Dinosaur King: Learning Japanese with Anime

This blog post has moved here to the new Foreign Language Fun site.  See you there!

My dinosaur-obsessed little boy has a new favorite show–Dinosaur King.  We were searching YouTube for the first episode, when we stumbled upon the original Japanese version of the cartoon.  My son was just as absorbed by the dinosaur action as if the words were in his native English.  Here’s a clip:

While I don’t advocate watching anime as an effective way to learn Japanese, it is an awfully fun way for kids to hear the sounds of an unfamiliar foreign language.  

So I went in search of a good online site for teaching Japanese to kids and I found a gold mine!  You’ve just got to explore Kids Web Japan.  Go to the green menu on the left of the screen for language lessons.  These are some of the best online children’s lessons I’ve seen in any language:  written text, audio, cute cartoons, simple grammar, alphabet, and exercises.  You’ll also find language learning anime with subtitles and time to repeat useful phrases. 

Here’s what we’ve learned so far:

• Konnichiwa – Good Afternoon
• Arigato - Thank you
• Hai – Yes
• Iie – No
• Sayonara – Goodbye
• Kodai Ōja Kyōryū Kingu - Ancient Ruler Dinosaur King

Hopefully, Dinosaur King in Japanese will be the springboard I need to introduce my little anime fan to a new foreign language.