Shoutout to Nick for showing positive and reassuring body language and for speaking clearly and concise. I mean that is expected from a teacher but what I’m trying to point out is that if you plan to visit Japan and talk with locals, actions like these will make you more approachable/comfortable to talk with.
It happened to me. I wanted to buy food at a local food truck in Tsuchirua, I politely asked "eigo?" and the girl told me no while giggling. So what followed were some awkward but very funny 5 minutes of me pointing out what I wanted and she pointing to me which sauces I wanted and how much it all costed. Smiling and body language go a long way, people.
I'm American and throughout all my years of schooling, the only language that was ever available in school was Spanish and they did eventually have an Italian class when I got to high school. I understand where the kids are coming from. I took Spanish for nearly 7 years and barely know it at all outside of the basic stuff. As it is in Japan where it's just a subject you're required to take, that's how it is here throughout middle school and high school. We were young and didn't understand the immense benefits of actually learning the language. 95% of us just did what we needed to at the time to pass the class. Spanish is widely spoken here, too, unlike English in Japan. Of course as an adult, I look back and really regret not taking all my years of Spanish seriously just as I'm sure a lot of these kids will feel as they get older.
Similar to how I feel here in Canada. French is one of our official languages and English speaking provinces fail at teaching this tool. A big part here in the French classes are not designed for you to learn as a communication tool. It feels as it's just lip service to appease our language laws and our provinces can do better.
How Spanish is taught in the US is so bad lol I have heard native Spanish speakers take Spanish for an easy A and still fail because nothing makes sense to them and it doesn't sound natural to them. This is what I have heard about learning English in Japan. They it is taught sucks and they don't do enough speaking
@@MegaCynarI'm Québécois and I enjoy consuming cultural content produced in English-speaking cultures, rather than rely on translations/dubs. Sadly, language is very politicized in Canada. I noticed that all the road signs are bilingual outside Québec but only in French within my province. I don't find that fair but I'm in the minority among my peers. I think that, in order to truly learn another language you need to have an interest in the broader culture behind that language. I like Japanese food and entertainment but not enough to learn Japanese.
I am Finnish and I just spent 3 months in Japan (around Osaka, Kyoto and in a small town in Wakayama pref.) and I surely became a silent person during these months, since I don't speak Japanese and 99,9% of the people I met did not speak English. I still had good time and experiences and I am definitely going to go back in the future, but be prepared for this! (I have travelled alone around Europe, in the Middle East and East Africa and was always able to find people who spoke English enough to have good coversations, but Japan and South Korea too, have been more difficult in this matter!) Anyway, I do love travelling in East Asia and definitely going back soon! ❤ (I am fluent in Finnish, English, Danish and Swedish, but no use for any of those languages this time.. 😅 )
I have a question. I don’t mean to be rude, but how often do Fins even speak Finnish in their own country? From what I’ve heard the Nordic countries have given into English when it comes to business, higher education, and even the court systems.
Полностью с вами согласен, но я думаю немаловажный фактор ещё играет история страны. Имперские страны как правило плохо говорят на других языках, потому что сосредоточены в навязывании другим своей культуры и в обеспечении своей самостоятельности. Потому и, например, в Украине лучше говорят по-английски, чем в РФ, как и в Южной Корее лучше говорят по-английски относительно Японии. По тем же причинам и в англоязычных странах мало кто кроме мигрантов и детей или внуков мигрантов говорит на каких-то языках кроме английского. Ну а бывшие европейские империи сегодня неплохо говорят по-английски благодаря изменившейся политики их государств, ну и безусловно носителям германских языков гораздо легче даётся английский, чем странным людям, которые пишут иероглифами. Хотя и все же я думаю это не настолько сложно, насколько сложно будет нам (людям, которые далеки от вашей системы письма и боятся иероглифы) изучить ваш язык. Также я думаю вряд ли для вас английский является самым сложным языком или одним из самых сложных, в то время как для нас (русскоязычных/славяноязычных тюркоязычных, англоязычных/германоязычных, латиноязычных и прочих носилей языков индоевропейской семьи) китайский и японский - самые сложные языки в мире. Это что-то вроде Ассемблера и C/C++, кто знаком с программированием. Возможно я не прав и потому мне бы хотел услышать вашу точку зрения.
I'm American and live in the US. if someone tried to speak English to me with an accent I would enjoy talking to them and would not laugh. I grew up in the Bay Area in CA and we had over 64 different languages and dialects among the kids in our school. In America in larger areas we do tend to hear English from many different foreigners so we are used to accents and people learning. In general Americans are pretty talkative with strangers especially while waiting in lines, public transportation, airplanes, sports games, bars etc.
I went to Hirosaki as a solo traveler a few years ago. And I didn't anyone could speak English there. But most people I met there were so kind and ready to help. We communicated in different languages. I am so impressed by their kindness.
I am one of those Japanese who can understand English as a language but struggle to speak it. Many Japanese seem to have a complex about Japanglish. I was one of them. However, as I traveled to various countries, that complex disappeared. I learned that Thai, Korean, Chinese, and Spanish people speak English with their own unique accents. But I still add "sry my broken eng” at the end of the sentence lol
Much love and respect to you! English must have not been easy at all to learn from your perspective. I am struggling to learn Japanese, since all the languages I speak are Latin based or Germanic. It's very tough, but Japanese is a beautiful language and it always warms my heart when the Japanese make so much effort to try to convey what they mean through the few English words they know ❤ I spent like an hour in Nara speaking through Google translate with an elderly. He was so eager to communicate to me in English 😭 it was super nice !
