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00:00Hey guys, there's been quite a bit of discussion in the media in Japan this week
00:04because a politician made a comment that many English teachers in Japan can't speak English
00:13and then he followed it up by saying that you don't have math teachers teaching math
00:19that can't do math, which is all 100% true of course.
00:25So, yeah, it's an ongoing thing. As some of you guys know, Japan ranks 97th in the world for English
00:36as a second language.
00:37So, I can remember when they were like 38th and then they were 50th and then they were 60-something
00:44and now they're 97th in the world.
00:49It basically means every other country can speak English better than the average person in Japan can
00:55and it's true and what he said about the teachers is true
01:01because I've met my kids' elementary school teachers who are just normal teachers
01:07who have just been given a syllabus that includes teaching English.
01:12So, here, teach this English.
01:14And so, they're just doing it from the textbook and they've got no training in English or teaching English
01:21and so, it's terrible.
01:24And I just have mentioned it in previous videos, you know, standing outside a classroom listening to a teacher saying
01:30and then all the kids copying
01:34and it's just tragic.
01:38Like, it's just tragic.
01:39And then, of course, when I come to talk to the teachers, the elementary school teachers
01:43and the junior high school teachers, my kids' teachers,
01:47there's no English there.
01:48There's no English at all.
01:51So, in fact, my kids comment sometimes how painful it is to sit in an English class
01:56and be forced to say things the same way the teacher does
02:01which is basically Katakana pronunciation.
02:04So, you know, can you ride a unicycle?
02:06Can you ride a unicycle?
02:10Painful, painful.
02:11So, listen, I've just got to clarify, too.
02:13Those poor teachers, the average class size in Japan is like 35 kids.
02:19And it's not the teacher's problem.
02:21It's not a criticism of the teacher's.
02:25It's not the teacher's problem.
02:26It's the system.
02:28It's the system that is the problem.
02:30And that politician who made that comment, obviously it's an accurate comment,
02:36he said many English teachers in Japan can't speak English.
02:40I would say most English teachers in Japan can't speak English.
02:45They're talking about Japanese teachers, Japanese people who teach English.
02:49That's what he was talking about.
02:50And I would say not just many, I'd say most can't speak English.
02:57And it's the system.
02:59He followed it up by saying that they need to bring in a system where they test the proficiency,
03:07the English proficiency of all the English teachers, which that's not the solution either.
03:11And this happens regularly.
03:12What happens is, now and again, someone says,
03:15OK, we've got to address this tragic level of English that we've got in Japan.
03:19And quite often, their solution is testing.
03:22So some of you might remember, years ago we made a video.
03:25They had exactly the same discussion.
03:27Oh, geez, doshio, doshio.
03:28What should we do?
03:29What should we do?
03:30Our English is terrible.
03:31What should we do?
03:32And one of the solutions back then was that all students that are about to enter university
03:38should be tested on their English level.
03:39And that's the typical Japanese reaction to some sort of skill problem, is testing.
03:46And of course, all the testing would do, if they test all the English teachers for their
03:51English proficiency, all the tests are going to show is that they're useless at communicating
03:56in English, right?
03:58So the testing is not going to solve the problem.
04:00And they come up with all these different, another year, another year, this same discussion,
04:05and they suggested that all English teachers should be made to go and spend time in another
04:10country, which, you know, unless it's 10 years, it's not going to really make any difference,
04:14is it?
04:15So their solutions just don't cut it.
04:18The problem is, there's lots of problems, but the problem is the system.
04:23The system that they have and the way that they approach English.
04:27You know, my kids bring home their English homework, and they're just given books to
04:32go and memorise, go memorise all these words, and then you'll be tested on the spelling of
04:37these words.
04:39Go and do this grammar.
04:41And it's all reading and writing.
04:43There's almost zero communication in English in Japan.
04:47And, of course, that's the problem.
04:49They treat English like it's something that needs to be memorised, that we'll just give
04:54the kids all these textbooks, and then I'll just memorise all this English.
05:00And obviously that doesn't work, you know?
05:03If they looked at the people at the top of that list, that list of countries that speak
05:08English as a second language, if they looked at the countries at the top of that list, which
05:12are mainly Northern European countries, and had a look at how they approach English,
05:17and that they use it for communication, and it's just part of their everyday life, they'd
05:21see the problem.
05:22They'd see where they're going wrong.
05:24But they don't do that.
05:25They just keep coming up with these solutions that just won't cut it.
05:28So it's the system that's the problem.
05:30I remember sitting, my friend had a Juku in one of those after-school schools, and I was
05:36sitting there talking to him one day, and this guy came in that was a university student,
05:41because most of the teachers at Jukus are university students.
05:45And he walked in, and my friend said, oh, he's our English specialisto, right?
05:51There's that kind of pronunciation again, right?
05:53Our English specialist.
05:54Our English specialisto.
05:56And I said, oh, hello, how are you?
05:58Are you having a good day?
06:00And he went, eh, etto, nandake?
06:03Right?
06:04Had no idea.
06:05Had no idea how to respond to that at all.
06:08Because, again, he's their English specialist, but his specialty is doing the book work, doing
06:16the school textbooks.
06:17That's his specialty.
06:18That's what he helps the kids with.
06:21But he has no ability to communicate in English at all.
06:24So, you know, this is the problem.
06:28This is the problem.
06:29And it's not going to change until they recognize that the way they're going about it is wrong.
06:35The problem is, too, that the decision makers, you know, the politicians and the school principals
06:41and all the people that make the decisions in Japan are predominantly old men who can't
06:48speak another language.
