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Japan’s English skills crash to record low, behind Laos and Vietnam (scmp.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by ahriboy@lemmygrad.ml to c/news@hexbear.net

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[–] Umechan@hexbear.net 30 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I worked as an assistant language teacher 18 months ago, and it doesn't surprise me. They introduced new curriculum in 2021 that was supposed to focus more on conversational and debate skills and integrate technology into learning. A lot of the students and teachers weren't ready for it, and giving students iPads just encouraged them to use machine translation rather than write at their level.

There were so many times students had to give a short presentation, and they tried to read out words they couldn't understand or pronounce like "simultaneously" because they couldn't rewrite whatever Google Translate had output for them. Maybe now they've realized they can ask Chat-GPT to rewrite it at a junior highschool level.

[–] wideopenarms@hexbear.net 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Another big issue, which is a bit more insidious, is drive for cost reduction. Language learning apps and AI aren't great for gaining fluency, but it is cheaper, which drives down the price for language teachers and assistants. This drives down the price for "native" English teachers, which wouldn't be so bad on its own, but that cost reduction effect is amplified for non-native English speakers - Japan takes a lot of English speakers from the Phillipines, for example, and pays them damn near NOTHING.

Speaking of gross imperialist hiring practices in Japan, I know of a few manufacturing companies which hire immigrant labor abroad. The pay is bad enough, but since this immigrant labor is usually contracted through a scouting company, a percentage of all their paychecks is going to these leeches. Not only that, but these same companies I'm aware of only hire Japanese descendants in poor countries, namely Brazil. Additionally, if these descendants are more than 3rd or 4th gen descendants, they will not be hired.

[–] CyborgMarx@hexbear.net 29 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Honestly good, considering the state Japan is in, they'd only use those language skills to import American-brained conservatism

[–] SpookyBogMonster@lemmy.ml 21 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

And silly English loan words.

I was watching an anime about camping awhile back, and about lost it when I realized that the word for "Ground Tarp" wasn't Japanese at all, but an English loan word, "Guraundo tarepu".

[–] AstroStelar@hexbear.net 20 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Same with "black hole". So easy to translate, but nah, it's "burakku hooru" picard

[–] wideopenarms@hexbear.net 2 points 3 weeks ago

My brother in Christ, the conservative brain worms are already here and they didn't need to understand English to get them

[–] infuziSporg@hexbear.net 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

What is the semantic framework of "English skills"?

Why should a Japanese or a Vietnamese person need to learn English any more than an American needs to learn Japanese or Vietnamese?

[–] replaceable@hexbear.net 8 points 3 weeks ago

Because english is a lingua franca, lets not pretend that all languages are on equal footing

[–] bobs_guns@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 3 weeks ago

Good for them.

[–] Taster_Of_Treats@hexbear.net 3 points 3 weeks ago

America's Chinese Skills at an All Time Low