English language in Japan

The history of the English language in Japan spans much of the 20th century. Throughout that period, and at the present time, English-language study is a required part of Japanese education system for any junior-high-school student who aspires to high school or college education in Japan (Kitao, et al. 4ff). Primary-school English study was introduced in Japan in 2002. But it has been noted that Japanese use of English is highly variable and that because the respective structures of the two languages are so different, Japanese learners and even fluent speakers of English frequently have trouble with English pronunciation conventions (Childs). Kobayashi attributes this to the fact that, until recently, Japanese children did not begin learning English until middle/junior high school, at age 13.

The perception of deficiencies in the Japanese system of language education has fed a rather abundant linguistic-instruction industry in Japan. That industry has also been fed, for nearly 15 years, by certain realities of corporate industry more generally--in particular the explosion of the Internet, which is overwhelmingly dominated by the English language and which continues to expand as a means of doing business internationally. It is also the case that, over the course of the 1990s and into the first decade of the 21st century, the linguistic stakes have been raised for Japan, which has floundered economically in a long-term recession.

In 1990, Japan was still considered an economi

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view. One view is that they are an inferior means of communicating, which has the effect of valorizing the academic methods of using the language, such as rote recitation, while more or less ignoring the conversational approach. That feeds the tendency toward academic, written-word, and/or rote instruction rather than interactive learning. The whole matter is complicated by the fact that the TOEFL is structured, not along classical textbook lines, but rather in a way that rewards conversational English ability. Childs's view is that it makes more sense to think of English-language learning as a process that requires interactive, conversational practice rather than study. He advises embracing idiosyncratic Japanese-English conventions if that helps people comprehend and use the language with ease. Phonetics and grammar, which do have a more academic focus, can come later (Childs "Future"). Meanwhile, the public-policy discourse of English use and instruction in Japan continues. In 2000, a ministry-level advisory panel that then Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi "set a target of having all Japanese citizens function fairly well in English-speaking situations before they enter the work force" and advocated "hiring more foreign English-spe

Category: Foreign - E