As a foreigner in Japan who currently teaches English, it’s impossible to avoid having an opinion on a policy of mandatory second-language education. Deas from rockinginhakata.com commented on bilingualism (particularly of English and Spanish in the States), but I want to take one step back, towards second-language education in a general scope.
In terms of English education in Japan, I don’t feel it should be mandatory. That may come off as a surprising stance coming from an English teacher, as it effictively undermines my position, but as an individual I am not married to the idea that English is a necessary skill on the international stage, and I’m much more enthralled by education and knowledge in general than any specific area.
A few years ago, a third-year high school student of mine was preparing for entrance into a prestigious university in Tokyo. I asked her if she would continue studying English, to which, without any hesitation, she answered “No.” Her real interest was in Spanish, and that’s what she would be focusing on. “Man,” I thought, “If only you had started studying Spanish from the beginning and saved yourself this whole waste-of-time on English.” Her English education was a waste of time, but necessary for both graduation and university entrance requirements.
This is just one area of Japanese education that needs reform. I may be castigated by opponents of the American educational system who refuse to find anything good in it, but it would benefit the Japanese Board of Education to use the U.S. model for language education as a rough foundation. In the U.S. system, no specific language is required, but two-years of a foreign language is required, be it Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Swedish, Dutch, Russian, or even sign language. The board of education should give students an option, and they should also provide adequate information outlining the utility of individual foreign languages in “The Real World”. They may even go one step further and match-up useful languages based on the students’ intended professions.
Similarly, Japanese language skills for foreigners in Japan should be promoted by (not required) Japanese government bodies. Many foreigners (especially Westerners) have absolutely no drive to learn the language because they either lack long-term goals in the country or they don’t see the use in the effort. That’s fine. They shouldn’t be required to learn the language, but they will need to accept the consequences of not doing so – No potential for career advancement, inconveniences in everyday life, limited social capacity, etc.
The foreigners who do choose to pursue Japanese should be “rewarded” for their efforts as a token of appreciation from the government recognizing that the individual is trying to integrate themselves into society. These “rewards” may come in the form of longer visa grants and slightly relaxed requirements for immigration and permanent residency. There might even be government-sponsored (affordable, convenient) Japanese courses provided, perhaps even through a correspondance course. (I think the JET program has something like this, doesn’t it?) Opponents of the “reward system” will speak disparagingly of the idea (and most often the outcry will be over the difficulty of the language), but what it ultimately comes down to is showing just how much you are willing to invest in society. Again, they’ll have to face the consequences of not learning the language.
The point I’m driving at is that there are advantages to learning second languages, but those advantages don’t apply to everyone, and so requiring any specific language will produce a lot of wasted efforts, time, and money. Sure, you can consider English the “international language”, but what if your future career track will bring you into contact with Spain more often, or other Spanish speaking countries? Or Germany? Or France? How useful is English then? Yes, you can argue that the business transactions in those countries should also be conducted in English, but there is no doubt that speaking the lingua franca gives you a major upper-hand. (Especially when doing business in Japanese!) It is the responsibility of the government to promote languages, and provide resources outlining their utility. It is the responsibility of citizens to make their own choices’ regarding foreign language study, and any skills they choose not to have are the results’ of their own decisions’.
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{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
As a Dutchman who had to learn English, German and French (required) at school (and hated having to learn German and French) I agree that learning too much of a foreign language is a waste of time.
However — most people (in Europe, as much as in Asia) grow up in a very small world; covering just their town and friends. Foreign languages are usually the only window they will (ever) get at looking at the world around them.
English isn’t ideal — but if you can master one language another one is easier.
The Japanese should really be learning Chinese — a major trading partner — and for them it is a lot easier than learning English. But that is probably politically incorrect.
Yes, language learning is time-consuming. Life is too short to learn more than a few of the languages on earth. My non-native languages are French, German, Welsh and Esperanto. I would like to argue the case for wider use of Esperanto as the international language. It is a young planned language which belongs to no one country or group of states. Take a look at http://www.esperanto.net
I’ve used Esperanto in speech and writing in a dozen countries over recent years.
I wholeheartedly agree with this idea. It may not be perfect, but surely it’s better than the current model.
Japan could be well off doing electives in general. BTW, the only time I was ever required to take a language was in college, and even then only two semesters. Unfortunately, Japanese was so unpopular at my school that there was only one class a day and I had a scheduling conflict with other required stuff, so I had a year between classes. Higher education is a bit of a joke to me with it’s ideas of making people “rounder” by forcing it upon them, and even high school is iffy in usefulness. I much rather advocate work training and apprenticeships.
belay that it’s typo
I like the idea of apprenticeships.
Jolly ol’ Charles Chetwood: “How ’bout it then Tim?”
Timothy Littlebury: “I started me apprentice with me master the blacksmith.”
Actually, to make it a bit more modern,
Jolly ol’ Charles Chetwood: “How ’bout it then Tim?”
