Konnichiwa Mike-san:

It has been more than 30 years since I first knew that the Japanese are said to have insufficient proficiency of the spoken English. A great number of people who are supposedly very concerned about this matter have been criticizing for dozens of years the nationwidely practiced English teaching methods in school in Japan. Some say English teachers in any school should be qualified English speakers. Others emphasize that a lot more native English speakers should be employed in school for improving the proficiency of spoken English of Japanese English learners. The current English teaching methods which excessively attach importance how to pass the exams for successful entrance to prestigious colleges should be abolished. In a word, few people think that the current foreign language class in Japanese school is good enough to educate the students to be more international-minded.

Then what measures have been taken to improve the education so far? Nothing. Are the Japanese indifferent to the English language education? Definitely no. In fact, it is the other way round. A great many people here are aware that the Japanese should have more international outlook through English education. There are reasons that the words of "kokusai-jin (international-minded people) or kokusai-ka (internationalization)" have become everyday expressions now in our country, although their definitions are not very clear. The people do not seem to hesitate to spend billions of yen on a nationwide scale for learning English in Japan. But my intuitive impression is that the proficiency of English of college or high school students of the present, except ones who have got education abroad, are no better than that of my generation(I was born in 1943). No remarkable improvement of the proficiency of English learners seems to have been made since at least 30 years ago. Nothing has changed since.

I cannot give any academic explanations why Japanese students are that slow in learning colloquial English, for that matter, French, German, Chinese and any other foreign languages.

My limited experience and amateurish observation acquired in formative years tell that time-honoured Japanese culture has deeply affected the development of the skill of speech of Japanese nation.When the Japanese go abroad, they are said to be punctual, always very polite and well-dressed but stick together and rarely open their mouths. As the matter of fact, the Japanese stick together and blend with the crowd with shared background wherever they go. It seems to me that the Japanese have the "communal harmony syndrome".

In the Japanese society, there is an unwritten, unspoken law that no one must dare to excel, no one must be allowed to fall behind, all should seek the middle ground. This law is applicable on any ages of the Japanese, young and old, men and women. The people apply this law on children as young as 4 or 5 years old who have just started preschool education.

In a classroom, all the children learn the significance of "communal harmony and conformity" which will turn out to be the key of survival when they have grown up. Unlike in the United States, the children in Japan are never taught how to be self- assertive in public. To be talkative is least encouraged in any groups or communities in Japan. Eloquence is most discouraged. "Smooth talker" represents a totally negative person with no integrity in most cases.The people learn how to be quiet, obedient, docile, unobtrusive, and group-oriented before they become the age of reason. Spontaneity is least appreciated. Self-assertiveness is the last thing to be acquired in the community. So, the children come to know it is rather safe to speak or talk hesitatingly, falteringly, or indecisively in soft and low voice with coyly body motions or effeminate mannerism, when they have to speak something in public. Unlike the Americans, the Japanese are far less criticizing about being of shyness or reserved attitude. In fact, a person with these dispositions is sometimes more favorably accepted than one of great self- assertiveness.

The young children learn in the institutional education systems that they should not contradict others, especially elder persons, not to be argumentative, not to be criticizing. They are never taught in school how to practice logical argument or they never learn the significance of debating. It is true in Japan that launching a dinner table discussion about the deeper meanings of life provokes frowns, and awkward silence and a quick change of subjects. Holding a debate, discussion, or argument in a group will likely spoil the communal harmony. When they have to hold them by necessity, they have the process of gaining prior informal approval from all concerned parties, even though it is not a very common case.

If someone tries to show off his excellent ability to do some- thing in a classroom, he is most likely to be turned down, or in the worst case, humiliated by the rest of the classmates unless their teacher gives him an authorization to do so.

In such a way, the children learn that they should be more prudent when they want to speak something in the classroom. As a result of trying to be very careful, they become gradually timid to do or speak something voluntarily or spontaneously in public. They also learn how to constrain themselves not to overdo anything or not to be too showy. They come to know what is the name of the game in the society as they grow. They never learn how to be proud of themselves or how to encourage others. Instead they learn there are few incentives "to show off", "to outperform", "to outshine", "to outtalk", "to outwit", "to excel", "to be smart-alecky" when they want to be as accepted members in the community.

When one starts to learn English in high school at the age of 12 or 13 in Japan, the aforementioned law is applied as a matter of fact. If one reads English text with native-like pronunciation in his classroom, he will most likely be jeered or taunted by the rest of the classmates and his teacher may feel uncom- fortable with his reading ability which supposed to be far better than himself.It is totally discouraged in Japan that the junior outperforms the senior, because it may embarrass the senior in front of other people.

In many high schools where so called returnees(or "kikoku-shijo) are accepted, there are lots of troubles with the returnees in English class. When they show their unusually high degree of English proficiency in the classroom, the apparent displeasure may betray their teacher. As an surprising case, some English teachers require with displeasing tone that the students pronounce the text with Japanese accent just because they are Japanese, not American. Their classmates may also agree with what their teacher asks the returnees to do. So it is useless to practice the correct pronunciation of English by using advanced recorded tapes or audio/visual methods in childhood.

The average Japanese feel very uncomfortable when a Japanese speaks English with native-like pronunciation. The Japanese believe that the Japanese should speak English with the Japanese accent.They think, even if the Japanese speak English with native-like accent, it cannot be authentic. That is why the most of Japanese students dare not to speak English as native speakers do, although hundreds kinds of English recorded tapes are sold in the market for improvement of the pronunciation. They are afraid of being jeered by others when they try to speak English with native-like accent.They do not want to be different from the majority of the classmates. They are afraid of being alienated or excluded from his group by showing off their excellent or advanced proficiency in the classroom.