Your written English is very good and the fact that you keep persisting is commendable. One last thing, please stop apologizing, you have done nothing wrong nor are you burdening anyone. 😉
You're doing well! ❤ Don't worry, also somehow I am like you in that situation with English: I'm a argentine, an Spanish-native speaker, but now being an adult I can defend in English using grammar, I can't pronounce well it but from time-to-time I try to read things on internet so I can't forget what I learned years ago. Actually I'm learning Japanese ^^
Being from a country where it's practically mandatory to speak English if you want to be successful in most fields, it amazes me how Japanese people don't really have that necessity. This made me respect even more those who learn it, because it shows that they're truly interested in communicating with others. Kudos to all of you!
fr, 40% of the people I know speak it ok, and 20% are fluent and I live in Eastern Europe. It came to the point where I have to learn german so I have an edge since that's a harder language and fluent speakers are rare, I got a job knowing some broken german and the employer said it's fine as long as I'm willing to improve it. All the jobs I wanted already had better applicants who may be less fluent than me in English but have better skills, where as with german they took me on the team without any experience in the field(finance)
@@andrettax6052it was. Japan been stagnant since the late 80s. As of right now they’re close to 30th spot on gdp per capita (nominal). Similar to Slovenia in Eastern Europe according to IMF. Hard to explain how it happened. They seemed unstoppable st one point.
It's actually impressive that they don't need to speak English to be successful. It just shows how rich their language is. They don't have to borrow foreign words to communicate even complicated and technical ideas. We could never teach math or science in our own language. We simply don't have enough vocabulary for it. Our economy also isn't self-sustaining. Hence, we have to rely on English in business and most fields or else we'll all be back to agriculture. Lol.
@@vaasblyat8384basically self study. I majored English and American literature in uni but none of my friends from classes are not fluent at all unless they studied abroad.
I found that a bit shocking when visiting Tokyo - and I'm not an Anglophile, my mother tongue's Spanish. Since the Japanese ed system is so good, I initially thought it was a conscious/unconscious choice based on historical resentment (which I think it's totally guaranteed). It's interesting to find out there are other reasons behind the phenomenon.
I´m Swedish so I`m fluent in Swedish. I would say that English is my second language because in Sweden we learn English at a very young age (7 years old) and we study it until we are about 15 years old. Almost all the tv-shows here in Sweden are from America so even when we came home from school English would still be with us. I would say that I understand English perfect but because I don´t speak English very often I have some problems with finding the words when I talk to someone in English. I get a bit stressed because I want to find the words just as fast as when I speak Swedish 😅 Now I am studying Japanese and I find it so hard. In Japanse they don´t use "a" or "the" so it´s a bit harder to understand when one word and can mean a lot of different things. So I can really understand why people from Japan find English difficult. But it always fun to learn a new language ☺
x2 I have the same problem with English bcs my first language is Spanish so English is a struggle for me I can understand it but when I have to talk I really can't I get so nervious finding the words I need and at the same time translating everything in my mind from Spanish to English is so hard 😂
I was really surprised at this when I came to Japan! I knew few people spoke English but I was shocked at the extent that was even in places like Osaka and Tokyo! I actually met with a friend who studied aboard in the US 5 years ago and when we met up to hang out, he could barely speak English anymore! He was near fluent when he lived here! I totally understand why tho. Studying Japanese for almost 7 years, I can read and write and even understand what people are saying but I struggle to form sentences and respond confidently. If you don't have someone to constantly speak the language with whether English or Japanese, it's very hard to communicate when the time comes for it!
Not everyone 'has to' be able to speak English. But if they can, it's lots of fun to communicate with international people. Good luck to language learners!!
@@Rui28Costa Yep, if someone can speak English, Mandarin, and Spanish, they can speak to a huge majority of the world. Mandarin may be the most common first language, but English is the most common SECOND language, and a truly startling amount of people can understand and speak it at least at a rudimentary level. It's the new lingua franca.
@@JB-xl2jc yeah yeah, as someone that knows both english and spanish (not that much, but probably enough to communicate well), i find hard to not be able to speak to someone
Makes me happy to see Japan’s younger generation open up to the rest of the world. All these kiddos that wanna travel and experience new places really made my day. I wish them all the best, and lots of success in their studies. 🤙🏽😁
We are doing a program to open young people in Japan to the outside world by having native English speakers teaching Japanese students on English as well as cultural knowledge
I’m Taiwanese and the situation here is similar, we understand English but cannot really speak it :( I completely agree with Nick saying that schools teach English as a subject instead of a communication tool. It’s the same in Taiwan. I think when the education focuses too much on teaching the academics side of English, it actually hindered students ability to learn how to speak as we became way too afraid of making mistakes. I find it quite detrimental as speaking skills can be improved much faster when one is not afraid of making tons of mistakes! btw thanks Takashii for always making interesting and insightful videos! I enjoy watching them a lot😆✨
A lot of people from the Philippines have poor English grammar, and are actually quite bad at the academic side of English, however, they can communicate very fluently with native english speakers. It's Nick's theory that about Step 2 (listening and absorbing english media) being very important, and its actually proven in our case. Most Filipinos fail at the academic step 1 grammar rules of english, because naughty children will ignore their lessons in school, but they learn english anyway because all the videogames, media, tv shows, books, comics, magazines, are in english. They absorb the language at a conversational level.
This ia so real.. i have many Japanese friends we usually communicate by chat . When i met them in Japan last year, they litteraly can not speak English and i found some misunderstanding in communication.. i decide to learn Japanese harder now for next trip meet up with them.. but STILL they are nicest and kindest people in the world.. love them 😊..🥰..
I've been to Japan twice, once in 2014 and again in 2023. There were FAR more people able to communicate with me in english in 2023 compared to 2014 especially in Tokyo. With the exception of a few small restaurants we were generally able to communicate everywhere we went in Tokyo. In Kyoto things were a bit more difficult but was still better than I experienced in 2014 Tokyo. The development of google translate and being able to translate a lot of the writing you see on the fly definitely helps now filling some of the gaps, as does UBER which wasn't available the first time I went which made getting around at night much easier without needing to communicate as much.
