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I, too, notice that a large number of anime fans don't care to learn but a few words of Japanese, the most prominent being simple words like "sugoi", "desu", and "kawaii". Anime is the medium that first sparked my interest in Japan and their culture, and unlike many fans I thought it would definitely be useful to learn the language of the country I'm so interested in. I haven't had a proper class, though, so what I do know from listening and reading I know is comparable to the knowledge of a Japanese preschooler or Kindergarten student. There are other anime fans that believe they know half the language with just a few words, though.

Without formal lessons, Japanese is an incredibly hard language to learn for a foreigner, with hirigana and katakana on top of thousands of other symbols as well as a general sentence and grammar structure that is so different than that of languages that are Germanic or Latin in origin. This is probably one of the main reasons most fans don't care to learn the language and instead rely on subtitles.

It takes a long time to become fluent in any language that you're not born speaking, so this may be another factor in why anime fans don't learn Japanese. I won't hesitate to say that a large percentage of anime fans outside of Japan are preteens, teens, and young adults that have smaller attention spans and patience than others, so learning a deeply complex language would probably not be number 1 on their 'to do' list.

I think maybe because learning a language is tough to do sometimes, it's something you have to practice constantly to be able to keep up. (I took french 1, 2, and 3 and I have forgotten a lot over the years). Also like someone above said, Japanese is a language only used in Japan. It is not something we encounter often in our daily lives, so it seems less useful than Spanish since there are tons of spanish speakers in America. And for some there may be no language courses offered for Japanese (my school only had Spanish, French, German, and Latin) so they may not have a way to learn other than crappy websites or can't pay for expensive computer courses like Rosetta Stone.

I myself know just the basics of Japanese despite watching anime for many years. I'd need to really study it in a classroom to learn (I can't learn languages on my own :p) I just pick some stuff up and look things up every once in a while. But I don't go around using the words like those annoying people who say "kawaii" all the time. I know my Japanese knowledge is low so I don't use the words all the time. I would like to learn, but it really isn't a useful language for where I live and I cannot learn without others to learn with me (cause I get the hang of actually talking and listening).

I am a huge Anime fan, and though I would love to to hear Anime in its original form (not English dubbed) I wonder were else could I possibly speak that language except for Japan. Its not like English, Spanish, or French were over 20 countries speak it. After learning Japanese I would eventually have to live there for some time. Though I'm in love with the culture I wonder how the Japanese will view me (be being a black female an all). I hear it's a great place to visit, but a very hard place to live especially for those who are not Japanese. I do know a couple of phrases though :-) , and I will still love to go to Japan one day.

Everything takes time. Learning a language might take months or even years. Not everyone has that much free time. Some people who do have the time and keep wishing they knew Japanese instead of trying to learn it are lazy. On the other hand, if there's no other use for the language, then why bother, right? Unless they plan on living in Japan it would be impractical. Perhaps they could talk to other anime enthusiasts in Japanese.

Unlike Spanish (which has dozens of millions of speakers in the United States), Japanese is not a very common language here and I would presume that it's even rarer in other non-Asian countries (Australia excluded, lol). That said, not all colleges and universities even have a Japanese program (though virtually all of the larger universities do). Foreign languages are fascinating to many but in regard to academics, they are not often a priority as most students prefer to take elective courses that tie into their major course of study or their potential career.

It's not just Japanese that gets this treatment. Many people (myself included) love foreign cinema of all nations and though I've watched several dozen French, German, and Italian language films, I never thought that it would be practical or even "fun" to officially learn a language. If you hear something enough times, you do pick up on specific word meanings and in some cases, the proper pronunciation (yet rarely the proper context) but learning anything beyond that takes a dedication and amount of time that most people either dont have (as was my case as a student) or don't want to spend. I wouldn't think less of people for spending their academic time in a different manner.

For the record, I've been watching anime for roughly 15 years and though the culture is interesting (after all, it's not my own) I'm much more interested in the specific stories of the anime and less interested in the culture portrayed within it. I've read enough about Japan to sate my interest in the nation (particularly its arts) but there's nothing else that I really want or need to know in order to understand the context of the anime that I've watched. I do not think there's anything wrong with wanting to explore a culture more thoroughly but in my opinion, to many Westerners (particularly Americans) view Japan in a wholly pristine light and I think that's very, very problematic because it consciously idealizes the society while completely ignoring it's conflicts. Not all who explore Japanese culture do this but there are far too many who do and as such, I think those people tend to scare off those more casual fans who might otherwise make the effort to learn more about the society.

I take it the people you speak of are English speakers, yes?

For an English speaking person, Japanese is probably a really hard language to learn, and vice versa. Japanese doesn't use letters, they use symbols. Plus, the sentence structure of English is Subject-verb-object, (I am a student), while Japanese is Subject-object-verb (Watashi wa gakusei desu). So, to form a sentence or phrase is kinda hard (for me anyway) because you have to think a little differently to form a sentence and you gotta remember all the hiragana, katakana, and Kanji. Whereas English is only 26 letters. So for an anime fan, it's easier to memorize certain words rather than attempt to learn the entire language.

There are many different reasons to why they don't wanna learn Japanese. Many of them just enjoy the animations, or hear the language but hardly have the courage to learn it, etc etc. Btw, I can speak Japanese fluently myself, since I'm Japanese.

Just in case you ever meet an anime-fan who wants to learn Japanese, make sure to tell them that it isn't best to learn the whole language of Japanese through anime. Since you have a minor in Japanese, you should be able to understand what I mean. :D

While I love Japanese manga and animation, I don't really see the point of learning Japanese if its translated (manga), or dubbed/subbed (anime).

I lived in the Netherlands till I was 6 years old, but I now live in Canada and I had to learn to speak, read and write in English and French. From that experience I know how hard it is to learn another language. Plus with learning English and French I had people to practice with everyday, I know nobody who can speak fluent Japanese (except my piano teacher and shes in her 60s). :P

I actually wanted to for years but really I do not have the money to afford a decent learning program. It is not as simple as looking things up it may be but I have looked things up and it is all different you need an actual instructor or a top notch program so that you do not use words in wrong order or incorrectly. If someone gave me a free program that really worked I would gladly learn to speak japanese.

I am not crazy about anime. On rare occasions I will choose to watch an anime movie or series, and I'm only able to stick with it if it's extremely good. "Akira", all Hayao Miyazaki films and "Death Note" were outstanding, hence why I adore them. "Akira" is great for obvious reasons. I have no reason to go into it. It was one of the originals, and to this day remains a standout piece of Japanese popular culture. Hayao Miyazaki is simply a cinematic genius... his imagination is, as far as I'm concerned, unrivaled. It's just that what American directors such as Tim Burton do with CGI and real film, he does with drawings and paintings. Nothing wrong with that. "Death Note" was just fabulous. It was dark, twisted, didn't have a real protagonist... essentially "Death Note" had everything that I like about literature ("V for Vendetta", "Paradise Lost", "Frankenstein", etc. all follow the same concept). It was genuinely brilliant. I've tried watching other supposedly "similar" anime series but I just don't like them. There are too many like... robots and sh*t like that lmao... and the characters have all sorts of crazy colored/styled hair with eyes and body types that don't even look human. I find it hard to imagine that any anime series can compare to "Death Note." I must admit, I have a slight crush on both L and Mello, but it's not an, "OMG I want to date him!" sort of crush. It's just a, "Damn... all of the guys in my school are complete idiots... where are the super-geniuses?" crush. I don't necessarily find them hot, per se. They're just very interesting characters. I wish that Mello had been developed more, because he was easily the most human out of L, Light and Near combined, but hey, what are you gonna do?