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Problmes for learners in Japan I have decided to write about learners of English in Japan. The japanese language is very complex. Not only does one have to learn thousands of kanji (japanese characters) to be able to simply read a newspaper, but there are so many expressions and customs that cannot be translated into any other language. Many foreigners residing in Japan have huge communication problems because we always have to read behind the words that are expressed. It is simply not enough to be able to speak the language you have to understand the underlying feeling as well. I want to point out the difficulties facing the japanese student when studying English. English is completely opposite to japanese. It is a straight forward language. People say what they feel and think quite easily in English. Usually there are no hidden innuendoes. For the japanese this is very hard to grasp. They quite literally have to change their personalities. I often find that some English speaking japanese can be quite rude and totally out of character. For this reason the teacher has a responsibility to help her students to speak in their own character. It is very important to keep the class totally in English and to train the students through not to translate in their heads, but to mentally switch to English. japanese students are often incredibly knowledgeable as far as grammar is concerned and can actually read very difficult materials in their heads and understand everything. But when it comes to communication, they can barely introduce themselves. So the teacher has an enormous communications barrier that has to be crossed. As far as pronunciation is concerned, the japanese language is not rhythmical and there isn?t very much intonation. So a lot of chorus drilling is extremely advantageous. The ?R? and ?L? sounds are extremely difficult to master. Also the ?B? and ?V? sounds often get mixed up. The japanese have expressions for before and after having a meal, to thank someone, to apologize etc. that have no real translation in the English language. So the teacher has to find some kind of alternative natural sounding expressions. For example: This looks delicious, that was delicious, thanks for all your hard work??.the japanese people need to say these things from a very deep level and if they can?t express those feeling the atmosphere can become quite tense. One of the biggest differences for teaching English to the japanese student is the use of the Roman alphabet. So a lot of time has to be given to writing and reading. The japanese student can be quite shy and a lot of them prefer to listen intently rather than participate. So the teacher has to be acutely aware of this and plan as many activities as possible to get these quiet students to take the bull by the horns and verbally participate. A lot of listening is also advantageous and watching movies in English for homework. japanese television broadcasts many movies, documentaries and dramas from english speaking countries. students can watch these programs in English by pressing the bilingual button. It is very important for them to observe daily life in english speaking countries. japanese rarely touch each other and they don7t like to stand too close to people they don?t know well. Physical communication also needs to be taught. For example: The hand shake. Overall teaching the japanese student is quite a challenge but breaking down the language barrier is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment.
