Influenced by historical, educational and conceptual factors, Japan has become one of the Asian countries that pay the least attention to English. Now, when competing with countries including China, the containment effect brought by this problem is emerging.
Chinese people who have been to Japan will surely notice the following fact: most Japanese can't speak English, and even if they can, their pronunciation is very strange. From TOEFL over the years (Weibo) In terms of test scores, Japan ranked 27th among the 31 Asian countries (with an average score of 70 points), and Afghanistan, Cambodia and Laos were the only countries lower than Japan. Singapore ranked first (98 points) and China ranked 19th (77 points). As for speaking ability, Singapore, the Philippines and Pakistan ranked first (24 points), while Japan ranked last (17 points), which was a bit sad. So why are Japanese so bad at English?
As a universal language, English is an indispensable tool for doing business abroad. Both Japan and China are facing aging, and it is difficult to expect significant growth in the domestic market. Therefore, the enterprises of the two countries must go overseas to compete in high-speed railway, nuclear power, aircraft and other industries. Among them, the ability to communicate in English can be said to be the key to success or failure. Japanese people who are not good at English are at a disadvantage compared with Chinese people. The author has known this situation for a long time, but the Japanese English has never improved.
Despite the huge differences in language structure between English and Japanese, Japanese have a low ability to speak English, which is also related to learning methods. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan absorbed science and culture from Britain, France and Germany on an average. At that time, there were few foreigners living in Japan, and the Japanese lacked opportunities for foreign language exchanges. Foreign language speakers were limited to diplomats and businessmen engaged in foreign trade. For ordinary Japanese, when it comes to foreign language learning, they learn science, thought and law through foreign language books.
Therefore, what the Japanese needed was not the ability to speak foreign languages, but the ability to read foreign books. Naturally, school education attaches great importance to reading ability, but ignores oral and listening skills.
Speaking of the fact that Japanese are not good at speaking English, in my opinion, Japan did not become a colony. In contrast, in some former colonial countries, the local people can speak the language of the rulers to help solve problems more smoothly. The author once lived in Thailand, and Thai people are not good at English, perhaps because Thailand is the only country in Southeast Asia that has not been colonized and has always maintained independence.
Also in Southeast Asia, Vietnam has many people who can speak English and French fluently. The country was ruled by France in the past, and during the Vietnam War, US troops were stationed in southern Vietnam. Therefore, Vietnamese need to speak foreign languages. Because of this tradition, foreign language education in schools is also very solid. In addition, Filipino English is very good, probably because it was once a vassal of the United States.
In Japan, receiving higher education in Japanese has also become an obstacle to improving the willingness to learn English. Since the Meiji era, European and American professional books have been continuously translated into Japanese, and many cutting-edge research achievements can be read in Japanese. In many Asian universities, textbooks written in English are used for teaching. Students must master English before starting their professional studies. However, Japanese do not need to spend more time on English learning. They can set foot in professional fields early and deepen their independent research.
In Japan, which can survive without knowing foreign languages, people who know foreign languages will not be given preferential treatment. The most typical is a diplomat. As far as I know, many Chinese diplomats majored in foreign languages in universities, while most of their Japanese counterparts graduated from law majors. In Japan, the work of diplomats has always been regarded as understanding foreign political and social systems and signing treaties. In this way, people believe that their legal knowledge is indispensable compared with foreign languages, even if they are not good at foreign languages.
In Japan, people who are proficient in foreign languages are easy to be ignored. On the one hand, they are often arbitrarily driven in the organization as translators; On the other hand, because of the strange logic that "that guy is like a translator and can't arrange important work for him", these people are often despised in the organization. For Japanese, it takes time and money to master foreign languages, especially English, but it may be difficult to recover the cost. In this way, no one will study English seriously.
Should Japanese give up English? I sometimes have such extreme ideas. But at least in the short term, in terms of doing business, the quality of English does affect earnings. As English became the world's lingua franca, international rules began to be written in English. At the same time, everyone did business according to the rules of Britain and the United States. Non English speaking people have to spend a lot of time on English learning, while British and American people do not need to learn foreign languages. Business people in both countries can use the time saved to play golf.
I remember that before the middle of the 20th century, the French did not speak English. The French have a strong pride in their mother tongue. Foreigners, including Britons, are forced to speak French when they go to France. As a result, many foreigners have learned French, and even foreigners can easily understand French culture and society. However, in recent years, the French have also started to speak English and feel it is convenient to communicate in English. As a result, the number of foreigners learning French gradually decreased, and so did the number of foreigners understanding France.
Poor English is not without benefits. In China, we can often hear the words of "Americans do not understand China" with dissatisfaction. I suddenly wondered: Is refusing to speak English a way of coping? In this way, if Americans want to work in China, they can only learn Chinese. With the increasing number of Americans who understand Chinese, the latter's understanding of China will certainly strengthen.
Dear Chinese readers, do you want to stop learning English and compete with the Japanese for the lowest TOEFL score?
(The author is an editorial member of the Asia Bureau of the Japanese Economic News.)
Nikkei Chinese Network
