Can Top 1% Students in Japan Speak English? | Street Interview
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- čas přidán 15. 06. 2024
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0:00 - Preview
0:19 - What's your major?
1:42 - How do you rate your English skills?
2:29 - English Challenge
8:02 - How difficult is speaking English fluently?
8:38 - Why Japanese students struggle with speaking English
10:08 - How important is English for young Japanese?
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100% Agree. I’m an immigrant myself to the United States, and my family have come one by one. The thing is a lot of my uncles and aunts are shy to speak English, but not because anyone else makes fun of them but because other Filipino people make fun of them.
But something that I’ve told everyone of them individually is that people here don’t care whether you have an accent or not , as long as they understand, you know what you’re saying that’s all you need! Especially at work
Nobel Prize Winners By Country Ranking
1United States🇺🇸271
2 United Kingdom🇬🇧138
3 Germany 111🇩🇪
4France Sweden 71
5Russia 32
6Switzerland 32
7Japan🇯🇵29
8Canada 28
9Austria 22
10Netherlands 22
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china🇨🇳5
Korea🇰🇷 ０
Korean boss. What do you think about This
Asian Boss SERIOUSLY need to hire Oriental Pearl or have her as a guest for these things. She's a sweetheart, fluent in Japanese and Chinese, married into a Japanese family, lives in Japan, and makes some great videos. I think she'd be a great addition to help make more videos with unique perspectives. Plus, I bet she'd surprise quite a few people with how well she speaks.
English is a British colonial language, so if a country that hates Britain sends immigrants, it will end.
Korea🇰🇷 1 Kim Daejung
Confidence is the biggest issue when speaking a foreign language. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. My best English students haven’t been the best at actually speaking English, but they weren’t scared to make mistakes trying.
and to those who are mocking these students, they should ask themselves how's their japanese
these students didn't have the environment or the privilege to travel to an english speaking country for immersed practice, that's the only reason
that's why the #1 rule to learn a new language is : "learn like a baby"
You guys are too nice. As an alumni of this University, I have to say it was a bit cruel to corner these kids, but nevertheless, they responded pretty well. It’s really down to two things. The first is that they were taught English by teachers whom never have used English on a regular basis, and they themselves have never been exposed to an environment where they can’t get away without using English.
it takes eagerness, confidence, and a lot of practice to learn any new skill. i've learned to speak English or other languages through watching movies or tv shows with subtitles and listening/watching music videos. you can learn the intonation and pronunciation easily without any pressure. it is also helpful to have someone to practice with otherwise you'll forget what you've learned.
In my country in our education system, you are mostly learning grammar with a little bit of vocabulary. Teachers are not encouraging you to speak and communicate in English but trying to fix every little mistake you make, thus they are destroying your confidence for speaking. I live in Hungary. And when I'm browsing the Internet, I can see that many Hungarians are writing one certain line after their sentences, which is really showing how Little confidence they have. This line is "sorry for my English". Even if they have very good English, they will ask for excuses... I hadn't been taught English at school. I learned it on my own, and even if my English grammatically is not correct I still have the confidence for speaking and I'm not afraid to use my English in order to connect with people or making friends from different countries.
Speaking from a Taiwanese perspective, “how are you?” is definitely the most difficult question to answer for any East Asians 🥹 We’re soooo not used to being questioned about our well-being so when being asked, all the self-doubt and overthinking patterns becomes overwhelming that we come up with a cringy “I’m fine, thank you! And you?”
Uh....that's what all us Americans answer, lol!
And i also don't like to tell other about what I did. Or ask other what they did.
The joke in America is nobody really cares how you are, it's just a greeting.
The moment when I learned it's just a greeting (like in Korea you say "have you eaten?") and you're supposed to answer automatically like that (unless it's truly the opposite) every greeting became much easier :D But it's something that needs to be explained too!
As a German I also dislike asking about this.
Unfortunately so many students aren't good at speaking English because the way it is taught. Like they said, the learning is so passive and focused on the rules. However, language is alive, and you have to interact with it fully to get the most out of learning. Toddlers don't exactly practice conjugating verbs...
Most schools only have rote learning for grammar, but have interactive classes for communication. The issue is frequency. One needs a level of frequency that mimics native speaker acquisition to attain fluency. Toddlers also can't talk about the economy or politics. They acquire the language that has been repeated over and over again such as "are you sleepy?" "let's go to the park", "brush your teeth". All which most Japanese high school students can understand and use. The issue with 2nd language learners in Japan is they're tasked with learning what it takes native speakers into young adulthood to acquire without a fraction of the frequency of a native speaker.
on the other hand, there are asian people living in america who can speak in english fluently(albeit in the accent in the area they are in) but they can't read that well. What japanese people lack is practice and it's something the japanese government cannot provide because to practice, you'll need to use it a lot and it's just impossible in japan.
@@lyhthegreat Exactly! Also, generally speaking high school students' English is often better than their foreign teachers' Japanese, despite some of their teachers living in Japan for years. Most foreign English teachers in Japan are functionally illiterate and far from fluent.
yeah, imagine how badly these foreign teachers would fare if they had to learn japanese in their own countries before coming over..@@gordonbgraham
@@lyhthegreat The ironic thing is many of them mock the Japanese for their poor English skills.
We don't need to be fluent or need to have American/British accents. If we can communicate, that's enough.
American here. That’s true.
FACTS!
@@Mariah-bf2ujtell that to the Karen that showed up at kohls customer service asking for someone who can speak "real"english and no foreign accent. Happens to many times from these "karens"
@@viviangarcia5696 You sometimes get this even if the staff member has the local accent and was born in the country. It's just racism.
Someone even once told me that if we try too much to hide our accent, we end up being less intelligible and that we should just embrace our own accents instead.