I'm not surprised. IRL streamers have invaded big cities like Tokyo and Shibuya. It's too bad that the Japanese people are letting these streamers get away with everything.
It funny because if you ask people in the US whether they can speak Japanese they will say yes because they have watched a lot of sub anime then you try to talk to them ....
I was there a year ago and like 95% of people couldn't speak English. You can't communicate there at all if you don't speak at least some Japanese. Ofc people are polite and you can try to use the translator, but forget about going out there asking things in English. Don't give wrong ideas to future tourists.
japanese study english all thru school, but...there are so many more sounds in english than there are in japanese. it is difficult for japanese to pronounce english. the sound of 'l' does not exist, so the american 'r' is substituted. 'b' is substituted for 'v'. the vowel sounds are limited, just as they are in spanish or italian. and there are more difficulties. the 'voice box' begins to harden at about age ten. after that age it is hard to produce new sounds. english speakers find it difficult to understand what the japanese are saying when they speak english. i knew a japanese girl who gave herself the name 'veronica' so that she would have to pronounce the 'v' and the 'r'. she could have gone one better, tho, and called herself 'valerie.' just for fun, look for videos of japanese speaking spanish. they are quite good at it. there is a japanese boxer who went to mexico to improve his boxing. you can hardly tell him from a native speaker. @@fos8789
BECAUSE IT'S JAPAN. Honestly, I came to post my opinion about the title of the video... The audacity. it is a ridiculous notion to expect another country with a totally different language to "know English". Like... can you imagine... You're in Japan asking a Japanese stranger why they don't speak your non-Japanese language 🤣 wow... just wow. Come to the united states and ask the more logical question _"Why don't most U.S. citizens speak Spanish? Like... Mexico is right there"_
Yeah but to be fair English is the global lingua franca now and for Japan to maintain its status as a highly developed nation (and not stagnate like it did pre-Meiji Reformation), the Japanese have to trade with the world and adapt scientific and technologic advances around the globe into the Japanese system.
I would like to add that on top of cultural and education system differences, there is also a lack of curiousity beyond national borders. When I try to learn a new language (for perhaps travelling), I'm naturally curious about the culture, cuisine, history, etc. of this new place. Hence this curiousity helps to drive my desire to learn colloquial terms or phrases, listen to podcasts or shows to better grasp the accent, and learn basic etiquette to better improve my travel experience. This interest will start to positively feedback into the learning experience, especially when you start using the language and getting complements or feedback from locals. I really do think an innate sense of curiousity is pretty important to learn anything new, not just language.
I think the main thing is the lack of "Americanization". Here in Europe American infleunce is everywhere and it seems to me that that doesn't exist in Japan.
100%. The more you immerse and enjoy the culture, food, etc. the more you will connect and have a great experience. It’s my favorite aspects of learning new languages :)
I thought this was the short answer the teacher was going to give. The interviewees don’t see themselves moving abroad for their professional careers at all. Something quite common elsewhere.
I lived in Germany for two years and was amazed at how well people can speak English there. Many were even happy to practice their English with me. When I visited Japan recently, I had learned a little Japanese beforehand, and it was very useful. To me, people there seemed shy about their English, that they might make a mistake. I can understand that. I worry I will make a mistake when speaking another language sometimes. By the way, I absolutely loved both countries.
English and German have common roots. I'd assume its just so much easier to learn. And one point this video also mentions... German native speakers consume a huge amount of English media. 😂
Absolutely, in Germany we start learning English from 3rd grade primary school. And the greatest pop cultural influences are definitely from the US. Especially since our own movies, TV shows and music are complete garbage 😂
If true, then Germans have made big progress. 20 years ago in Germany I was in a big international youth camp with thousands of German teenagers and young adults. Very few were fluent in English. It was really strange coming from Nordic background. I think ca. 2005 was when Germans discovered internet, which might explain the rapid improvement.
I don't know about i often go to Germany to buy things since i live close to the border and they get a lot of Dutch customers. but there is always chaos because the people working in the shops only know German and and get really confused if you try to talk to them in English
the language distance between English and German, English and Japanese is completely different. English's root is German language (not Romance language), very common SVO syntax and grammer and alphabet , while Japanese is SOV language so the rate of picking up the language is completely different... For instance, Korean also have the same SOV structure of Japanese and some also learn the Chinese letter Kanjis (since a lot of Korean words are made of Kanji combinations), so they tend to learn Japanese at a very fast rate being the same structure with Kanjis, while Chinese language have the same structure of English SVO so they are known to learn English much faster than the Japanese.
The reason why English is taught is that it is common around the world. Not just US and UK. The majority of Europeans learnt English . And English will get you buy in India, Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand. To name a few. As for Netflix, people in non-english speaking countries do watch movies in their own language.
That last part does not really resonate with me. Yes, countries like Italy and France do dub a majority of English movies, and henceforth they have a large part of the population that lack English language skills. However, a major part of Europe does not dub their movies and TV, and they watch movies in their native languages with subtitles. It could very well be why a country like the Netherlands has such a high level of English proficiency, from age 12, all the movies you watch from abroad only have subs and you get accustomed to the sounds.
