Comments on: On Not Speaking English in Japan

By: Nicole

Nicole — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 18:27:14 +0000

LOL!! Wonder if anyone got that…

By: owwls

owwls — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 14:24:14 +0000

Yeah I wish I knew how to stop them from laughing at mistakes. I almost want to tell them, “You learn English through making mistakes.” Its like, if we could get the kids to realize how afraid of mistakes they are, and then to, like, Ganbatte! through it, maybe they’d start seeing screw-ups as noble and good, haha. :) We can dream…

By: Cori

Cori — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 14:21:25 +0000

Even if you could teach your students more natural English (and we do try) and you threw out the books, the students would fail the tests, which is unfortunately, all that seems to matter.

By: youmeandatanuki

youmeandatanuki — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 21:49:17 +0000

Great story, a good example of the English learning differences in other countries. I’ve been teaching English in japan for two years now and often see kids get laughed at for making a mistake. I’ve been trying to get my elementary school kids in the habit of saying any English they know, regardless of correct grammar or even correct words. As long as they try to communicate with me in English, I’m happy. Because really, that’s what a language is, a tool for communication. I was so thrilled when one of the elementary school students turned to me and said, “today me mother happy birthday.” she wanted to tell me it was her mother’s birthday and didn’t care that she didnt know the correct way to say it. Hopefully the elementary school kids will continue to foster this challenge spirit. One can hope.

By: zoomingjapan

zoomingjapan — Thu, 31 May 2012 12:48:05 +0000

I’ve been teaching English in Japan for 5 years now.
I’m not a native speaker of English and I had to learn quite a few foreign languages throughout my life as well. Among them are English, French, Spanish, Latin and later Japanese.
My native language is German.

With all that experience in studying languages I was quite shocked when I saw how it was done in Japan at first. And I was also shocked to see what I could do in jr. high and that Japanese high school students wouldn’t be able to do it, probably even university students would struggle.

I think waht you said is ONE reason. Definitely.
It’s not only about giving a wrong answer, but they’re also not used to speak out loud, sharing their opinion! Most of them don’t even practice that in Japanese, so there’s no way they can do it in English.

The Japanese school system has to be evaluated and changed. It’s old-fashioned and especially nowadays it doesn’t work well anymore. It might still somewhat work for subjects like math, but not with a spoken language like English.

They study to pass tests only. They can solve the most difficult grammar problems. They have studied tons of vocabs. However, they lack actual output practice. They cannot write an essay, they cannot have a normal conversation. They never get to practice it.
They don’t learn how to USE English (read: how to communicate in English), they only learn how to pass their tests.

Thanks for this great blog post!

By: owwls

owwls — Thu, 31 May 2012 12:00:35 +0000

Yup. Learning Japanese in America I did OK, got As, impressed a few classmates. Came to Japan and it was like a huge buzzer started ringing everytime I said “ni” instead of “e.” Even the very dedicated Japanese instructors would cut me off mid-sentence if I got my particles wrong.

The baby step idea – the idea of laying a foundation and slowly refining it – is kind of contrary to Japan’s “break it into a billion perfect parts” philosophy. You screw up your ni and e or wo and wa and that’s it, tear down the building and start over again.

A giant pain in the ass for every gaikokujin.

By: Nicole Yamagawa

Nicole Yamagawa — Thu, 31 May 2012 11:54:35 +0000

It sounds ridiculous, but I just realized that that mentality might be contagious…
I have been in Japan for almost a year now, and I’ve studied Japanese at a language school for roughly 8 months. My listening, writing and reading are pretty okay, but my speech is a completely different story. I have good pronouncation when I do speak, and my grammar isn’t that bad either, but in reality I rarely do speak. Basically I have become paranoid when it comes to opening my mouth and communicating with Japanese people, even some of my teachers at school.
I have never been so paranoid about speaking (and making mistakes) a language as I am with Japanese.
When I first came here (before I started school – when my Japanese was pretty limited as well, I might add) I spoke a lot more than I do now.. Somewhere along the way, I then developed this paranoia and so now I am more likely to sit quietly than risk making a mistake. Of course it might have to do with the culture in itself, as you describe in your post, and once you’ve been here long enough, you notice it. I wouldn’t call my teachers or Japanese people in general rude (quite the opposite), but there’s definately a difference in how they react to failure than what I am used to.. Even as a foreigner, I can relate to that pressure that I’m sure Japanese people feel in terms of English..
The problem with being so afraid of failing, is that you’ll never get the chance to really learn though…

By: owwls

owwls — Thu, 31 May 2012 11:17:41 +0000

One of the myths about “teaching English in Japan” is that you are actually a teacher… Native speakers are rarely able to pass the Japanese exams, earn the certifications, or get hired. Instead, we’re what’s called “ALTs” – Assistant Language Teachers. This means we are permanently handed an “assistant” label, meaning our classes are never alone and always approved by a full time, Japan-trained teacher.

This basically means your lessons are under the eye of a dictatorship. Certainly, there are benevolent dictators, but at the end of the day, you’re still not given the freedom to teach as you’d like.

By: owwls

owwls — Thu, 31 May 2012 11:15:16 +0000

He who controls the rice, controls the universe…

By: owwls

owwls — Thu, 31 May 2012 11:14:27 +0000

What? You mean Jesus don’t speak American!? (JK)

Anyway – no worries about blog spam! Def. a relevant take on the issue…