It's simply due to the environment. I am Japanese but to be honest, I have never needed English while living in Japan. I'm just learning because I'm interested in the language. People are not eager to learn English because Japan is a country where you can live comfortably just by speaking Japanese. Almost all books in foreign languages are translated, and you can learn almost all academic subjects in Japanese. For example, Toshihide Masukawa, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics, cannot speak English at all. And the fact that many Japanese, especially the Gen Z, have little interest in going abroad may also be a factor. Japan's passport ownership rate is 18%, the lowest among developed countries.
18%? Wow. That's really, really low for a first world country. Passport possession in the US, which is considered low, is much higher, at 37%.
I think if the Japanese got rid of katakana, they'd have a much easier time with English. As a native English speaker, I also have a lot of trouble reading katakana. For instance, I've been asked before by a Japanese if Jennifer Conelly and Sean Connery are related. Then I realize it's because phonetically in katakana, コネリー are the same.
I think software development might be an exception to this? I’ve met online many Japanese programmers who are good at English. The software industry moves so fast with new tools and frameworks every week, so I think good English skills are necessary there.
I’m not sure the enviroment alone can be the reason. In Finland, you don’t really need English either. But the English skills of Finnish people are very good on average.
@@SharapovaFan
Yeah, I think one of the reasons why Japanese people are not good at English is because the Japanese in the Meiji era converted almost all English words into Katakana lol But katakana is completely ingrained in Japan that to eliminate it sounds pretty unrealistic.
@@Moegivesmelifecos the software is coded in eng so u better read eng or u cant work with foreign devs at all?
@@slaiyfershin Documentation for different tools and libraries is only available in English for the vast majority of the time. Practically every software company out there relies on open-source software and community, where communication is crucial. You will have to communicate with developers worldwide.
Maybe your application exposes a bug in a library that was made by another party. You then have to be able to create a proper bug report in English for these cases, so the library developers can fix it. Those library developers may then also need to ask you for additional information depending on the situation. Maybe it turns out that it isn’t actually a bug, but a mistake in the documentation. Or maybe you misunderstood how the library is supposed to work, and there is nothing to fix. Either way, there is bound to be discourse. There are some loooooooong discussion threads out there where people are talking about the best way to solve a particular issue - or whether there is an issue at all. You need to be able to stand on top of all this information so that you can make the right choices for the application you are developing.
They did really well. The thing about language is that it's not just intelligence or innate skill, it's PRACTICE and TIME, so the fact that these students were able to put in so much time and effort into English IN ADDITION TO all the other subjects they had to perform incredibly well in to be accepted into a school like Tokyo University is insane. I really respect their efforts!
Indeed, well said!
A fair comparison would be with the students at the top Korean and Chinese universities.
Sorry but strongly disagree. Learning English is just not a priority in the educational system in Asia and the culture is very different so I don't blame the students at all. Saying they did really well is delusional though - be supportive yes but you don't have to lie. Most people in Europe like me aren't native speakers either and they'd surpass this level of English displayed in the video at the age of 12. There's top universities in Europe too it's not like young people in Europe speak quite good English because their curriculum is so easy they have lots of free time to practice English. In fact, with this level of English you would fail school in my country and couldn't even go to university at all. Again this is not the student's fault, their system simply never starts properly teaching them English in school and they're also just not interested in learning another language.
@@MoboMixer I didn't say they spoke perfectly, I said they spoke well. Considering the cultural context and linguistic background (with Japanese being incredibly distant English in almost every conceivable way) in which they studied English, they performed admirably.
You'd be lucky to find Japanese people in Japan, even in Tokyo where there is considerably more exposure to English than most other regions in the country, who spoke this level English.
@@MoboMixer you are right. Their level of English is nowhere near comparable to the English spoken by average European Univesity students. Having said that, I'm a European myself and I'm learning Japanese, and as such have exposure to languages spoken across Europe, but also some understanding of Japanese. Despite the fact, that I'm unable to speak most of them, I know that the way of thinking about the language is very similar. There are plenty of important differences between English and Slovak, my native language, yet, the two languages are much closer to each other, than Japanese is to either of them.
This makes sense, as historically European countries have had ties together for many centuries and this has led to influences even on language level on all the cultures present here.
It is hard to describe for those, who don't have any exposure to Japanese, but I'm pretty sure that fellow European students of Japanese language will agree, that the way Japanese think about describing ideas and the world around them is simply completely different to the European way of thinking and speaking. This makes Japanese rather difficult for Europeans, at the same time European languages are hellishly difficult for Japanese speakers as well!
Europeans face less hurdles when learning English. Despite the many differences, English feels somewhat familiar. For example the basic word order is the same. Many grammatical concepts can be found in one way or another in other European languages as well. The same cannot be said of Japanese. Japanese grammar is completely different.
Of course the exposure to English language in Europe is also on a different level compared to Japan. Many European countries are not populous enough for it to make sense to translate content from English into their native languages. So the motivation to learn the language is much higher in Europe. It's not only about the educational system, because quite frankly, European educational system regarding language learning is not good either. There are many other factors at play, why Europe is so different, but the most important ones are closeness of English to other European languages, geographical closeness, much higher exposure to the language and given conditions where often people from many different countries have to cooperate and collaborate together, even the necessity of English for Europeans is much higher.
(Of course this does not apply to ALL European languages)
I would say that the inability to speak a foreign language that the student is studying is primarily the student's fault, though. After all, it is the student who should be motivated to learn the language. If the student doesn't care, no teacher will ever help him with that. It's just that these students clearly do not care enough about being able to speak English. In fact it is even plain to see to some degree, that English is not on top of their priority list. That's not a criticism, why invest time into something that is clearly of little use to them after all. But it's not the fault of the educational system. It's simply a matter of English being rather insignificant in Japan.