I recently returned from Japan a few weeks ago. Compared to my previous trip to Japan 5 years ago, a lot more people now speak English. Our first night in Nagoya, we were walking around looking for a restaurant that was open. We were standing in front of a restaurant trying to read the business hour signage, when an elderly Japanese woman behind us told us that it was closed in English. When we found a restaurant the young waiter there knew how to speak some English. Almost every hotel we stayed at had staff that could converse in English even in remote areas like Beppu and Minobu. In the Beppu hotel, we were greeted by a younger female staff. She barely spoke any English, but tried to help us with a translation app. Later an older Japanese woman came to greet us in Japanese. When she realized we were American she spoke to us in perfect English. We then found out that she was from LA. We thought she was an outlier, but the next morning during breakfast, another older Japanese woman spoke to us in near fluent English. Even on the trains, the operators would make announcements regarding our arrival destination in English. It was something I didn't noticed 5 years ago.
Maybe they had more time to study indoors because of the pandemic and those working in tourist areas/industries prepared for when tourists could come visit again after the restrictions ended. I read somewhere that 8% of Japan’s GDP comes from tourism, so it makes sense they’d value that kind of thing.
That's just your imagination. English isn't any more spoken in Japan now than it was 5 years ago. You were probably just used to it the second trip. The first trip is always going to be a shock.
My former high school teacher is an ALT in Japan now and she said that it has something to do with the educational system as well. But in her experience, it's easier to communicate in English in Tokyo than the countryside. Nice video Takashi san, I like the format here. Happy new year みんな！
I lived in the countryside with my family. Once, as we were travelling on the train, a foreign couple needed some information. My husband was the only person on that train of three full carriages who could answer them.
@@badanxiety6886 Go look at the salaries in jpy for Eikaiwa teachers or even middle school or high school teachers. Japanese society as a whole does not value English education.
Eikaiwa isnt jet. And nobody with a brain does ANY form of teaching for the money. "You cant be rich being a teacher" isnt some secret news@beschterrowley3749
@@buw0mpEven if you are an alt or going through any other government subsidized program, pay is very low, compared to the average full time employment, 正社員 jobs.
It's not only Japan's issue but Korea and China have the same thing. The biggest reason is that their language is totally different from English. If you are aware of the distance of the language, you will understand easily. However, most European languages are close to English such as French, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Romanian and Italian. That's why English is NOT too much difficult to learn for most Europeans whereas difficult for East Asians especially.
I live in Germany, and I always thought that both Japan and Germany, being tiny nations with powerhouse economies and cutting edge technological develpment, had a lot in common. Most Germans speak at least some English, so I naturally assumed that most Japanese would be able to speak at least some English as well. I just got back from my first visit to Japan. I spent a week in Aizu-Wakamatsu, Prefecture Fukushima. I don't speak Japanese, other than a few phrases like please, thank you, good morning, etc. Almost nobody in Aizu, and surprisingly few people in Tokyo, speaks any English whatsoever, not even young people. That really shocked me. In fact, the person I met, who had the best command of English, was an elderly gentleman. There are, of course, fantastic apps that can translate spoken language in both directions. For that reason, I think most Japanese probably will never see a need to go beyond step one, as Nick notes around 8 minutes into the video. Other than that, I had a fantastic time in Japan, and despite the language barrier, everyone was polite, friendly, and helpful.
This is why I'm trying to learn more Japanese. I'm like juuuust at an N5 level. And like, how many kids have to take Spanish in the US and don't know a word? Many
Germany has a high level of English proficiency for some reason (idk why, please enlighten me if you know). I suspect part of it may be due to being closer to England and other European countries where it’s the Lingua Franca with places like France, Belgium, etc. Funnily enough, I lived in France for a little while to teach English, and I found that the level of English language proficiency amongst French people was lower than amongst German people in the Frankfurt area that I experienced when I was visiting relatives. For Japan, there is not a strong anglophone presence directly next door (outside of US bases inside of Japan), so there doesn’t seem like the incentive is a great to learn English.
@@kuznecoffjames Where do you think the Anglos and Saxons migrated from? "Old English" is old German. But I never understood why the English/British didn't differentiate the Dutch from Deutch. Perhaps they were perceived as the same from the English/British? (I used to think that "Pennsylvanian Dutch" was really Dutch.)
It’s so crazy to me that so many people in this video say they can’t speak English, but they’re saying it in English and even able to respond to you and converse. If I could speak Japanese on the level of their English I would be so proud. 😭
@@SussyBaka-sv1fj of course. But there's no largely Japanese speaking cities or anything like that near me. I don't come across Japanese unless I'm watching anime or shopping. It's the small bit of the culture I can easily access You also don't have to be a jerk about it lol because I never said anything about anime being real or representing Japanese culture as a whole. Grow up
I've always wanted to be fluent in two+ languages, seems super useful, fun and great to put on a resume... Wish it didn't take so much time and dedication =p
It always "bugged" me (not in a particularly bad way but yeah) when people I knew could pick up languages and be conversational in a matter of weeks or months. I could try for years and just not get it.
@@JB-xl2jc Unless you're talking about Spanish idk what you're talking about. No one who has ever seriously studied a foreign language expects another person to become conversational in a matter of weeks or months (if we take "conversational" to mean being able to understand at least 90% of informal discussions). The RU-vid videos lie (unless you're some 130IQ genius). If you're serious about learning a new language, you have to throw timeframes out the window and focus on immersing yourself in that foreign language as much as possible. Watch RU-vid videos, read children's books, and talk with natives so that you're both absorbing the information and forcing yourself to think in that language.
@@chris_hawk My old Latin teacher could pick up languages and converse in them- if they were a romance language he said it took a matter of weeks due to the similarity (and by the time I met him he spoke every major romance language fluently), whereas completely unrelated languages (he also spoke both Japanese and Chinese) would take him closer to 6 months. He was a polyglot and technically qualified to be considered a "genius" linguistically though, so that's not exactly common. Cool superpower to have!
