Let me explain why I say ‘toddler shows’ instead of ‘kids shows’. I’m not looking for, for example, a really easy anime to watch that a 7 year old might watch and understand, because I can’t understand that much yet. I’m wondering if anybody knows about any of the really easy shows parents let their toddlers watch which are actually made to help them learn to speak.
Sure, it might be a bit boring to watch, but I want to slowly build up my listening, and this might help with my vocabulary too.
it’s kind of hard to find but はじめてのおつかい might be good. It’s about really young children being sent to go buy groceries on their own, so beginners would be able to understand most of what the children say and what the parents say to them. And you can pick up grocery related vocab too It’s crazy cute and honestly pretty easy to understand even for people who don’t know Japanese
I was at a Japanese family’s house for a playdate this week, and the kids watched a dvd of this show: おかあさんといっしょ. Apparently this is toddler tv that has been around since the seventies.
Depending on your region, you can watch this on the NHK website.
Ah yeah, when I’m travelling in Japan, I tend to have the hotel TV on for some background listening in the evenings, and that show is often airing. Along with several others of the same genre. It’s that sort of time bracket, after all.
Omg, I’ve seen Peppa Pig so often (I have a 5 year old) I never thought to look for something like that for my early Japanese learning.
Now when I watch it, I understand it all (which is super encouraging) and I feel this is a good show for beginners to watch.
That said… having watched Peppa so often already (because of the kid) it kinda gets on my nerves now.
In preparation for the N3 I watched Sesame Street in Japanese. They speak faster than in this Peppa show, and it’s probably a little higher. (but probably too easy for N3). What I liked about it, is that they don’t shy away from the harder words. Instead if they come across something kids might not understand, they explain it, which I loved.
For example, one episode was about autism, and I didn’t know the Japanese word for it, but through their explanation, I understood what they meant.
Ooo Sesame Street sounds like a good show to watch for practise! I won’t be able to understand enough of it yet, but I’ll try to keep it in mind for the future! Thank you
I find Sesame Street pretty easy to understand even if you don’t understand much Japanese. Another fun and simple video series for absolute beginners is PuniPuniJapan.
This one is really great actually. It’s such a cute series and the episodes are pretty short, so you won’t get overwhelmed I feel.
How about Crayon Shin-chan? I know there are a lot of mixed opinions on it, and I haven’t watched it myself, but that’s a children’s show still isn’t it?
Also, if you don’t mind older anime, there is of course Doraemon, which it’s near infinite number of episodes to watch.
And Anpanman (アンパンマン) of course. It’s pretty popular so it should be a pretty decent choice for a kids show to give a try, if you haven’t already.
Completely off topic, but parents have to commiserate; it really is the worst, isn’t it? Pepper is a self entitled little so and so, haha. It’s a shame that my son likes to watch it so much
Autocorrect (I’m on a tablet) - I’ve watched enough of it to be intimately familiar with Peppa, George, etc
If you had to watch it constantly, it might start to grate on your nerves a little more, I think that’s why I’ve taken a dislike to it, haha. See also Paw Patrol (who gives a child control of the entire emergency services department of a small town?! Also, why can the dogs talk, but the cats not?)
I don’t know what its target demographic is, but I remember seeing bono bono on crunchyroll. Its episodes are about 5 minutes long and the content seems to be pretty simple (not sure about the grammar though).
It’s crazy cute and honestly pretty easy to understand even for people who don’t know Japanese