I was so proud of the student in tan/beige who was being interviewed at night, because he wasn't confident at all but he pushed through. He didn't try to look at the interviewer while he was speaking because he knew it would increase his anxiety and looking away let him concentrate more on vocabulary retrieval. On top of everything else they have to learn given the Japanese work ethic, these students should be proud of how much they know.
Also even though he was speaking slowly, his pronunciation was really good
he was my favorite
When I visited japan I noticed they are very shy and completely different from a country like Germany.
For example, when I was talking english in japan it felt like people were trying to avoid talking english as much as possible, either talking japanese or saying nothing at all.
On the other hand, when I hear someone in Germany talking english, me and alot of my friends usually get excited and try to get into a small talk because this is a good opportunity to finally test our english skills. When I visited poland and croatia it was also the same for them, someone heard me talk english and they immediately tried to open a conversation.
I get the feeling japanese people are afraid of doing mistakes when talking so they try to not talk unless they are certain they don't make a mistake, meanwhile my spanish friend confidentally makes 10 mistakes in 1 sentence but it doesn't matter because we all understood what he is trying to say :D
Interesting, I experienced the opposite during my visit. People really tried to speak english and many of them were grateful that they could practice with me
We just like appreciating the calmness we have. To be honest I hate hearing a noisy English conversation when I’m in a good vibe like on a train.
@@my_account5603 how is that different from a noisy Japanese conversation?
I think japanese people are just shy.
@@T.K.T It is different in the sense that it's more likely to happen.
3:05 Crazy. He seems to be struggling more than the others, but his enunciation is somehow better
think hes extra nervous cause he was put on the spot
My speaking intonation/enunciation sounds near or native level but i speak at a much lower level than the speech intonation/enunciation might suggest. Prolly happens from being more exposed to the language than actually practicing it.
yeah when he said he played piano in the morning it almost seemed like he had been speaking the language for a very long time
Actually, it might be relevant that he plays piano. If you're musically inclined you probably have an ear for the sound of language, too, apart from grammar and vocabulary. And some people have a knack for not automatically substituting the sounds and rhythms of their native language when they speak another one-it’s like they can speak the non-native language on its own terms, rather than as some version of their own language. (It almost takes a bit of bravery to do so, as if you're “impersonating” a native speaker.)
I was going to say this lol. He sounds like he was raised with English speakers level of enunciation.
I love that when we aren’t confident in our language skills we all have kind of the same embarrassment/stress. 😊 their English is SO much better than my Japanese, and I’m so appreciative of anyone who even tries. 💕
yeah,totally agree with you!
As an American, I’m extremely happy to see any non-native speaker try to speak English and proud of whatever they’re capable of saying. 😁
But Americans do not speak grammatically correct English. It looks English is not Amrican's native language.
That's nothing you would feel happy about. English is just globally spoken language spread by the British empire.
@@CrypoThrill Let's not make blanket statements, shall we? Plenty of Americans have terrible English skills. Plenty of Americans have great English skills. Just as with any other English-speaking country. And I'd venture a guess that every single country in the world has a similar linguistic competency variance.
You have no idea how languages develop and evolve.@@CrypoThrill
thats not only american thing but pretty much every country with their own language has this problem, especially harder one's like polish or french@@CrypoThrill
I think they did pretty good considering the pressure of talking in front of a camera. I teach English in Japan and my classes are focused entirely on conversation. Aloha from Yokohama🤙🏽
I think in China mainland or South Korea, 90% of the college students in their top universities can't either speak fluent English. But in China, there are some tests of English which will be counted in the scholar notes for their graduation. So, I think the situation in China could be better.
I want to teach English in Japan for a little while, how did you find a job?
One of my housemates is a Japanese on a working holiday visa in australia. She could barely string a sentence when she got here, but after she started working and mingling with more Aussies, her English has honestly improved heaps and bound. It’s so much fun when we would just hangout and talk about our varying experiences growing up and our thoughts on social issues!
Re entry rates: 25% is a generous way of putting it. It's around 30%, but you need a GPA equivalent in the national entry exam of 4.5 to bother applying; so that's 30% of people with 4.5+ GPA.
Makes a lot more sense. 25% wouldn't be that crazy
Yeah I was about to say this. They also forgot to mention that you pay a hefty application fee just to be able to apply and then also to take the entrance exam. So the only people who apply are the ones who have the necessary grades and were sure that they'd get a spot at that university and of THOSE people it's 25%. Overall it's said to be way below the 5% mark of people actively trying to get there. However, it's only the name. I've studied there for a year in 2020 and it's really not that special in computer science for example.
Yeah, I graduated from one of the most prestigious private universities in Japan, but even I never thought for a second about applying to the University of Tokyo. The University of Tokyo is on a different level, so even if you fail, I respect those who take the entrance exam to this university.
25 percent seems easy right? But it’s not since there are thousands of universities to choose from and only genius try to aim for Tokyo University. I was raised in Japan and I went to cram school since I was 6 years old. I spent my whole life only studying(when I was in high school my average study time on Saturday and Sunday was 12 hours). And yet I didn’t even try to go for Tokyo university. That’s how hard it is😢😢
I'm 99.9% sure GPA is completely irrelevant to the vast majority of Japanese universities. perhaps you're trying to phrase it in a way that's easy for non-japanese people to understand but GPA and hensachi are completely different concepts, and GPA doesn't say much about academic ability so the metaphor doesn't really make any sense.