It’s easy, just be born to bilingual parents who force you to attend a Saturday language school, or grow up in some country with great English education :P
Easiest thing you could possible learn it just few people want to put in the time commitment but all you have to do is watch RU-vid in target language long enough. Then when you have enough vocab and language construction stuck in your head you just start talking to any foreigner who will listen but you know English so eventually everyone else will. Just start with a easy one like Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, and French
This video made me hopeful, since it seemed that around 30+% of the respondents spoke decent English which I was expecting to be closer to 15%. And, as usual, I suspect a major issue is confidence. Most people I’ve met who are learning English actually have pretty good pronunciation, but lack confidence, so don’t speak so much. I agree that learning almost any other language is more important than English specifically.
I have so much respect for people who learn other languages to fluency or even just to a useful level. I can mostly get by in Spanish but have also been studying Korean for almost 2 years but it’s so hard that my expressive abilities are still very poor. We keep trying!
DONT GIVE UP! Just keep nit picking and even a tiny bit consistent and it'll stick more and more! I've just started teaching myself Japanese over the last few months and its just amazing how much consistency matters more than any other part of language learning.. Just keep exposing yourself to the language even if in small bits cause its hard or you feel like you're failing at getting better. You'll get there! Especially if you still enjoy the thought of truly being able to use a specific new language someday, that you've always been interested in. 👍
@@two2truths Thank you for the encouragement. I stick with it because I love it and while I don’t have much time to devote to it, it’s been rewarding to see even the slow and steady progress. Sometimes I have to step back to remind myself that while I don’t actually speak Korean yet, I know sooooooooooo much more than I knew a couple of years ago when I knew ZERO, ha!
Where are you from? I tried to learn Korean at the Korean Cultural Centre in Madrid... but they were horrible, since their courses were just 60 hours per year, 30 weeks at 2 hours per week, only allowed 40 students each year, and their schedule was not compatible if you were working elsewhere, since the class was from 4 PM to 6 PM.
What Nick said about why people in Japan don’t learn English is also exactly why most Americans are also not bi-lingual. Many people know the basics of a couple of languages of whatever they studied in high school and college, but to be fully fluent in a language, you need to put in the time and effort into studying and maintaining the knowledge. Great video, though.
Well, the education system in the US is also not that great. I cringe every time someone uses "could of" instead of "could have" or "could've" in written text. I can forgive someone for making that mistake in speech, but in written form? Really now? As a Greek person I make many mistakes when speaking English, due to the fact that I rarely practice speaking. But it is unacceptable to not understand the grammar of your native tongue. It is ridiculous that bilinguals that have English as their 2nd or 3rd language, often know better English than Americans that know English and nothing else.
@@arjix8738 Ugh, I couldn't agree with you more! My English is not that great considering I majored in Japanese and haven't studied English language since my freshman year of high school, but it still drives me nuts that many Americans struggle with the basics. 🤦
I’d love to learn other languages but Spanish and German are not on my list. I’m not interested in what school teaches and they don’t teach it right. Teaching good stuff and teaching it good means more fun and more smarts.
@@sophietwilight7502 ugh I hate double negatives, Greek has that problem as well For example "You didn't do the dishes?", no matter what you answer, it means that you did not do the dishes
u can tell takashii really tried to pronounciate really well the words in this video and he nailed it! i like your english with the japanese kick to it it sounds nice!
I feel so lucky that English is used so widely across the world. Languages are so tough to learn. I've tried learning Japanese and know some words and phrases but it's so tough to learn another language unless you are really dedicated. I imagine English must be so annoying to learn since it is not phonetic
Hmm, I presume you know of phonemic orthography. I am a Croatian and our language (and serbian) are closest to an example of an ideal phonemic orthography. That said I started learning english when I was maybe 3 and a half years old through PC videogames and literally asking people for the translation of every single word that I encountered 50-100 times a day by the age of 4. English is one of the easiest languages to learn, you just need to hear a correct pronounciation of that specific word. English does not have all the declensions, grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) or 7 grammatical cases (nominative, genitiv, dativ, accusative, locative, vocative, instrumental) and many, many more language requirements that other languages have. I always had excellent 5 in english (you would call it an A grade if you are american or english) from A1-C1 level. There are some irregularities in english yes, as in every language, but you just have to memorise them as much as you possibly can. English is one of the simplest languages. At least that is my opinion and I say it as a person whose mother language has rules that couldnt be further from the ones english language consists of. We speak and pronounce the words exactly as they are written, down to the last letter.
English continues to thrive precisely because of its lack of rules. It simply takes new words and adds it to its own. If there's a new word from another language, for example "karaoke," that simply becomes the English word. There is no need to assign it a gender article or change the word to conform to a constanant/vowel scheme. The downside is that quinoa follows a different pronunciation than koala or quilt. As the world becomes more interconnected a reverse Babel situation is occurring where we all gradually use one common word for everything.
@@pigs18assigning a gender or an article to a word is not that complicated. Natives do it effortlessly. Karaoke is also said in many languages, and in many languages that need articles and genders, and it was never an issue to add new words that comes from other languages. English also has rules, as any other languages has, it’s not that special.
My daughter is Japanese and bilingual in both Japanese and English, having lived in Australia since the age of 5. Although she studied French for six years starting in grade 3, she doesn't speak the language. She found the French classes to be somewhat challenging as she lacked interest in France and did not perceive a personal need for it. In my view, acquiring a language is most effective when it becomes necessary or when there is genuine interest in the culture of that country, even if the classroom structure and teachers are of high quality. On the contrary, she speaks perfect Japanese despite not having any friends with whom she can converse in Japanese. She only needs to use Japanese when she is with us. The primary reason, in fact, for her proficiency in Japanese is her deep pride in being Japanese and her appreciation for Japanese culture. This strong sense of identity has been a significant source of motivation for her.