There are four unwritten laws that the normal Japanese had better follow for the survival in the society.

(1) You should not challenge or contradict the senior or author- itative people in public, because it often embarrasses them.

(2) You had better use expressions of vagueness or ambiguity as diplomatic means of socializing with others. Beat-around-the-bush strategy sometimes work marvelously in our society. Articulating is not always appreciated in Japan.

(3) When you speak to senior or authoritative people, pay utmost attention to the proper use of the honorific words(which is a very unique way of speech to respect people or humiliate oneself). If you have failed to use it properly, you will possibly be treated as ill-mannered person or uneducated person, and make other people very uncomfortable.

(4))You should try to make least excuse or justification when you have made mistakes or done something others do not want. Better beg a pardon rather than to make a good execute or justification, even if you believe it is the best for you to do so. I suppose this practice, begging a pardon without expressing justification or due explanation, is something most unacceptable in other countries. But it is one of the most effective means to let the thing go smoothly in Japan. "Sumimasen" or "Gomennasai" are sometimes magic words when you encounter embarrassment. Unlike in the western society, to make an excuse or justification are considered one of the practices which the people shy away from doing here. Most of the people prefer being silent giving you a guilty look or begging a pardon instead of making due justification. Many Japanese do not have a way of reasoning when they get in an embarrassing situation.
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When a student has done something wrong or made a mistake or error in school, all what he is wanted to do is to say "Sumima- sen" or "Gomennasai". He is not expected to make an beautiful excuse or justification. This rule is applicable in any places or situations. But strangely, the senior does not follow this rule in front of the junior. They take just a bossy attitude.

Even when someone has committed crime, if he readily pleaded guilty and begged a pardon, chances are that he will be commuted. Strong reasoning is the last thing to be accepted in our culture.

Many years ago, I was surprised to know that a recorded educat- ional tape edited for businessmen which claims that defensive use of excuse (or justification) in your work is worse than telling a lie was in sales in Osaka. In the matter of fact, "to make an excuse (or justification)" is one of the worst practices which create hatred among the Japanese, while in the United States it is a way of life. This belief makes the Japanese less self-assertive , or less talkative. They believe the unsaid part of what people say is more significant. You may observe here that few Japanese people make an argument in public as Europeans or Americans do.

Many people try to reason that the Japanese learners of English are too shy to speak English in public or they are afraid of making mistakes just to make themselves embarrassed. Some people claim that the tough competition(or "shiken-jigoku") for the entrance examination to prestigious colleges is responsible to the inefficiency of English education in Japan. It is true that English tests given by hard-to-enter colleges are so ridiculous- ly tough that even a lot of native English speakers in the United States cannot pass.

All what these people say are not untrue, but reflect the reality. In Japan, there are four English daily newspapers available, more than one hundred hours of English teaching programs are broadcast by radio/TV in a month. Tens of various magazines exclusively edited for English education are published. A great number of English conversation schools are mushrooming every year. So many native speakers are recruited by those schools. Highly advanced electronic equipment for English teach- ing is employed in many schools.

You will probably be surprised to know that the comprehensive result of the Japanese participants in TOEFL test in 1977 was ranked 85th among 105 participating countries all over the world, and 18th among 20 Asian countries. TOEFL data show that all of reading, writing, speaking and listening comprehension abilities of Japanese participants are far below than the world average, although many Japanese still habitually claim that they are good at reading, writing and grammar. The knowledge of the English grammar the Japanese are supposed to have is reported also far below the world average.

I do not feel criticizing the English teaching methods nation- widely practiced in Japan, although they have a lot of drawbacks. In Asian countries, English teaching methods are no better than ones in Japan. But Chinese and Koreans, for example, speak English far better than Japanese in spite of having the similar linguistic handicap as we have. In fact, they have a lot more difficulties in availability of language tapes, text books, dictionaries, or modern facility of English teaching. The total broadcasting hours of English teaching radio/TV programs in these countries are fewer than in Japan

My father would have been 96 years old this year. He learned English in high school and college from 1916 to 1924. He told me how the English class was at that time. There were some British teachers who taught English and other subjects. In a classroom, the teacher just kept lecturing one way to the students. The students just kept listening with occasional knowing nods what the teacher spoke. There were no communications between the teacher and the students. No students dared to ask him in English any questions about something that they wanted to know more.

My mother learned English in high school around 1924. She once told me that there was only one brilliant school girl in the class who dared to speak in English to her teacher who was an American missionary. It was a sensational event at that time that a Japanese school girl spoke English in a classroom!

My wild guess that when our ancestors learned Chinese or Korean languages more than 1,000 years ago or Portuguese or Dutch a few hundred years ago, the situation might have been exactly same as mentioned above.

So it is no wonder that the students in 1990s are exact copies of their forebears.

You would be very surprised to know how least talkative Japanese fathers are at home. Since the Japanese men are disciplined not to speak a lot in public, they are not good at putting their ideas into expression. Thus they are sentimental rather than logical. In this country, to be sentimental is more appreciated than to be logical. The communication seems to be conducted by silent guessing games rather than words.

The Japanese become amazingly talkative when they drink, because alcohol gets rid of the psychological constraints which bar them to speak, and when they are in a situation that requires no formality at all, because they do not have to be nervous and rigid and pay less attention to the usage of honorific words.

It is a sure thing that Chinese and Koreans are far more talkative nations than the Japanese. They do not hesitate to have arguments, discussions, debates or verbal confrontations in public. Generally, they are more self-assertive and far less reserved than the Japanese. Such national traits possibly helps them be a better English speakers.

Since I have lost the logical sequence in my writing, I had better stop writing here. Thank you for your patience.

From: Taketeru Yoshitake(Mr.) joshua43@mbox2.inet-osaka.or.jp

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