m about to cry. Please keep posting more resources like this in the future!
I love coming here to JALUP :D
You’re very welcome and, as far as keeping more posts like this coming, I’ll do my best!