さすが東大生やな。
普段英語を話す機会がないのにこれだけ話せるのもすごいし、Lの発音とか出来てる人いるのも凄い。
あと文法も間違いはあれど、少し高度な文法がすぐ出てくるあたり、ちゃんと英語の土台が身についてるのが伝わる。
As someone who taught in Japan for thirty years I can say Japanese are truly not interested in using English as a tool to interact. They learn it as an academic subject, as a job requirement or as a personal challenge / hobby - not as a way of communicating. Japanese find social interaction even amongst themselves as a big challenge. Communication with foreigners, even in Japanese should be kept polite, cheery and brief.
Basically, the Japanese will only pursue something if there is potential economic or social advantage in it for them. They are extremely practical and conservative. The only exception might be hobbies - English (passing the various Eiken tests etc.) being a common one.
Nicely put. I used to compare it with other south Asian countries that grow up learning multiple languages to a much higher level and wondered why Japan doesn’t absorb English in similar way. There’s more to it ..
true, only way to change this is for japan to make english the language of instruction in schools/workplaces...but that will never happen lol...and this is probably true for most countries with a native language.
And this is the case, they have to learn to keep up with economic changes. Especially in IT industry.
You know what? I respect it. Most white English speakers in my country throw a tantrum when news announcers or government institutions say a word or two in Māori; I’m in no position to criticise the Japanese for filing English under the same category as calculus.
What I am saying, knowing English is a competitive advantage. You can reject something if you are a leader and don't care about others and this is not the case.@@kiwimusume
If you don't need to deal with international business, that's fine. If you want to communicate with foreigners, knowing English is an advantage.
Hmm people are learning Japanese or mandarin why they need to learn?
They are top country with money
Righto
advantage? it's a necessity..
And I'm sure all these students know that...?
@@sarahrean7174 Because both China and Japan are facing a population crisis. They are gone need a lot of foreign workers and with that it's best if they can actually speak the same language.
Wow they were better than I thought. I studied french from childhood to highschool and I cannot understand nor hold a conversation in anyway. These guys did great!
gotta remind you that these people are the brightest in the country..imagine the other ones out there who are in other universities..
As long as there is a noun, and a verb, or an adjective, we can understand each other. 😊
screw the grammar yeah, but what about negations, conjugations or tenses??
@@lyhthegreat There are languages without tenses. Conjugations are optional in informal speech in some languages too.
@@kzm-cb5mr no past tenses in a language? that's kinda weird man..how do u know if you've have done something then?
@@lyhthegreat Many languages in Asia use aspect
@@lyhthegreat Many language in south east asian don't have past tenses.
They speaking like all in present tense but there is additional words to tell if it's past, present or future tense.
It's sounds hard right?
But it's much more easy and not strict like english, pronounciation also easy.
I'm impressed that these technical students speak as well as they do! I'm American, always focused on math and into engineering and economics, but I learned Spanish for all my language requirements over the years. The study was good, but some years of working in kitchens with a lot of Mexicans really gave me the opportunity to USE the language. Some of the guys spoke nearly native English too so they were able to really teach and explain the vocabulary and colloquialisms.
I love seeing them have to think hard for the words, and they all mostly incredibly clear and understandable. There's a term called circumlocution, which means, using the limited words you know to explain/describe ideas that you don't have the words for. It's always fascinating to hear how English learners use this tool. Don't know the word for axe? Say "wood cut stick." In context, a native speaker would know exactly what you mean.
They all did great! They should be proud. I was able to understand everything they were trying to say even without the subtitles.
I have a friend that isn't exactly fluent in English but is pretty smart in other subjects like math, but what I really admire about that dude is his confidence. He doesn't care about being grammatically wrong, he just speaks with confidence. Now he's improved so much and I just can't help but be proud of him.
Now back to the video, I think they all are just lacking in confidence in speaking english and that leads to no one being there to correct them. I think it's also bc japan in general doesn't have much need to be fluet in english unlike other asian countries like where I'm from. Japan is fine just speaking their own language.
I'm Mexican born in US and i find it easier to express sometimes what you are trying to say to the foreigners, and i feel as if even with very few basic words and much expression I can learn and teach understanding through motion and direction
These people were actually really pretty good or even better, considering that their majors have nothing to do with English. Kudos to them for even just standing in front of the camera and answering questions in English. I'm sure there were many more students who refused or just ran away from the interviewer.
I don’t think my Spanish education in America was any better than English education in Japan, both were pretty horrible, but I don’t really believe formal education is ever all that great. I learned Japanese and Mandarin from a few hours a day with a textbook and a few hours a day practicing what I learned with native speakers. I think that’s what it takes to learn a language and school isn’t set up that way. Get kids interested and then put them in situations where they can use what they learn naturally.
100% this is where its at. They need to be interested.
Yeah, personally I'm glad when people show interest in other languages, I get the same feeling you all get from this video when I speak with someone from NA and they can't speak spanish (even tho they have México right besides them) but its always a pleasure when I hear someone at least try to have a small talk with me in spanish. And I don't say this from a superiority complex point of view, because clearly I make a lot of mistakes when speaking english, but I think most people get what I'm trying to say lmao
In my experience the only way to teach a language in a school setting is if it's started early and continues consistently. I learned French purely through school and speak it reasonably well, after 8 years of classes, starting in the 5th year of elementary school. If you get an hour a week of some foreign language when you're already 15yo, obviously that will never stick.
Of course organic interaction with a language will always be the best way.
Look forward next of this series
It's so humbling to see them holding basic conversations in English, when no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to make any real progress in Japanese. My hat's off to all of them.
