R eading

25. The English-language crisis in Japan and Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's statement about the way to solve it made headlines world-wide. Read this newspaper extract and answer the following questions:

1. What is wrong about the English language teaching in Japan?

2. What are the present and likely future consequences of the English deficiency in the country?

3. What is the official response to the problem?

4. What goals does the Prime Minister set?

5. How are they thought to be met?

W

Japanese Pursue English with Passion

San Francisco Chronicle, 2/11/00

hile Japan embraces English, teaches it to every student, adopts English words for everything from boyfriend to hacker, it still fails at communicating in the language.

After many years of mulling over this condition, Japan is suddenly being swept by a sense of crisis, almost panic, as the Internet age looms – and English is the dominant language of cyberspace.

Critics have gone so far as to label Japan a failed state for its low English proficiency and say it will fall further behind in technology, finance and information unless more Japanese learn to speak it.

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi recently released a report on Japan's goals for the 21st century that made national headlines with its proposal to make English the country's official second language.

"Achieving world-class excellence demands that all Japanese acquire a working knowledge of English," the report said. It calls for reorganising English classes according to the level of achievement rather than by grade, improving teacher training, increasing the number of foreign teachers and contracting with language schools to teach English.

The need for action is clear, according to government officials, bureaucrats and educators, because Japan scores near the bottom of all Asian countries on the international test of English as a foreign language. The Asahi Shimbun newspaper noted on its front page recently that Japan had pulled ahead of Afghanistan and Cambodia in the most recent test, but had fallen behind North Korea.

26. Read an earlier article setting out an opinion on English learning in Japan. Study the language of the text.

J

Should English be Made Official Language?

By KEISUKE KINOMOTO,

August 29, 1999

apan should adopt English as an official language. The reaction to this bold suggestion from Yoichi Funabashi, a senior staff writer of Asahi Shimbun, has been anything but apathetic. He was appealing to a sense of crisis due to the deplorably low level of English-language ability that threatens to sink Japan…

In the most recent national rankings of average scores in the internationally standardised TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) examinations, which reflect performances in 1997-1998, Japan has finally slipped to last place in Asia. With an average score of 498, we rank on a par with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) at the very bottom of the table. Thailand and Mongolia, which consistently lagged behind Japan until last year, both broke through the 500-point barrier to score an average of 502 this time around.

Funabashi has frequently called for reform in English teaching, but after seeing this dire situation, he went one step further, arguing for "legislation to make English an official language."

Since then, he has received about 40 letters and telephone calls from readers agreeing with him and thanking him for speaking out. It is a subject that never fails to generate discussion when he broaches it in meetings with all kinds of influential people. In fact, he has received numerous requests to give speeches and interviews.

The gist of Funabashi's argument is that Japan's voice and presence in international conferences and other forums is weakening, and while we may have been able to rely on the North Americans and Western Europeans to make allowances for us in the past, those days are over. With the exception of Japan, it is now quite normal for government ministers and senior officials in Asian countries, almost without exception, to speak English with reasonable fluency. If we cannot explain what we are thinking in a way that others can understand, we will be unable to participate in the formation of international opinion. The transformation of English into a global language has accelerated with the dawning of the Internet age.

The media, non-government organisations, and academia risk being left out of the loop if they cannot communicate in English. Japan should recognise English as an essential tool and legislate to make it an official language alongside Japanese. English education should begin at elementary school, and the TOEFL examinations should replace the current examinations in university English courses.

Funabashi admits that it would take 20 to 30 years for English to take root as an official language, but if this could be achieved it would transform Japan.

Not so long ago, any call for greater emphasis on English would have raised jeers of "Anglo-imperialism" or complaints that English was a "tool of Anglo-Saxon world domination." This time, however, there has been virtually no negative reaction.

Funabashi has been amazed at the response: "I feel as though the idea of making it an official language is finally catching on."

What, then, is Funabashi's take on what would change, and how, if English is adopted as an official language? "Official documents would all be written in both languages, and people would be permitted to speak in either language during debates in the parliament and other representative assemblies. Our dealings with Asia would change, too. English is already the official language at meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, but it would also be much easier to develop functional relations with China and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) if we had English as an official language. The number of foreign students coming to Japan, currently in decline, would rise sharply, and Japanese popular music and cartoons would probably conquer the world."

Funabashi believes that English will be the global lingua franca 50 years from now. "The Americans and English may think it'll be easy for them but, on the contrary, I think it could be a great threat to them. There would be a big jump in the number of people entering the market directly in English, so they may feel the threat of encroachment," he said.

One person who immediately wrote to Funabashi to express "100 percent agreement" with his article was Yoshio Terasawa, the author of the book "Lack of English Ability is Destroying the Nation".

"Anyone can cope with official gatherings during summit meetings, since everything has been set up in advance by officials, but it's in informal chats after a drink or two at parties that leaders can sound out each others true feelings. Japanese leaders aren't up to it. With an interpreter in tow, there's no hope of sharing a whispered conversation. I think Japan's really missing out," Terasawa complained in his book.

Terasawa predicted that "English-style thinking" would also produce positive results. Japanese is full of vague expressions, so people rarely talk in terms of black and white, he explained, and it is very easy to blur responsibility. It is an everyday occurrence for government ministers to spend 10 minutes answering a question in the Parliament without actually saying anything. But if the MPs could put their questions in English, it might be possible to do away with the non-committal bureaucratic language that is too wishy-washy to translate into English.

"People wouldn't be able to fudge on the issues any more, and not just in politics. Until very recently, we had everyone fawning over us because we had plenty of money, but with our English ability as it is, we'll end up like the lonely orphan of Asia, and of the world, both in economics and in politics," he said.

"It's impossible to overemphasise the importance of English. Raising the issue will have a profound impact," he said.

What, then, are the views of incumbent Parliament members? Keizo Takemi, the parliamentary vice-minister of foreign affairs, is probably the most adept at English. "I raise both hands in full agreement with Mr. Funabashi's call for reform of English teaching, but I'm not so sure about making it an official language. It would be extremely difficult to build a consensus. It's the sort of thing people might look back on 10 years later and say it was a good decision at the time," he said.

Funabashi's pronouncements have stimulated the Industrial Vitalisation Centre to come up with an interesting political proposal: "Set a goal of making English an official language in 10 years time, alongside Japanese, to meet the challenge of globalisation in the 21st century."

The Education Ministry's position is that it will be possible to start English from third grade as part of the general studies program within the new curriculum, which is due to be implemented in 2002, but the pace of change is very slow. "The Finance Ministry is under attack for losing the economic war, but the Education Ministry has failed just as badly in its policies on the teaching of English. We no longer have any use for teaching by rote, or for examinations that resemble a decoding exercise. We must tackle the challenge of adopting English as an official language, as one of the most important issues for the future of the nation. "It's a kind of cultural revolution," Funabashi said with marked conviction.