I really want to learn 1.Japanese 2.French and 3. Korean. I know the tiniest bit of Spanish and I learned most of that just in everyday life and not in my Spanish classes in school. French is hard for me at this age because I'm so much more used to Spanish and they are similar but yet very different. I don't think there is much hope for me learning Korean though, it is very hard for me to grasp. My husband and I plan on visiting Japan at some point and I want to work very hard to learn at least more of the basics before we go.
Just came back from a bucket list trip from Japan! I didn’t think Japanese people were bad at English. Likely can’t hold a big conversation, but you’d be surprised how sufficient the English they know combined with things like pointing and body language. And a lot of them seemed genuinely excited to try their English with you. I can’t say the same if Japanese people visited America, lol.
In my experience in visiting Japan twice, I've found people to be very helpful and was always able to find someone who spoke English to help me find my way around. That said I do speak enough Japanese to start a conversation (very very basic), that perhaps puts people at ease.
For some reason those normal long videos are better than watching just short videos about Japan and the whole culture differences out there.. Really like your content Takashi, greetings from Egypt = )
I was just in Osaka and since it's a massive city I thougth people would speak English there. Not at all. I had to go to language meet-ups to meet Japanese people who could speak English. And I saw no difference in the older and younger generations.
I am not from USA UK Australia new Zealand. But my parents made sure that English was part of my schooling. As a result I can now communicate with ppl even when I travel to non English speaking regions cause generally you will always find someone who speaks a lill English. English is very popular Becuase of 2 reasons.. American English movies and now Netflix and the fact that UK colonised a large part of the world spreading English. Maybe politics of certain regions don't appreciate English.. But I feel that since a large part of the world knows English.. Its a useful language to learn..
As an Mandarin speaker immigrated to the US from Taiwan for over 23 years, and a conversational speaker in Japanese and Spanish, I have come to the understanding that, for native Japanese speakers, it is very challenging to try to learn English as a second language; in learning new languages after you are no longer a child, we often try to "translate" the new language to something we can relate to in our first or native language, which is completely natural, but that makes it hard for Japanese natives to speak with proper pronunciation For example, in Japanese, you can only end a word in a vowel (あ、い、う、え、お) , or the consonant "n" (ん) The letters ら、り、る、れ、ろ is pronounced with the consonant between r and l sound, so more like a leh sound like in booklet, kinda, not exactly, its an approximation at best The sentence structure is completely different; In Japanese and Korean (and maybe other languages), it is Object Subject Verb, instead of Subject Verb Object, and subject are usually assumed instead of stated outright, especially when you refer to people in conversations So, with that in mind, one reason it can come across as "they can't speak the good English (choice of word intended)" is because if you give a Japanese speaker the phrase "Be your inspiration to inspire others", they would possibly pronounce it as "bi yoru insupurashion, tu insubaira ozasu" kinda, but you can see how hard that is to write out the pronunciation in English for it And of course, the classic tale of Rs in languages, people would deem Japanese speakers as unable to pronounce Rs and Ls properly, and that is because they have a pronunciation of something more in between Anyway, that is just my two yen on this matter. I also think it is very self-centered of people to say that "they should just learn/speak English" and it makes Japanese people and people from other countries feel compelled and less confident in themselves because they think they can't communicate in a way that is communicated by the majority or those with influence. Hope this helps to anyone who actually takes the time to read this in full, have a lovely day everyone!
I'm half Japanese and English! My mother tongue is English but I think as the man mentioned in the video it is not a subject. I really get what Nick means because all the students learning are studying for the subject and it is not really important. They want to get a good score to enter the university. (They don't have fun learning it) I really believe that English is a tool to communicate with other people from all around the country. English is an international language and it can really be an advantage in the future. I know that English education in Japan focuses too much on grammar and has peer pressure that we can't make mistakes and that is why a lot of people hesitate, they should not make mistakes because making mistakes is key to learning a language! I am learning Spanish myself now but I keep making mistakes too! Also, I believe they should have more time to communicate with more people from all over the world and make it familiar.
Super interesting video. The insight on why Japanese people struggle so much with English was super interesting, and I think the problem is similar in France where I live (people struggle with English here too). It comes from the way it's taught in school, mostly.
Awesome video! I like the guest interviewer format for this episode. Very inspiring. Your friend seems like an engaged teacher and his three language learning points are completely valid. Thanks!
It’s a test subject as the Palo Alto guy said. Plus, when they’re young, people would rather spend their little free time with their BF/GF than on learning something. So unless English is the best language to communicate with him/her, or is required for work, there’s little motivation for improving one's skills in a foreign language.
I don’t know if there are nicer people than the Japanese people. Every single one of their answers was to make a bond with another person. That’s where their thoughts were. It just seems like such a beautiful civilized country. Safe clean with positive people. I’d really like to go
This was insightful. I’ll be in Tokyo for the first two weeks of march. I thought more people speak English in Tokyo haha. Japanese is the only language I’m interested in learning anyway so I’m sure I’ll be fine
Personally, as a half-Filipino and half-Japanese, who is now an English teacher at a high school, I think most Japanese don't feel motivated to learn because there is NO NEED. You can live well here in Japan without knowing any English. You can have a good job and a comfortable life without English... When I was growing up in the Philippines, the adults around me put an emphasis on doing well in English studies/communication because it was necessary in order to have a good job in the future. Also, Filipinos are exposed to a lot of English daily on tv, radio and outside signs/advertisements. Some newspapers are in English and even news/dramas mix Tagalog and English. (I'm sure there are also a lot of problems with the "English Imperialism" vibe there... but meh. You gotta do what you gotta do to live and eat.) I think the last person said it well, English is something most people feel is a subject you need to pass uni exams here in Japan. Most students study like crazy and memorize English for the exams but when they graduate and start working, they forget whatever they've learned because most of them don't really need English in their work or their life. There's barely any exposure outside the English lessons in class, too, unless the students themselves are motivated enough and put in the effort to watch/listen to English movies/music/news etc. Sometimes I do feel that we should stop forcing English to the students and just let them choose any foreign language they like. 😂 Language is so interesting. It's a living culture that changes all the time along with the people who use it. Without even a little bit of interest/motivation to actually use the language, there's no way to really acquire it.
