Of English Ability

So the Japanese view English in the same way the English view R.E.  It`s a governmental requirement that will never be useful in everyday life.  A learn and forget subject, if you will.

In most countries it would be difficult to escape English.  France had to legislate against the steady encroachment of the English language - Korea actively embraces the alphabet and words while reviling anyone non-Korea.  There is tons of English in Japan, just none that`s intelligible.  They`ve appropriated English and created the infamous Japlish, a kind of strange dialect that`s mostly Japanese with an English twang.

Again, most countries speak English with a native accent.  The French speak distinctively, as do Italians;  even Koreans are discernible among a crowd.  The Japanese have learned the other way round.  They speak Japanese with a slight English accent.  For example; apple becomes a-pu-ru (ru being pronounced loo), baseball becomes bay-su-ba-ru (bay pronounced as in baying), birthday becomes bir-su-da-i (bir pronounced as in bird).  I picked words that have Japanese equivalents to show that their pronunciation is about as far from English as you can manage, while still using a base English word.  Some words have been integrated into Japanese and, frankly speaking, I often don`t understand what they`re saying.

Unfortunately this passes as acceptable English here, so the English teachers work is difficult.

Another side-effect of this appropriation is class direction.  The English class is conducted entirely in Japanese, with the target word, phrase or grammar given in English.  Learning single sentences or ideas in isolation creates an environment where learning becomes more difficult, as everyone asks for the direction in Japanese, even when they understand enough to answer the question.  You don`t need to understand every word to understand the meaning of a sentence.  Maybe you do in Japanese, but this severely hinders progress in English.

This is exemplified when, having a class for a mere five minutes (the teacher was busy administering a health checkup (teeth, if you`re interested) for his homeroom class) I managed to get them to understand, with no prior knowledge, the units of measurement for weight and height.  I had them guessing my height and weight, and saying their own.  I didn`t ask the weight questions of any of the girls, in case you`re wondering.

The point being that, learned in isolation, this would have taken an entire class, were the lesson conducted in Japanese.  Sure, retention might well be lower, as the students were unable to take notes during class, but over a period of time, reinforcing this for a couple of minutes each lesson, the students would naturally remember information in this way.

I presume the school has a set syllabus for learning English, and they will stick to it rigidly; just as our French and German lessons were conducted in England.  There are myriad parallels to be drawn between our systems, as the Japanese government styled itself on English and american parliamentary systems, education systems and to a lesser extent health systems after the war.  Unfortunately, they inherited all the problems we have with foreign language teaching - a side-effect of not creating their own unique system, tailored to the specific weaknesses of Japanese students.