Timothy Littlebury: “I started me apprentice with me master the information technology and data systems analyst.”
Oh, and that’s not to say we can teach subjects in a holistic way. For instance, math studiers would give presentations to keep their people skills working, etc…
Clay – I totally agree with your take on higher education’s forcing “well-roundedness” on people. It’s a huge waste of time.
>saved yourself this whole waste-of-time on English.
Well, I didn’t care for many of my subjects in school either. You can’t leave it up to children to decide which classes to take.
She doesn’t care if her English atrophies. She doesn’t care about it. It was just required of her to get into university where she would be able to study what she really wanted to from the first place – Spanish.
Sure you can – They’re called “electives”. Don’t you remember meeting with a counselor to lay out your semester schedule?
Math and Science are universal, but English is not. English is mandatory in schools because it’s mandatory for entrance into universities. Change the entrance requirements to something more flexible like “three years of a foreign language”, then we’re getting somewhere. I’m sure the majority would still study English, though. But it’s still nice to have options.
Most university students without knowledge of English would be in trouble. Many (in some countries most) research papers and books are published in English, even in non-English countries. It is the common language in the academic world.
Also English has the highest number of speakers (native+non-native) worldwide. It makes sense to find one common ground for everyone in a time of globalization.
With the complexity of English, I don’t think it makes a good international language. I just don’t support English as a dominating language.
If Spanish formatted it’s verb conjugation system, that might be a better choice, with a far lower level of redundancy than English.
So you propose changing the educational system of countries worldwide by replacing English as the first foreign language with Spanish?
English evolved to the most spoken language in a long historical process. That can’t be changed by ruling. Otherwise we would all be speaking Esperanto or something similar.
And the biggest obstacle would probably be the countries with native English. Would be hard to get them to actually learn Spanish. lol
I’m saying that no policy should be forced. There should be a lot of encouragement and information for people to make decisions about which language to study.
Naturally, English will remain at the top. Most people perceive the greatest utility in English, although for the most part they don’t ever get to use English on the job. But, at least people who have goals that will take them places where it’d be more convenient to learn a language other than English will have the option to study towards them as an alternative.
This is not limited to the student I used as an example. Another friend of mine (who I actually met in a Korean program that we were both enrolled in) majored in Chinese so she could work for a company based on international commerce with China. Of course she studied English to get into her uni, but after that she focused entirely on Chinese and even went over to the country to study as an exchange student for a year. If she had studied Chinese in the first place, she would have been able to expand her skill set further beyond commerce and language. (Like in international policies, etc.)
You are right about getting English speakers to learn a second language – For the most part they see no merit in it, because of the widespread use of English internationally, and then they get their feathers ruffled when they travel abroad and encounter language barriers that they feel shouldn’t be there for them. And this isn’t even limited to tourists! Have you heard some of the demands of English teachers in Japan? They absolutely refuse to learn Japanese.
Im just trying to write a persuasive essay on foreign language and im making ZERO progress. I need a cup of coffee. Help me.
That’s kind of vague. Regarding what? Utility in business? Expanding source materials in different languages? For use as a secret code with your significant other while out in society?
Hey Alex,
Good article. I have to agree with you when it comes to forcing
Japanese youth to learn English – at least for those who want to
enter University. It seems like a lot of the students are frustrated
by this lack of choice, but approach as something that is “しょうがない.”
Random question: Do you think Japanese feel they MUST speak to foreigners
in English? I am already fluent in Japanese – although with MUCH room for improvement – but when I meet new people, they always seem to have a need to speak English, despite their lack of ability and it breaking down our communication. I guess it is an unexpected outcome of being forced to learn English for six years, and then not using it: By speaking in English, despite being unnecessary, it consoles a Japanese person by making them feel their time was not wasted studying English.
I hope that makes sense, and I would love to here your comment on it.
Again, nice blog.
I know what you mean about Japanese unnecessarily using English with foreigners who speak Japanese, but more recently I’ve noticed a big change in the way Japanese interact with me. These days they tend to speak with me in Japanese and only Japanese, and I can only theorize that the reason is because I’ve developed a much more commanding presence in Japanese society. I don’t feel like a guest here, and I’m certainly not timid about speaking in Japanese, and I suppose people respond to that. It certainly wasn’t the case when I was still a student studying in Tokyo.
Regarding the idea of 仕様がない, that concept is one of my biggest pet peeves. Of course in Korea you hear a lot of complaints about the state of affairs in many areas of life (particularly international relations), but it’s a lot better than the apathetic attitude of 仕様がない. I’m waiting for the next generation of Japanese to finally rise up and expand on their position in the international community, and diversify their skillsets as human beings. I suppose we could start by doing away with individual university entrance exams and “school for tests” instead of “school for life”.
Thanks for the comment, Tyson! Hope to see you around on future posts as well!