Growing up in the Philippines, and now working as a software engineer for almost a decade. Contrary to my expectations, there's barely any moment where I have to speak English, even some interviews were done in Tagalog, something they never told us when I was in college. Everyone else preferred to communicate in Tagalog whether in person or through chat. English was mostly restricted to emails out of formality. It's crazy that the US-educated ruling class that built the post-war Philippines basically forced everyone to learn English at the expense of local languages. I mean English is important, but not as much as Filipinos make it seem to be. I have so much respect for the Japanese for not going that way.
People make fun of Japan by saying ''Even students at high-level universities in Japan can't speak English''. But the opposite is true. It should be regarded as ''In Japan, even students who only speak their native language are able to access higher education and engage in advanced science.'' I rather think that it is a risk for the country if highly educated and talented people can speak English well. This is because there is a risk that such highly skilled people will eventually migrate to abroad countries (particularly to the United States, where attracts talent from all over the world). What people should not misunderstand is that students majoring in science at high-level universities in Japan have good ability of reading and writing English. They have sufficient ability to collect information in English and write thesis in English. English education in Japan produces "people who can read and write English, but cannot speak or listen". Worlds should realize that those people are the greatest benefit to non-English-speaking countries. Of course, I don't deny that people study English conversation on their own to make foreign friends and expand their world to enjoy life.
The same thing happing in India. Here there are various school systems. Private schools(all English education) where privileged people study mostly go abroad. Then comes state public school where they learn English as a subject like japan. I studied from a state public school, where all my subjects were in native language except English. Till class 12, I was able to read and write English but not speak or listen. Then I went to engineering college where all my subjects were in English. Then I started to work with Americans everyday, now after 10 years, my English has become standard. I was so embarrassed as a 18 yr old in college that my fellow students could (who were from private schools) fluently speak English where I couldn't.
We are doing a program to open young people in Japan to the outside world by having native English speakers teaching Japanese students on English as well as cultural knowledge.. it's only focused on speaking and listening skills which is fully online, bringing the world to them
Thats why i love Japan 🇯🇵, they prefer their own language 1st than Other country language unlike us ,in India 🇮🇳 : as a world largest english speaking population....we have to learn english (people force me to learn this without my permission) 😢, Its compulsory in our country, and people who dont know english they often consider as illetrate as 1st expression despite they have PHD or Special Expertise in any subject.
I'm totally agree with your final message at the end of the video. If you go to japan learn some japanese before. I am french and I have a friend who came to japan without any skills in japanese language and he was disappointed because his trip was cool but he misses a lot of things because he wasn't able to communicate with japanese people (he even end up to order food he didn't like in restaurant) For my first trip to japan I learn some japanese I'm not fluent at all but I can read hiraganas and katakanas and about 150 kanjis and I learn some grammar to be able to make sentence like : my name is ... where is this temple ? what type of food is it ? and it gave me the opportunity to communicate with japanese people in izakaya and I had a lot of fun ! So I came back in japan last year because I love it here and I will go back in japan next year !!!
for japanese dont worry when you want vist bali or indonesia, lately many indonesian people speak japanese good than english, so even can't speak english you can come to indonesia
I have to chime in. I am American and have been teaching myself Japanese for the last 3 years. I have almost no interest in European languages other than Russian because it seems like most people in Europe have a decent understanding of English , therefore what is the point of learning those languages if I were to visit Europe? Japanese , Chinese, and Russian are the only languages I am interested in learning since very few people in those countries are fluent in English and those are countries I want to visit.
Most Japanese close themselves to the outside world, especially the US and speaking English. The root of this is much deeper than most people think that originated back in ancient Japan and was later fueled after WW2
Wow... This is so well done/said. Nick nailed this perfectly, Glad to call him an old friend. Takashii, thank you very much from not shying away from difficult content and subject matter. If you wanna come here, learn the language and keep it copacetic. But if you are Japanese and have high career goals, learn English as it will help you advance. I have now subbed.
It's almost the same thing here in Brazil. We usually see the English as a subject also. We study this language since the primary school to the end of the college/university, but big part of our population aren't fluent; actually, under 2% is. We don't have to use English in our daily lifes as some countries in Europe, besides, the Spanish is kinda similiar with Portuguese then to know only our native language is enough to survive here. Please, forgive me if a said something wrong. That's it :D.
I agreed with what your friend said until that last part where he said there’s no reason to actually learn English. It is extremely important not just for traveling to US or UK but anywhere in the world. It is basically the “default” language everyone reverts to. It could be 2 people from oppsites sides of the world but if they know English they can communicate even if it’s neither of their first language
Like America in some ways, Japan is a massively populated country isolated from others, with their own pop culture and media. English and Japanese are very different and difficult to learn for either native speaker. It’s also homogenous and they don’t have a lot of time off to travel. It’s not surprising English proficiency is lower than one might assume.
