Why are Japanese poor at English?
If you are in a big city like Tokyo, then most likely you will find some people who can speak english well.
But, all most Japanese people speak English a little, but our (the Japanese) English is not useful at all.
It is because English is very text-based in the Japanese school system.
Whoever said that the Japanese school system is horrible is wrong.
Japanese uses over 600 imported English words in common speech.
But, we(Japanese people) also refers to mispronunciation of English in a funny way.
In spoken Japanese, for example, Michael Jackson becomes "maikeru jakuson", "Apple" becomes "appuru".
Japanese has only five vowels.
It might be one of the causes that the pronunciation of Japanese people's English is strange.
But, the real cause is a public education system for Japan.
"Cramming; education that places emphasis on memorization".
Between after World War II and 1990, this was general in Japan.
And, only "theory, calculation, and writing" has been valued.
Therefore, the Japanese has studied "Difficult English to writing in the examination".
As a result, Japanese's English is very unskilled.
A cultural propensity towards reticence
In many countries, fluency in English can mean a better-paying, more rewarding job or the chance to make a living from foreign tourists, but this is very rare in Japan.
Japanese has assimilated a great deal of vocabulary from English recently, and many popular Japanese songs and television themes will feature a disjointed phrase or two in English among the mostly Japanese lyrics.
As a result, strange Japanized English is made in Japan.
In Japan, there is copious information available in Japanese about every possible subject, real Japanese don't speak English.
When the foreigner asks something in English, most Japanese say, "I cannot speak English".
And, they run away from there.
I might do instinctively so, too.
Challenges to English teaching at elementary schools
While other parts of Asia, including South Korea and China, have already introduced compulsory English teaching in elementary schools, Japan hasn't officially introduced it yet.
In fact, English teaching at Japanese elementary schools began in 2002.
Since then, most schools throughout Japan have introduced it, but it's not mandatory, and so its frequency and the curricula vary greatly from school to school.
Finally, from the spring of 2011, the English Activities curriculum will be officially introduced to every elementary school as mandatory for fifth- and sixth-graders.
The curriculum is planned to focus on improving children's communicative skills in English, rather than focusing on grammar or vocabulary.
Now schools are trying to prepare for the change, but it seems many teachers are worried.
English education in Japan has long focused on reading and writing, rather than speaking or listening.
So, many of the English teachers are not confident of their communicative skills.
They say they need more training before the curriculum starts, but it seems that time is running out.
The people that might be able to allay their concerns are private English teachers.
Teachers with a "J-SHINE" qualification are especially well trained for teaching English at elementary schools.
J-SHINE:
The conference of the recognition of an English leader of the elementary school (Abbreviation: J-SHINE) is NPO that applies to the Cabinet Office as "NPO" in February, original and 2003 of the outline "The spread and the development of English Language Education in the elementary school are supported" in Japan, and recognizes the qualification of the English Language Education leader established by private initiative.Education various groups in the whole country cooperate to promote English Language Education in the elementary school in Japan in this conference, the training of the leader in elementary school English is aimed at, and the system to support an elementary school English activity on an educational site in the whole country is made up.
Many of them have already been helping out in English classes, and it seems more and more people are now trying to get the qualification to be J-SHINE teachers.
It may not be easy at first, but teachers with different qualities and experience can work together to overcome the challenge.
Hararie
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