Our school in London did an exchange where we wrote letters to a school in Tokyo. We wrote to them in Japanese and they wrote back in English. Then we did a trip to meet them all. Their English level was pretty good for a bunch of 16-17 year olds. Some of them actually spoke better English than the top University students in this video. One spoke English at native level but has briefly lived in San Francisco as a young child and spoke with a strong American accent. If you want your child to be fluent, send them to some kind of English summer camp abroad and they’ll likely pick up a speaking foundation for life.
English is my first language. These folks impressed me. Japan is so homogenous- i can see why itd be hard to find opportunities to practice english in a conversational and informal way. As an American i get lots of chances to practice my second language (Spanish) and still struggle. Languages are hard. I think those students should be very proud of all the work theyve done. English and Japanese are so different from each other, i am so impressed at how well they communicated in english.
Japan is not very homogenous. Their English is fine, but for top 1% it is bad.
All of these students underestimated their English-speaking skills...they really did well, especially considering most said they learned on their own!! Fascinating!! ❤
Japan has come such a long way in becoming a self sufficient country. Since the beginning of the age of modernisation, everything that most Japanese need and need to know are accessible using the Japanese language. So they do not see the need to master the language. This is hardly surprising.
8:25 That is how I feel when trying to speak Japanese! I think they all did great. English must be such a hard language to learn. Trying to learn Japanese has really humbled me.
Couldn't agree more with that the young lady said starting at 9:18. Sure, you can pick up some grammar, vocabulary etc. from a textbook, but actively applying what you learned is very important to retain information, especially when learning new languages.
fact, i can be very good at talking to people on internet by text, but when it comes to speaking its a whole different story
i feel like it's the opportunity to struggle and make mistakes that like we're able to learn best at anything, and communicating with people is much more memorable and awesome than just reading about it, so i feel like learning from a teacher consistently and practicing outside it with people knowing that people will be okay with your faults or mistakes because you're trying is an awesome thing. tangent: i feel like a recent video by Vox about AI mentions about learning and how when we feel like it's a bit easier then we don't actually learn as much in comparison to active practice and participation. I think that at the end of the day real recognizes real for their efforts at being human with love everywhere@@novy1198 @floingdetscha
皆さん凄い！日本語で聞かれてたとしても難しい質問に落ち着いて即答している。英語が話せても自分の考えが無ければ何も言えない。日本で育って毎日英語を使ってる訳でも無いのにこれだけ使いこなせるなんて しかも語彙の豊富な事！流石です。
Their English is actually not bad. Trust me, I worked in a Japanese company. Their sentences are complex without needing to backtrack much or redo it from the start and they get their main point across.
It’s hard to learn a language if you don’t use it frequently. Learning it is one thing, and practicing it is another.
In the Philippines, English is part of the curriculum from primary until college/university so most of us can read and speak in English, but not all are able to use it in everyday life.
Many Indians familiar with more than 3 or more languages because we all learn our mother tongue, country language, regional language, neighbours regional language for job or other and English and religion language also
English is my first language, and I started learning Japanese 2 months ago. I know I have a long way to go but I'm really enjoying it and hoping to be fluent one day :)
9:07 he's so right about not getting the opportunity to practice and thus the skill not developing, bc i grew up in an asian country as well and my school had a strict rule of only communicating in english and kids who didnt do this were punished in some way right from primary classes, this made everyone quiet fluent in it my middle school
This year I spent the month of November in Japan, my first time there was in 2018. I really think Japanese people underestimate their English skills. I was impressed with how many people I encountered that knew some English. Even just knowing a little bit to can go a long way. I am able to read Hiragana and Katakana, order food, and ask basic things. I had multiple occasions where I would say something well enough for them to respond back at native speed and I couldn't understand. It made me realize I knew enough to not come off like a traveler and seem like I live there. It's frustrating to hit a wall in a conversation and run out of ability so I understand how some of these people felt. Great video as always, and more motivation for me to study their language.
Congrats! It means you're speaking like a native! 🥳
As a German I taught English basically to myself, and it is relatively good, because I was curious to exchange ideas with people from all over the world. Here in Europe, we are often travelling to other countries and have much cultural impact from the English speaking world. When I lived in Japan in 2006, it was as if Japan was like entirely encapsuled in it's own culture. I wonder if there is less curiosity to see what is going on in other countries?
Perhaps, I even think this occurs in many countries
German is an European country and Europe is on the same continent so you can visit other countries by your feet. Also, every European languages are very simular. Especially, German and English are like brother language.
On the other hands, Japan is a totally isolated island and neighboring countries (China, Korea, Russia) languages are totally different. Until late 19th century, Japan never traded with other countries (except China, Korea, and Nederland).
I'd like you to understand that your country and Japan are very different.
Exactly, they barley go abroad even they are holding the most valuable visa in the world
I imagine that this happens in many parts of the world, those who have traveled to Latin America will know that the vast majority of people do not speak English, and we are all surrounded by countries that speak the same language, Spanish, in Europe they need English to communicate between neighboring countries.
@@szattttt yes, you are right !
I lived in China 15 years ago and spoke with a lot of Chinese, Japanese and Korean people…. So when the host asked one of them what their favorite show was, my mind immediately jumped to the answer pretty much everyone gave - Friends! Im surprised it’s still the same today. That show really helped a lot of people learn English, and, even though it’s obviously highly embellished, really promoted American culture.
what's so special about that show?.. almost every english learn will talk about watching that. All i know is that there's a very pretty female lead called jennifer something...my favourite show is 300 and nothing can change my mind about that..
They did amazing, crazy good!
Thanks for another great contents.
Personally I think the lack of practice environment did hinder their progress in learning or using English. It would be great some universities to work with volunteer tour group (eg. Tokyo free tour guide) to encourage their student to participate and practice English with foreigner.
