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11-29-2006, 06:34 PM
you are so interesting and helpful :3 ありがとうございます、にょろりんーさん！
do you know the requirements to be a translator/interpreter in Japan? and how much it earns? Im still in highschool but interested. Also re-learning japanese again. Once you done speak it for 7 years it drifts XD and im surrounded by english speakers XD 
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11-29-2006, 06:49 PM
To be quite honest, I really have no clue as to the requirements. I just know that whatever I had worked. I never had to secure a working visa, as I got married before I started working. When I got my job I had a degree in Linguistics - (Specialty in Language Acquisition), and I had the JLPT 1. I got the job through the World Expo thing, as it was just across town from us. (Although I never even once did anything to do with the Expo...?)
I do know that if you want to get a work visa, you *need* to have a university degree. In your case, if you`re part Japanese, there are special allowances... So I`m not exactly sure how that would work. But you`re likely eligible for Japanese citizenship if you don`t already have it. For everyone who is planning on just coming over here and staying forever... It doesn`t quite work like that. :P Or at least it isn`t that easy. You WILL have to go home at least once, so DO NOT BURN YOUR BRIDGES. Should something go wrong, the last thing you want is for your family to never forgive you.
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12-02-2006, 11:36 PM
Hi Nyororin !
Wow, がんばった ! What you have done is admirable. Also your second japanese mother is admirable. And eventually you've even found a happy life. Thank you for your suggestion, to "learn grammar first", I will definitely go forth this direction. I'm from Switzerland and going to move to Japan in January with my wife and I think I will have an intense time learning japanese as fast as I can...and working too (as farmer). I agree, to learn a language, one must be immersed in the local language experience. Happy to have read your life. 
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12-04-2006, 10:45 AM
Quote:
Why are teachers so focused on making money? Quite simply most of us are fresh out of college with loans that need to be paid and the expense of moving abroad as well. None of us expect to get rich doing this and most of us are here for the chance to travel overseas. Most if not all of the teachers I know are very dedicated to their jobs and work full time in schools and part time getting private students or side jobs. As far as learning Japanese I think teaching in a public junior high or elementary school will really force you to learn Japanese. I am still in the process of improving mine and conversing with the students requires a bit of Japanese mixed with simple English. This is especially true at elementary schools where the kids are just beginning to learn kanji and speak simple Japanese. Now I will address one of the biggest advantages of teaching English in the public schools. You get a first hand experience of what it is like to grow up Japanese and working in the office with the other teachers gives you a better idea of the Japanese work environment. You learn quickly that your students in junior high are at a very difficult age and facing a lot of tough tasks ahead. A lot of them study twenty-four/seven and take on a lot of responsibilities in club activities. I respect my students a lot and have a lot of sympathy for them as well. As far as Nippon bashing, I understand that a lot of us (English teachers) complain/whine about life in Japan even when it was our choice to come here on our own. Part of this is a result of a rosy picture painted by our employers and some of it is a general lack of knowledge of Japanese/Asian culture. The school you work for may have a confusing way of teaching English and ask a lot of their ALT that we were not prepared for. In my case, I am replacing a teacher that already had one year of experience at a previous school and so they have had a difficult time understanding that I need a certain degree of explanation concerning course goals and target grammar. What you end up with is teachers that are fairly stressed out because we want to do our jobs well but face an uphill battle in that many of us are not trained teachers and have different opinions on how English should be taught. My school insists that I do something new each time, but I know good and well that my students can hardly remember lessons from two days ago much less a week. The second reason it may seem that we complain a lot about Japan is that we (foreigners) are fairly open and outspoken about Japanese people, culture, food and so on. Outspoken and open are two things that Japanese are fairly unaccustomed to since they often mask their true feelings to make work/society run smoothly. We often point out differences in ways of life or thinking that comes off as being negative, but many of us our simply airing our opinion or offering a comparison. Well I said it would be a short response, but I guess I was wrong. Best wishes to Nyororin in Nagoya. Maybe after the snowboard season I will make it down your way. Ja nin.
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12-04-2006, 01:11 PM
Thank you for your long and thorough response, but I fully intend to stand by my advice that teaching English is not a good way, or even a decent way, to learn Japanese. (Oh, and by the way, I am female.)
