frannyo 2 Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 English study / AET article here thats worth a read http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20041209f1.htm Couldn't give a crap? Why indeed. Link to post Share on other sites
big-will 7 Posted December 11, 2004 Share Posted December 11, 2004 All 20 seconds it takes to read it. Are we seeing an "English backlash"? I heard on the news about the Japanese kids study power waning compared to other countries, that'll never do. Link to post Share on other sites
grungy-gonads 54 Posted December 14, 2004 Share Posted December 14, 2004 Where I used to teach (using that word almost embarrassingly), there was an English backlash going on full strength. Nobody seemed interested. Ah, memories. This is going back quite a while. It was very demoralising. Link to post Share on other sites
HighlyTrainedNovaTeacher 2 Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 English should be studied. Come on girls, down to Nova for those professional lessons. Link to post Share on other sites
gamera 0 Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 Why? Hum..... perhaps because English is the most spoken language in the world? Languages are not things you can learn in a day or two. Need time and patience. When something new is taken and goes ahead, there's always some backlash there. Go ahead or not, it's your choice and only when you go ahead, you would see something new there, I guess. If I did not study English harder than others, probably I am not in here now. Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 Actually, Chinese is the most spoken language in the world gamera. Dont think it matters much what language people study, but having any second language should be required. If Japanese peeps wanna learn Korean or Chinese, why should English be studied? More Chinese speakers than anybody else. If I could do it all over again, Id learn Chinese, not Japanese - although Im hoping to study that eventually Link to post Share on other sites
kintaro 0 Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 yep! English is actually 3rd behind Chinese and Spanish. But English is the language of money (excluding the French). Link to post Share on other sites
gamera 0 Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 Yeah, I mentioned about how wide it works, not how many people speak it. If you go to China or anywhere Chinese spoken area, yes Chinese is the best choice for you to speak, but if it's anywhere else, perhaps English is your choice. Link to post Share on other sites
Stefan 0 Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 English is the Lingua Franca of the world. Geographically it is the most diverse language and also TWO consecutive superpowers have helped spread its sphere of influence throughout the world, namely the UK followed by the US. It's also the language of the economic powers of the world, again the US, and also the EU (yes most member states now have a stringent English Language policy). I really do think that Japanese students struggle with it though. But hopefully the presence to so many children in chain schools etc and ELT teachers in high schools will mean a bright future for English in Japan. Link to post Share on other sites
sakebomb 0 Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 Just a thought, most things on TV are dubbed- movies, news interviews, unbelievable (!!) so Japanese rarely get to hear the native tongue of any language (not necessarily english). Would this have an effect on learning a language here? Probably not but opportunity is very limited. Growing up in Australia I was always exposed to different languages which broadened my thinking/views. Plus I hate dubbed movies etc I would rather read subtitles anyday. Any Japanese members here like to share their opinion on this? Just curious. Link to post Share on other sites
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