It's quite strange for people for example in Europe, where we are more used to having multiple languages and countries close to us, but from their perspective is completely normal to have so many top students, ahem, not too fluent - it's just not used that often, and it's also taught in a quite old fashioned way (or at least until recently, I don't follow up that much). But the accent part I think is completely normal, they do sound Japanese, but I am also aware most people around me sound very Polish even though they are at the same time more fluent and used to using English soemtimes every day due to work or travel :) So any time a native speaker wants to criticize those speaking unnaturally they need to first take a moment to think why they are not the ones who switch to Japanese ;)
You're right. the world needs more empathetic people, not self-righteous people.
Just goes to show that anything can be accomplished if you really set your mind to it.
You can go to the best schools but only when you really practice.... your practice you will get where you want to go.
Love these language-testing videos, so fun!
- I made videos testing both Colombians and Argentinians too - always fun to see
This reminds me of my previous job, where I worked for a German company, in Germany, but in a department that had to rely on international services a lot. The contact person for the US had working times that were the middle of the night for all of the US, and spoke no English, so all communication had to be text based--which always worked as long as there was no problems. The only person who had the ability to approve large sums of money and also the experience to judge those cases relied on a translation service that took four to fourteen days. Didn't speak more than conversational English beyond German and was in charge of time sensitive emergencies. My manager actually spoke quite good English. So did the professor of medicine he had on the phone at one point--but they both were missing just enough knowledge that my manager had to hunt down someone in the company who spoke the same language as the professor.
It taught me that not everyone has to speak perfect English at every job--those three people were all very capable and worked efficiently 90% of the time--but you do need people who are at least at a C1 level at most jobs, just in case you accidentally send a written request on the company letterhead for aid in the theft of a corpse, by the standards of another country.
Would love to see a video made in Hong Kong!
The key issue is the lack of practical immersion, contextual learning, and consistent practice, which are frequently lacking in conventional classrooms.
pretty good! they all could hold a conversation well! good school indeed. english and japanese are very different languages, hard to switch back and forth. good job!
I would say this is one of the reasons of the development of japan. There institutions doesn't force foreign languages on them. They can solely focus on development of their nation in their language and their pace.
Puerto Rican and Jamaican mix Lives in US.
Y'all keep up the good work! It might not seem like a lot but can definitely hear when you guys are really invested in English! Keep striving for more and I hope everyone has a good end of year and the best New Year!
Have to work on my Japanese 1 out of 10: its a 2 so never be embarrassed it happens on the other side too!❤
3:26 Good Job made me want to comment!
And he watches FRIENDS! I could be friends with you man!
English and Japanese are opposite sides in linguistics, so each has difficulty learning the other. But these guys are really doing well (probably better than English speakers learning Japanese with the same effort).
With the same effort? Disagree. New Zealanders and Australians often study Japanese in high school and we have the advantage of being taught in a way that focuses more on practical usage and there’s less shame around mistakes. But we have less incentive to use our Japanese because English is a lingua franca, so we tend not to make the same amount of effort.
9:21 she brought up a great point its something i can agree with especially as an east asian person theres a huge emphasis on perfection and "following the crowd" and its something thats evident even for asian americans (generally speaking its more prominent with first gen kids whose parents were born and raised in their home country and immigrated later in life) those values end up ingrained in us as well since we grow up being taught to reach for perfection and that mistakes are (often) unexcusable, and that to live comfortably we must follow the crowd and not speak up about "radical" or "different" ideas we have even if theyre objectively very good ideas🥲 this also causes many education systems in east asia (and the learning mindset of many asian americans) to be focused solely on rote memorization and exact regurgitation of content instead of actually absorbing the content and ideas taught and learning to apply them to all different kinds of situations
I was shy when I spoke English because I was not confident what I spoke. However, when I met my English teacher, the things changed. I'm not shy at all now. She changed my life and I'm really appreciate her.
How awesome is that!!! Everyone did so well! I am not a native English speaker and I appreciated that everyone made the effort to be understood ❤
私も日本語を上手に喋りたいので頑張ります
Its hard to learn any foreign language, so, good on them for doing their best. 頑張ってください！
I've been lackadaisical when learning Japanese recently, but my knowledge of the pathway to get to fluency and even past that point to native-like has improved regardless of my dedication over the years.
I have come to the understanding that learning languages is primarily a passive endeavor. At least for the first couple thousand hours. Your brain needs time to find patterns in the language in order for you to build an intuitive understanding of the language. You can certainly learn writing systems and simple grammar constructs more quickly in your native language, but overall it's more effective to simply immerse yourself in media created by and for people in your target language. Notice how the individual who watched a bunch of Friends sounds way more natural than his peers.
The thing that most people don't realize is that if you don't have a strong intuitive grasp on how the language functions, you won't be able to think in that language, and your speaking will sit on shaky ground. The most important thing is to have your intuitive model of the language fully formed before you start to practice forming the sounds that make up the language. Being able to give yourself immediate feedback on whether something sounds right or not is key to developing natural speech in your target language.
There are plenty of different tools that can be used to expedite the process, but they shouldn't interfere with the main goal of developing the model of that language in your head. Only increase the efficiency of that process.
They all spoke well! As long as we can understand one another it's good enough! Actually i love each culture adopt a foreign language in a unique way! It gives a glimpse to the structure and way of thinking of their language and culture! 🎉❤
They should be more confident in themselves cause several ranked themselves lower than i would 😎
The main thing is to be understood, you don't need a perfect accent. Your accent is part of what makes you original! I love this content. Well done to those interviewees 👏🏾 they did well speaking English
All of these people are wayyyyyy better English speakers than what you normally see from Japan.
so true. If you picked up someone on the street randomly, then you could get worse experience haha
My post graduate program partnered with Ibaraki University and the undergrads students' English were pretty good. My fluent English didn't have much issues with them
From my perspective, I think you can learn the language better if you use it daily in practice like speaking, watching and reading cause Im learning japanese too by indulging myself in anime and culture although I can't read yet.
