Something’s wrong there. According to a 2005/2006 TOEFL test of English as a foreign language, Japan has the worst score in Asia, even worse than North Korea. Although Japan scores much better in the EF English Proficiency Index, which attempts to rank countries by the average level of English skills amongst adults, Japan still falls in the “moderate proficiency” group, well below the “very high” and “high proficiency” groups. Shame! The EF ranking doesn’t mean anything as it is a free online test which adults choose to do. That means the test is only done by those who already have some English skills and who are probably just curious about how well they can score. There is an extremely low percentage of adults who do speak (moderate) English in Japan and the rest, seriously, is a disgrace!
One can’t help wondering why! Why would an advanced country like Japan suck at English? I’d like to remind everyone that Japan probably has the biggest number of ESL schools in the world, big and small, you can at least find one on every block, not mentioning hundreds of ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) in public and private schools.
There are so many reasons that Japan’s level in English proficiency is outrageously low, but only one you need to be aware of. The work culture.
Work in Japan, for Japanese, is a form of slavery. It enslaves you and simply takes over your entire life. You have no life outside work. If you are married, it can, in many ways, destroy your marriage, mess up your relationship with your children and possibly ruin your friendships. The only “friends” you are allowed to have are those who you work with. Friends at work are and should be called “colleagues” but in Japan this distinction does not exist. The people you work with almost become more significant than your family. You see them in the morning, you see them on the weekend and you often hang out with them after work and get plastered (drunk) together. Yeah! Why not drown your sorrows in a bottle of Sake! Fast forward 10 years, your kids are adults, you have no idea who they are, what they like or dislike and what they want to do with their lives.
Wait! What does THIS have to do with English? Well, the point I’m trying to make here is that if your work does not leave you time for your family, how is it going to leave you some for English practice? Most of my clients in Japan are stuck at work for over 10 hours a day, they are only allowed to take one 2-hour lesson per week (sometimes less) and needless to say, there is no time for practice. How ON EARTH can anyone, as an adult, learn and improve his English by studying 2 hours a week? What could you possibly remember of these 2 hours if you do not even have 5 minutes to review your notes and practice what you learn? Obviously nothing.
Things are not that different in schools. One ALT is often hired to teach 3 grades (sometimes more than 1 ALT is hired), say in Junior High School, each grade consists of 5 or 6 classes. An English session is typically 50 minutes. What does that mean? That means each class would only get the chance to hear and speak English with a native speaker (not always a native speaker) for 50 minutes every fortnight (2 weeks). What the hell are you expecting your students to learn? Now, you might say “no, they take English lessons every day!”, and I say “yes, they take English lessons in Japanese taught by Japanese teachers who often sound ridiculous”.
Anyway, back to the work culture. If Japan wants to maintain its ranking as the 3rd largest economy in the world and not be overtaken by Germany, India or Korea in the future, Japanese need to start making some drastic changes especially in the work culture. Let people live to work not work to live. If you, an employer, decide to provide your employees with free or discounted English lessons, go one step further and give them time to practice so you can get some value for your money.
Change ladies and gentlemen, change!
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