english japan

  • 3rd Largest Economy: behind North Korea in English Profiency

    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…

  • The 9 most important sounds for fluent English!

    Aren’t all sounds important for fluent English? Yes absolutely. Yet, there are 9 sounds or phonemes which, in my opinion, are crucial for clear and fluent English. The reason that I consider these phonemes to be critical is their frequency. In other words, they are more common than other sounds, hence important. If you…

  • Japan: The land of the rising sun and broken dreams

    Her name was Miyu, a 26-year-old Japanese English teacher at a public Junior High school in Hyogo prefecture, Japan. Miyu was (and hopefully still is) incredibly passionate about teaching English. It’s easy to recognize a passionate teacher when you are one. Miyu believed that the sole purpose of her existence was to teach English…