[steven]

Umm, I've never actually thought of the process of using subtitles to not using subtitles a transition like training wheels/no training wheels.

For me, it was more like a decision that I just didn't want to use subtitles any more because I found it wasn't helping. So in that sense, using subtitles would be like sitting in one of those cars that bikes can tow that are made for little kids.

To describe it a little more straight- I personally think that hearing 100% and understanding 100% of everything in a television show is a very uncommon thing (I'm talking about even in your native langauge).

The thing is, you've heard the language enough to fill in the blanks (something that your brain does for you most of the time). If you study about eyes, you will discover a similar thing (we all have certain blind spots that the brain basically fills in for us).

I've never seen any reasons for why or how we can fill in these gaps (aurally speaking), but I have my own ideas. I think it has a lot to do with understanding the rhythm and intonation of the language. You can discern a lot of information by the cadence of a sentence. I think it also has to do with certain phrases being used extremely often in spoken language. Certain phrases are idiosyncratic to certain languages... a lot of these phrases aren't written so it's hard to study them in books and are something that you just have to hear over and over to pick up. Lastly, context is huge. You can make a lot of assumptions based on context alone. Before someone even opens their mouth, we often know what they're gonna say. Certain people say certain things, so I think that is why we can often finish close friends' sentences.

So it is my opinion that using subtitles will occupy certain functions of your brain that might be better used to just observe and absorb. You don't have to know every single thing that is going on in a television show. Even if you know the language perfectly, there may be a lot of cultural/pop culture references going on. I can remember quite well being in preschool and even in early elementary school and not understanding a good portion of what was being said in movies.

When people study a language they have too much pressure to try to understand all the fine details of everything. Sometimes you just have to smile and pretend you know what's going on as to not disrupt things. Being adults puts us at a disadvantage because we often can't go through that stage of "what's this" "what's that" that 3-4 year old kids have.

And if you can speak Korean, then I think you may be right about the grammar thing. I've heard the languages are extremely similar in that regard. However, I would watch out for "false friends" (which I think could exist grammatically speaking as well). It might be a mistake to take Korean phrases and apply them to the same/similar situations in Japanese. I suspect you could get by a lot of the time, but you'd probably end up with a very discernable Korean-ness to your Japanese. It's often said that Korean people do just fine blending in linguistically speaking in Japan, but there are a lot of cultural things that give them away. With that in mind, you might consider reading up on the culture as a study-supplement. I know the two cultures are similar, but really reading up on the nuances of Japanese language-culture is super important (probably more-so for European/American/Australian born people though).