We have same problems about learning English in Turkiye. Most of people can’t speak any other languages than Turkish even though we have language classes from middle school to university. This is related to educational perspectives I think. Almost everyone can speak English in Norway, Finland etc
I don’t think it’s that, I think it comes from two other reasons: first, both Turkey and Japan are big, heavily populated countries where you have your own music, your own movies, and your own social media. So English is much less useful and necessary than it is for some small European country with 6 million people. Second, both Turkish and Japanese are completely unrelated to English, whereas almost all European languages are.
this is really interesting subject!. here in Chile is the same, just few people speak English fluently. even university graduates don't speck English correctly. i learned a lot that i know because of Gaming and internet. and i learned a lot of Japanese from Anime and watching Japanese shows online. by learning a new language you has to realize how you learn your first language when you where a little kid, Just copying every person around you and failing and be corrected. And some times been ridiculized for speak bad, this point is importan because this happen when we are, as adult, traying to learn a new language and feel shame, then quit and never actually learn.
I agree with what he said at the end first the most part but I think throwing yourself into the deep end as soon as possible is the best way to improve, I studied Japanese for about 4 years not really being able to speak that much. Then about 2 years ago I started working at a Japanese Restaurant in my home city, it was a restaurant that until that time had only hired Japanese people. At that time my city had been locked down for a while and no new Japanese people had came into the country for almost two years due to the pandemic, which may have helped me get the job. Due to this as well, most of my coworkers at that time could speak decent enough English except for the manager who funnily enough got me the job. At first I would speak a mixture of English and Japanese at work but as time went on, the borders began to open and new people started coming in, more than being unable to speak English, it's more like they had no confidence in speaking English, so we began speaking primarily Japanese at work. My vocab is dreadful but being in that environment I learned how to explain what I didn't know how to say and my Japanese improved 10 fold. This got kinda long but my point is you don't need a lot of vocabulary to start speaking, you just need to find the right environment, I can't say it's easy as I feel I was extremely lucky to get the opportunity to work where I did, I then moved to Japan 9 months ago and while there's still quite a lot I don't know, I feel like I can speak it quite naturally at this point
What he explains about the difficulty of learning English, I'm having the reverse problem of, which is learning Japanese in America. Virtually very few people to speak to in the US for learning Japanese besides online schools or teachers. Even so we still have the same exact issue of never having to communicate with the language in day-to-day life.
the difference is that japanese learners outside of japan are still consuming alot of japanese media, but most language learners in japan arent doing the same with media in their target language. they may have english taught to them in school, but immersion and exposure are often the bigger factors when it comes to reaching fluency. if you cant do those things in person, media consumption is the next best thing. language learning in japan is still approached as a class subject and not as a hobby, and it needs to be a hobby if you actually want to go far with it
For a country so small though. They are one of the most developed and truly amazing. Sure china made a lot of products. But come on. Let's be honest. Their beauty and taste in culture is unmatched no where i have seen besides historical monuments or something look as nice as japan and we can thank the for anime. One of the greatest genres of tv ever 😂
I used to teach at an eikaiwa and at a high school in Japan! I do agree that Japan should make English an elective language course (like how in the States, depending on where you live, you get a few different options of second language classes to take in school) because not everyone is going to be interested in or need English in their lives. As for the steps that was mentioned about language learning... I do think the listening and producing steps can be done concurrently. You can practice as you learn, so to speak. Anyway, Japan is super conservative and slow to change, so I doubt they're gonna change their ways anytime soon XD
I don't really think English is optional in today's society, it is the only international language and most of the internet is in English (Yes, Chinese is big too, but it's not comparable imo)
This was a fascinating video. I have always been under the impression that more Japanese people speak English pretty well. Japanese culture has so many little bits of English thrown in so it's surprising to see so many don't speak English better. Really good content!!
I know this may blow the minds of some people but hear me out, maybe Japanese people dont speak English because JAPANESE is spoken in Japan. They literally dont need to learn it because Japanese is enough for them in their country. I dont understand why this even needs to be discussed lmao.
I have some friends that still reside in San Francisco, CA who grew up there and are Japanese descent like their parents are from Japan. Fortunately, the Japanese American community has Japantown in San Francisco and offers schooling there to continue language and culture. One of my friends enrolled her 5 children there. When she goes back home to Japan, then she and her 5 children are able to communicate. I personally have not been to Japan and the country has always been on my wishlist. It seems like family members/cousins from both my mother and father's side have visited and have had wonderful tourist experiences, but no mention of any language issues. One of my maternal cousins who majored in Japanese language at UC Davis spent a year in Japan (I'm not exactly sure where) but it got him to the point he did not want to come back to the U.S. as he loved his experience in Japan.
TRUTH▶︎ In many other countries, people often learn English to live and work. But in Japan, we are so guaranteed for a living just by being as Japanese. Speaking English is not necessarily. I lived in America for a long time, and I think the Japanese language is the most beautiful. I want people to have more pride in the Japanese language, like the French do for their own language.
I taught English in Tokyo from 1989-1990. The number of people I taught in the conversation school I worked for who were fluent was less than 5, and one was a translator for the U.S. Embassy. One student learned exclusively from watching movies and applying himself in conversation classes, believe it or not...had never traveled to an English speaking country. Most of the students were probably in the A2-B1 level (CEFR scale), with a strong cohort of B2. At that time, most of the teaching was on grammar and some vocabulary. But there wasn't a lot of conversation or listening practice, and to the extent there was, it was all from Japanese teachers of English who learned poor pronunciation, based on what my students told me when I'd correct their pronunciation of words. All the students I had were great people and really applied themselves for the most part. That was great to see. Since it was right before the Barcelona Olympics, I also taught some Spanish there, too. Love the channel!
I’m Japanese. I majored American Literature in the Japanese University so I understand English. I was trained to make conversation in English so I can speak English. In my opinion many of Japanese people are taught English at school since childhood but those are mainly reading and writing. We are not good at both hearing and listening English because of the difficulties of the English utterances. Sometimes I give up to communicate with English speakers for this reason as well.
Wow! Those three steps impressed me so good! Indeed what he said on school we actually have just first step and if you want to go further that has to be your own choice.
