Teach English in Baimei XiAng - Anqing Shi

Problems for Learners in japanBeing a native speaker from Japan poses a number of problems and difficulties for ESL students. There are a number of factors to consider. These are the alphabet, pronunciation, and other differences between japanese and english, exposure to english, the school system in Japan, and the culture. Some english speakers say that japanese is one of the hardest languages to learn, but for the japanese it may just be the opposite! One of the biggest obstacles that japanese students face that their native language uses an alphabet completely different from english. For one thing, the japanese written system is divided into three different alphabets: kanji(pictograms based on the chinese writing system with thousands of different characters and tens of thousands of different combinations), hiragana(a phonetic, syllable-based alphabet composed of 48 characters) and katakana(a phonetic, syllable-based alphabet composed of 48 characters and only used for foreign loan-words). All three of these alphabets written don?t resemble the english alphabet in the slightest. This fact alone gives japanese learners difficulty in learning english. Furthermore, they will have to switch from a syllable-based alphabet to a letter-based alphabet. While one character in hiragana or katakana represents one syllable, english requires a couple or several letters to make one syllable. Also, while one character in kanji represents one idea or ?word?, in english a number of letters are required. On top of that, the way japanese pronounce their language is very different from english. Not only is japanese a syllable-based language, in english terms all syllables end in vowels except for one character(which is n). This is quite a change going to english where there are many consonants and consonant-ending words. It is often said that going from english to japanese is much easier than the reverse because english has more sounds than japanese. The following example demonstrates a couple of these differences: japanese has no ?L? sound and ?V? sound so words such as ?love? come out sounding quite literally as ?rah-bu?. On a side note, a small difference is that the word order is generally opposite from english, always ending in verbs. This can also be a problem to beginners in english. The amount of exposure also poses a problem for japanese. Japan is an island country not bordered by any english-speaking countries, nor is it in a region where an english-speaking country exists. While there are many pockets in Asia with english speakers and english teachers, the japanese don?t get the same exposure that countries such as France can get. For example, consider tokyo. It is the largest metropolitan area in the world and there are many english speakers and you can see the influence with signs printed in english, english teaching companies and the younger population seeking out to use their english. However outside of Tokyo, english is not used as much and there is a big market for native english speakers in the countryside. Take the JET program for example. It is said that when you get the job, if you request to be placed in the Tokyo area you are almost certain not to get your request granted. Usually most people are placed in the rural areas and other cities. The way english is taught by japanese in their school system can also pose as a difficulty when learning from native english speakers. As a japanese student, you are required to learn english all the way until you finish school. While this may be a positive, it can also be a negative. The way english is often taught in middle and high schools in Japan is very rigid and teacher-centric. This is partly due to the culture, which I?ll get to in the next paragraph. Most of the teaching is done through lecture and memorization. One can say that they are not really learning japanese so much as memorizing vocabulary and various constructions. This problem can be seen when japanese speakers are asked a general and open-ended question in english. They are taught that certain questions have certain answers. While this may help in understanding english, it may hinder truly grasping the language down the road. As I said previously, the japanese culture plays a part in learning effectively english in a classroom environment. Usually classes are always teacher-centric and lecture-based. This works hand-in-hand with how japanese students usually are in the classroom: simply listening and only contributing to the class when they are called upon. So when native english speakers try to teach ESL to japanese students, it may be difficult to get them to openly speak and contribute to the class.