The place where I worked for a bit was actually a very nice school, with a lot of programs and the like for new teachers. It wasn`t a drop off at the school with no help sort of deal. There was teaching in the school, and also short term stints at JHS, HS, and corporate offices. I made friends with the Japanese staff there, and I am still in contact with them. In the 5 years that have passed since I worked there, there has only been one other person who actually had a real interest in learning Japanese or about Japan. The teachers in Japan are free to do what they please. They are free to learn or not learn anything about Japan. This is all up to them. But there is nothing that will make me waver from my position - Teaching English is not a good way to learn Japanese. It never will be. Sure you may have to pick some up, and of course you may learn to speak beautifully. But it is in spite of your job, not because of it. If someone is serious about learning Japanese, English teaching is not the best route. If, and ONLY IF, you are working in a normal Japanese school will any of the advantages you speak of come into play. But MOST of the English teachers in Japan do not work in real schools. They work in English schools. Working in an English school puts you into an almost entirely English environment, with very little contact with Japan. As it appears you are working in a regular school, congratulations! But that is not what would happen with most people should they try to teach in Japan. Not everyone is lucky enough to be a JET/ALT. Those are the types I am speaking of. The teachers who I have encountered so far have bashed every little bit of Japanese culture. I don`t think it has all that much to do with English-teaching stress, as none of it has much of anything to do with English. Cultural ignorance? Yes. My point is - Do you really want to be around such negative people while you`re trying to learn the language? Do you really want to hear the other teachers make quips about "He just has penis envy! HARHARHAR" any time a Japanese guy glances in their direction? Or if you`re a girl (Like me) who happens to have a Japanese SO - being told you`re a "monkey lover" or that "you must like pencil dicks!" That is the type of crap I got sick of - and it was in no way confined to my coworkers. I`ve had similar remarks made to me by a wide range of foreigners I encountered back in my silly days of actually thinking I might make a friend, or find someone else in a similar situation as myself. I *know* foreigners tend to be more "open" and "outspoken". I wasn`t born in Japan. There is a huge difference between being open and outspoken and being downright cruel and insulting - which is what I see far too much of. Pointing out differences is fine, but that isn`t where it stops. If your coworkers are wonderful and kind people who do not do those sort of things, consider yourself very lucky. I guess I sound a lot like I`m snapping at you, but it seems the picture you are painting is far too sweet and pretty. I worked as an interpreter for quite a while. Most of the people I interpreted for were English teacher groups on break, touring Japan. I must have interpreted for around 400 to 450 people. Never once did I have a good experience. In fact, I had some of the worst encounters with people in my life - everyone hated Japan but felt they had to get one good trip around the country when they had the chance, so they could go home and say they "saw" Japan. To put in perspective how horrible most of these "teachers" were - an example: I was taking a group of 6 around, and at the end of the day we were having dinner. They asked about me and I told them I was married to a Japanese man, and had a son in the hospital. I was asked why I`d marry a monkey, didn`t I crave a big white dick? And that my son being sick was god`s way of telling me not to mate with animals. They all laughed at this, and continued on to ask which primate my husband resembled - an orangutan, like that guy over there? etc. Similar conversations happened almost any time I was asked about my personal life by a group. I stopped answering, but even without using my life as a starter point Japanese people and life was always ALWAYS insulted. Your school and coworkers may be the most wonderful people teaching in Japan. But that does not change the teaching majority at all the big name Eikaiwa joints.
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12-04-2006, 11:38 PM
I am sorry I misread your posts and thought you were a guy. Although I am not personally responsible for the trouble you've had in the past, I am sincerely sorry you have such horrible experiences with English teachers. You are right when you say that I am offering only the brighter side of the argument and will admit that I have come across a few English teachers that resemble what you have encountered in the past. I don't stick around these types for long and the ones I call my friends would certainly never harbor such racist thoughts. Best wishes to you and your family. Happy holidays too.
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12-06-2006, 05:13 AM
Jasonbvr - It`s good to know there are decent people out there. I just want everyone to know that a large majority of the English "teachers" in Japan are not though. (Although, as it appears you`re actually a real teacher, you don`t quite fall into that category.) Thank you for your well wishes. I hope you have a nice holiday season.
Okimoto_Tatsuki: He is pretty much alright, but there are problems that aren`t so easy to erase.
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