My Japanese friend speaks perfect English and she got a top job once back in Japan
She had to go abroad to learn English. "English teachers" in JP suck.
various problems caused this phenomenon in Japan. When I was studying English at my secondary school, I was really confused because the teachers told us that we all need to learn english to pass the entrance exam or mid/final exam, and after we enrolled the university we can forget all the skills we’ve learned and enjoy our university times. Unfortunately this “enjoy” means we can skip the school and play with friends. Im always wondering why they don’t even want to know about what’s happening in the world and how the world thinks of our country.
Please do an episode on Top 1% students in Malaysia and Thailand, Indonesia and other Asean countries. Just curious. Thank you :)
English isn't just for communication but it's important for learning and researching as well. I as Thai and software engineer found that it's quite hard to get up-to-date information about technology and programming enough for catch up if we know only Thai. We have some Thai tech blog too but they can cover not even half of actual news that we can found in English so knowing English is broad your learning scope for sure.
For who that want to learning. I'm sure no one will said you're bad speaker or whatever. If you found rude people, even you're native speaker then they still find other ways to say rude words anyways. Problem isn't about your language but it's from their mindset.
I mean most European and western students (apart from Northern Europeans) struggle with other European languages such as English, Spanish or French which are oftentimes extremely similar in terms of vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, way of phrasing concepts and ideas, cultural references, etc. Imagine if you asked all Europeans/westerners to learn extremely different languages such as Japanese, Arabic or Chinese instead ...it would be a disaster😂
New Zealand and Australia are interesting examples because we’re culturally Western but geographically Asia-Pacific. (This is also why we handled covid so differently than the US and UK - we looked at what our neighbours in some parts of Asia were doing. Notably, both New Zealand and Australia had similar approaches even though New Zealand had a centre-left government and Australia had a centre-right one.) So when I was in high school, Japanese was a comparatively popular language even though we were never REQUIRED to study it. And we did cover less ground in Japanese than we did in German, the other language I studied, but at the same time, we had a greater focus on practical usage than they do in English classes in Japan, and not QUITE as much shame around making mistakes (though still too much) and that made some difference.
@@kiwimusume that's very interesting...I didn't know that! I wonder if East Asian languages such as Chinese or Japanese are chosen only by a relatively high-performing minority or if they are really spread out around all sorts of students...I have a couple questions for you, if that's not a problem. Are you still able to speak Japanese? Do you think that the general level achieved at the end of your curriculum was better or worse overall compared to that of Japanese students learning English?
Language is a communication tool with those who share the language. I’m Japanese and have been living and working in an English-speaking country for more than two decades. I don’t have any issues in communicating with those who speak English. I don’t see what this episode is trying to portrait. Second Language fluency should be seen as add-on skill rather than life-skill. Speaking own language should be the learning priority in any countries, especially languages like Japanese and European languages that have depth and history are difficult to learn. AI will help those who don’t share the language in the near future.
I think for me personally the biggest problem is the grammar, but actually even native speakers in all languages make mistakes, so it’s important to focus more on what you want to say rather than thinking did I use the right tenses.
5:43 ARE YOU KIDDING ME? That was way too adorable! 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺
As an Indian this is taught for our
Many Indians familiar with more than 3 or more languages because we all learn our mother tongue, country language, regional language, neighbours regional language for job or other and English and religion language also
Indian students tend to be very good at English, yes?
If can survive without English, you don't need to learn it. It applies to everything we do.
they all did well! i can understand that they may not get many interactions to use their english.
its interesting and great that his brain immediately thought that piano (a personal activity) was an answer. its rare for japanese folks to give up any information that makes them appear lazy (eg. a personal activity not related to school or work). we got to see a mental shift from japanese to english.
when that one student said he studied by myself through music and tv and his favorite sitcom is Friends and watched it ten times, sure reminded me of someone...
Being at top 1% or bottom 1% has NOTHING to do with ability to speak another language. I am fluent in English and I'm hardly a good student. But I'm fluent because I immigrated to America at a young age. When you're young, your brain absorbs the language of your peers naturally. It's got NOTHING to do with being top of your class. So these students are especially commendable because they learned another language without having lived in another country. So to those that are bilingual, trilingual ... because you happened have lived in those countries at a young age, keep in mind that that means absolutely NOTHING. Anybody, even those with the lowest of the lowest IQ, can achieve fluency if exposed to it at young age. But if you achieved fluency without having lived in a country that speaks that language (ESPECIALLY if you're older), you are truly amazing.
Thank you. Finally a comment with common sense.
In the morning I played piano
In the afternoon I studied
A little good day
Amazing effort! It’s like asking me a graduate in Canada to speak Japanese. I wouldn’t be able to speak a word.
I’m studying Japanese so I get a warm feeling in my chest seeing smart people struggle with English the way I struggle with Japanese. Another thing, those kids are so humble. They are going to Tokyo University for crying out loud!
I mean, no one likes an arrogant Ivy Leaguer!
I'm still happy and proud of them 😀In the end, I was able to understand what they're trying to say and that's what is important.
Meanwhile, here in the philippines., when one speaks with a wrong grammar or pronunciation, people will mock and make fun of you 🥴 It's really sad, we really should stop doing that, my kababayans 😥
Honestly, give them 3 months in the States and their English will skyrocket. They already have a great foundation.
i've tried these so called next gen translation tools, it's nifty for translating short sentences but when you try using it on a longer/more complicated sentence, things will go haywire, the meanings would be lost/misinterpreted a lot of times. But then again it's still better than nothing and is much faster than learning a new language.
