is it true?

[evanny]

i dont remmember from where but i heard this statment that..well japanese in general actually do not speak english well or any other language at all. i know that this probably isnt the case in this forum, but the idea is since the nation is big that more or less they are like americans, english, french or russians who simply do not have the need to learn other languages like, for example, were in estern europe its normal for a person to speak 2 or 3 languages.
so it got me wondering...is there any truth to this?

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by evanny

i dont remmember from where but i heard this statment that..well japanese in general actually do not speak english well or any other language at all. i know that this probably isnt the case in this forum, but the idea is since the nation is big that more or less they are like americans, english, french or russians who simply do not have the need to learn other languages like, for example, were in estern europe its normal for a person to speak 2 or 3 languages.
so it got me wondering...is there any truth to this?

It's true: most Japanese do not speak English well at all.

I know a few my age who speak excellent English and a few who speak decent French/Spanish.

There are highly educated people who speak great English or other languages, though. I heard a few corps there are instituting policies requiring English in board meetings. Uniqlo, Sony, and a few others come to mind.

But just like in the US, the average Japanese person does not speak a second language well at all. But at least the average Japanese knows a few words of English. The average American may know "hola" and "taco" or something.

But, to be fair, it's easy to be very successful in either country while only knowing the home language, so there's not a lot of real reason to learn a second, until you travel up Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

[duo797]

If Japanese people don't speak english well, though, I would believe it's because of the way the language is taught. I think our resident natives have mentioned that in school english is taught to them through rote memorization, which is not a good way to learn a language. Also, without some reason/place to use it, it's harder to put what you learn to use.

[KylieHJensen]

Originally Posted by evanny

i dont remmember from where but i heard this statment that..well japanese in general actually do not speak english well or any other language at all. i know that this probably isnt the case in this forum, but the idea is since the nation is big that more or less they are like americans, english, french or russians who simply do not have the need to learn other languages like, for example, were in estern europe its normal for a person to speak 2 or 3 languages.
so it got me wondering...is there any truth to this?

yes it is a true statement. Most Japanese speaks little to no English.

[dogsbody70]

My Japanese friend studies here in UK. She speaks very well but her listening skills are very poor.

I have seen some of the textbooks she works on and I dislike them very much.

Mixing with more English people would improve her listening skills I feel sure.

I am sure I would have trouble learning from these text books. Nothing seems straight forward and so many multi questions.

They are the cambridge books set by academics-- concentrating on grammar.

I believe they make the study of English very difficult.

[TheScrounger]

Hi, I'm Japanese and I have lived in Japan. And yes, it is true.
I think there are few people who can speak English fluently except those who have been in foreign countries. Let alone other languages.
I'm probably good at English for Japanese (judging from TOEIC etc...), but I know my English is not so good. (Writing is still better than speaking.)

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by TheScrounger

Hi, I'm Japanese and I have lived in Japan. And yes, it is true.
I think there are few people who can speak English fluently except those who have been in foreign countries. Let alone other languages.
I'm probably good at English for Japanese (judging from TOEIC etc...), but I know my English is not so good. (Writing is still better than speaking.)

Your writing is quite good. Obviously I don't know how you sound, though

[evanny]

wow...i dont know how about you but this seems a bit wierd to me..i had 3 languages when i was in shool and now im picking up japanese...i guess these are the drawbacks (on the other hand advantages) if you come from a small country.
well i guess this only means that i will have to work that much harder on my japanese before i go to japan

[steven]

Evanny, I think in a place like Europe learning multilanguages is quite practical. From what it seems like, there is a good chance you would have many opportunities to speak with people from other countries therefore giving you more of a reason to learn the language to a decent level.

As far as Japanese education of English goes, I think TheScrounger is the epitome of it. They are much more comfortable in writing than in speaking, which I think is a strange way to learn a language. It's like they know all those words but cannot say them-- I imagine it would be very frustrating. It's also a characteristic of English I suppose. The way words are spelled doesn't really indicate how they are pronounced (although there are many clues there for native speakers or people who've really read a lot).

This is my opinion, but I think Japanese are doing an extremely good job of learning what they're taught. What they're taught is the problem. The grammar is some kind of weird compromise between actual spoken English and English that somewhat resembles Japanese. The vocabulary consists of words which they are familiar with because they are in everyday use in Japanese, in their Japanese form of course. Also, the spoken parts are either over or underacted... there's not really any inbetween. It's always too slow and the intonation suffers as a result. So given those kinds of circumstances, plus the constant pressure to do better on tests like Eiken or TOEIC (which, no offense to the Japanese who have scored high on those tests, are not even close to revealing a person's English abilities) it's no wonder why most Japanese can't speak anywhere near fluent English. Don't get me wrong though... a lot of the Japanese textbooks (for English learners to learn Japaense) have been pretty bad too.

To me the frustrating part is that there are obviously a LOT of people in Japan who want to communicate with 'foreigners' (which equates to them wanting to speak English). If you've ever been to Japan chances are you've been helped out by or talked to by a complete stranger who was struggling to give you some information in English.

The technology is there... I think it's time a new test comes out where it's all about listening/watching and speaking. There are business-practical aspects to the writing side of English, but speaking seems to be the most rewarding and what most Japanese people are really after when they learn English.

[RickOShay]

I think it is generally true, you probably could not meet up with your average Japanese and start talking about general things of interest in a natural manner, but I have come to think that many Japanese have more ability than they let on.. or even believe themselves to have. If you were to come to Japan and get lost, I think having a pad and pencil to write things down for someone would do you very well. And many will start to feel much more comfortable speaking to you if you can meet them halfway in Japanese.