I'm Japanese university student. I think most of Japanese student tend to have feeling of being not good at speaking English, because we usually were not told how to communicate with other people in English when we were high school students. Japanese education force us to study many kinds of difficult grammar and words to pass prestigious university, so maybe we are good at reading difficult sentence quickly, but we can't speak English. I think it is more important to learn communication skill at school.
They can not speak well,
but can read and understand extremely complicated English documents which is tough for even natives to get the points.
yep! very impressive. just lack of day to day communication practise.. with text and understanding being the harder part, all needed is to practise listen and speaking with actual people about "random" stuff and they will be experts.
it's already better than 90% of the japanese population if you've been to japan..
Language learning is all about practicing with actual native speakers tests have little to do with anything. I met foreigners in Japan who passed JLPT N1 and couldn't hold conversations, and Waseda graduates with English degrees who couldn't speak five words of English. I also met foreigners like myself who failed language schools but could easily hold conversations and Japanese people who could speak English quite well but never even went to university. Tests and Degrees only show how well you take tests not what you actually know.
If the JLPT had a speaking part it would at least prevent people who suck at Japanese from passing it. I passed N1 with over 150 points but honestly my conversational ability is weak.
@ketchup901 I agree. The JLPT only tests how well you understand Japanese. If there were a writing and speaking section like IELTS, many people wouldn't pass Japanese language tests.
the fact that there is this level of ability to speak a foreign language is impressive. I can barely squeeze out a few words of Japanese, let alone full sentences.
I’m a professional translator so I don’t award “speaking a foreign language is hard” points. I do award “white people in my country behave like spoiled toddlers whenever news presenters use one (1) word in our indigenous language so idgaf if Japanese people are just politely unable to speak English” points, though.
the thing is most people languages by the book, I think the best is by acquiring. English is my 3rd language and japanese is my 5th i'm not good at kanji yet but I'm still learning .
English is just a language. It's good to be a linguistic but better to have good command over your mother tongue.
深有同感。
You should ask master's and phd students... Their English is suppose to be excellent bc an academic career requires it!
They definitely were all at least master's students.
They look too old to be freshmen.
@@bleromafia Then the situation gets worse. In our country, at least C1 English is required for master's degrees and they want us to do our theses research through English resources. My sister worked hard for her academic career. She studied hard for English, literally increased from b1 to c2.. And sometimes her professors wanted to give presentations entirely in English.. And now I want this too, but luckily I'm a little prepared in advance.
It's like any foreign language - you must want to learn and then have the opportunity to listen and speak it.
As a native English speaker who is, living in Japan and attending Japanese language school here, I can totally relate to them, but on the opposite. I can understand a lot more Japanese through reading, writing, and verbal communication than I can speak. However I know that my Japanese speaking ability will get better as time goes by.
頑張ってくださいね！！
I am an English-Japanese interpreter and truly believe that academic success and being able to speak a foreign language have nothing to do with each other! A language is just a skill that you learn if you need it.
By that logic math is just a skill that you learn if you need it. That can be said of anything u learn from school. English isn't just a foreign language, it's a compulsory subject and a language that is by far the most important to know in order to advance far most industries and for travel.
@@Blaze6432不对。英语只是一门外语而已。也是跟外国人沟通交流的一种工具。在工作上不需要英语的人压根儿用不着学习英语。擅长说英语的人未必都是聪明人。
日本名牌大学的学生不一定都擅长说英语。不会讲英语的人未必头脑都很笨。我也不讲英语，可是会讲华语。我也是日本人。
为什么你用中文来comment
I’m American and unfortunately many Americans assume someone is not intelligent if they can’t speak English and they expect everyone to speak it. I don’t agree with it. It’s unfortunate.
@@elliotw.888 Setiap orang memiliki kemampuan dan keterampilannya masing-masing. Mungkin maksudnya adalah hanya karena aku tidak bisa menggunakan Bahasa Inggris yang baik dan benar, bukan berarti aku tidak bisa menggunakan bahasa lain. Contohnya sepertiku yang bisa menggunakan Bahasa Indonesia.
還用簡體字, 但最後一段是正體字, 奇怪.
因為我曾念大學時，選修中文系。日文裡的漢字是簡體正體混用的。我常常寫錯中文。
They did so good though. I always felt that the people I met in Japan really undersold how good their english was. Sure, it's not fluent, but they mostly have a really good grasp of a wide array of words.
Be proud of ur language.... Dont be slave.... U have done phenomenal job
Engrish: nah I'd win
When you are in an environment that English is hardly spoken, it’s not fair for them to be fluent in that language.
exactly. It's not their fault that they are not fluent in english..
I think people misunderstand a bit here.
It is not about the way English is taught. The far more simple reason is, that you don't need English anywhere when being in Japan.
I also learned English in my school, but here in Germany, where we actually have to talk in English too, but people are barely being able to speak English, not to mention if they do, their pronunciation and usage of vocabulary is completely off.
Take for example, my brother in law. He is living in Japan with his parents in a big house in Nagano. They are all Japanese, their friends, colleagues, family is Japanese, and I am the only foreigner there around. When I married his sister, they never even had any foreigner nor foreigner-Japanese-marriage registered in the townhall in their entire history.
In stark contrast to the rest of her family, my wife is actually very good in English and already reached almost-native level, because she lived abroad for ten years now.
true
It’s both. I’ve studied Japanese and been an assistant language teacher in Japan and I had a massive advantage in how I was taught Japanese. It’s certainly true that most Japanese speakers also don’t need to speak English, though, and I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t respect that.
Always good to hear people from non-english speaking countries try to speak the most common language in the world.
Having good english command seems like a super power in japan.