06:49And so it's this sort of this downwards or ongoing spiral, ongoing spiral where you've
06:56got people that run the place that don't know anything about learning another language
06:59who are in charge of making the decisions, you know, and that's why nothing changes.
07:05And that's why every year that grading of number 97 in the world, there's a company that
07:13does that every year.
07:13They measure the English ability of all the different countries and then release their findings.
07:20And every year Japan continues to fall down and fall down and fall down.
07:25And because you imagine these people, these people, these kids now that have, you know,
07:31no English communication ability, they're going to be the English teachers of tomorrow, you
07:35know, and so it's sort of this downward spiral where it just keeps getting worse.
07:40So it's not going to change until they absolutely, totally change their approach to English because
07:45at the moment it's just treated like this thing that the kids have to go home and
07:49memorise, that's, that's the attitude towards it.
07:52You know, my kids bring home their homework and say, oh, what, you know, what?
07:56They have these books, books that are basically a dictionary, just, just loads and loads and
08:03loads of words.
08:04And then it'll say the meaning of the word in Japanese.
08:07And then it'll probably usually say the pronunciation of the word using katakana, which is, which
08:14is one of the key centres of their problem is that, is that they, they, they, they show
08:22the pronunciation of the words in katakana, which is just doesn't cut it.
08:25You, you most, you know, with the exception of words like potato, potato and tomato, pretty
08:31well any other word, English word, you know, that you, that you try to, to say, you know,
08:36truck.
08:39Turaku, turaku.
08:40And because that messes, that, that doesn't just mess up their pronunciation, but it also
08:45messes up their spelling.
08:46And I've seen that with my kids.
08:48I'll come home with some word and they'll be writing it and they're writing it with the
08:51katakana pronunciation because that's what they, you know, that's what's in their head.
08:55And I go, what are you writing there?
08:56Turaku.
08:57And they go, oh yeah, truck.
08:59Okay.
08:59You know, so, so that whole katakana thing.
09:02So everything about the way it's taught, anybody that's, um, a lot of, a lot of the people
09:06watching these videos are actually English teachers in Japan.
09:09They'll tell you, have a look down in the comments, you know, they'll tell you what it's
09:12like, you know, the ALTs.
09:15I don't know how people do that job and it drive me nuts.
09:18That, that, can you ride a unicycle class?
09:20They actually had a, an American young guy, like 22 year old guy who was the ALTs.
09:27He, the assistant language teacher, and he stood off to the side and the person who
09:31teaches English is the Japanese teacher, is the, is the Japanese person.
09:37They're normally, they're normal class teacher stands there and says,
09:40can you ride a unicycle?
09:47And then, then all the, and she says it again, that all the kids copy her.
09:51So the ALTs are just performing some English and not doing any actual teaching.
09:56Usually, not, not always, there are exceptions to this, but usually, you know, the English
10:01is being taught by people who can't speak English.
10:05So, it's not going to change until, until they totally overhaul their whole approach to English
10:11and start to use it as a communication thing and, and, and get people to teach it who can
10:16actually speak it.
10:18Um, another embarrassing sort of side point to this.
10:20I mean, the topic of this was actually the Japanese people teaching English, but some of
10:25the foreigners that they've got in Japan teaching English are not a lot better.
10:28Um, some of them, I'm not going to name any countries for fear of upsetting people, but,
10:33but they're, they've got some people in Japan that come from other countries where English
10:37is the second language and whose pronunciation isn't really good either.
10:41And they're here teaching English, which is terrible.
10:44That's like asking me to teach you Japanese.
10:47It'd be a big mistake, wouldn't it?
10:49You know, you're getting me to teach you Japanese.
10:51Konai-chi-wa, you know, it's not going to work, is it?
10:54And, and that's exactly what they do.
10:56They've got Japanese people who can't speak English, teaching English, and then they've
10:59got these other people from other countries whose English is just as bad, and they're here
11:04teaching English.
11:05The assumption is that because they're foreigners, they must be good at teaching English, right?
11:10Which obviously is not right, is it?
11:12I mean, there's, there are, there are some that are really good.
11:15Again, some of those Northern European countries, I've met people from some of those countries
11:19who speak English better than I do, right?
11:21Um, actually, here's another example, too, of English ability.
11:26Have a look in the comment section underneath our videos.
11:28We've got people watching these videos from all around the world, and, and a lot of them,
11:33English is their second language, and they're writing beautiful stuff in the comment section
11:37that's eloquent and, and beautiful English, you know?
11:40The only, usually, the only other language you'll see in our comment section is Japanese.
11:46Because you get people who watch our videos with Google Translate, and they, they sit
11:51there and they listen to the video, and they think they understand what was said because
11:54of Google Translate, and then they'll write their response in Japanese in the comment section,
11:59which is, just illustrates it, doesn't it?
12:01You've got all these people from all around the world communicating in English on this international
12:05platform, except the Japanese people who, with, with exceptions, there are a couple of
12:10Japanese people who watch our videos whose English is very good.
12:12But, the point is, that you won't usually see another language under our videos, except
12:18Japanese.
12:20So, because the other people are all communicating in English, and the Japanese people aren't.
12:24So, again, this is not a criticism of Japanese teachers, or Japanese students, or Japanese
12:29people.
12:30You know, Japanese students, and, and, and, and we know this through our friends and family,
12:34you know, really switched on hard-working kids.
12:36The teachers are really hard-working, 36 kids in a class, it's ridiculous.
12:40So, the, the students and the teachers are not the problem, it's the ridiculous system
12:45that they've got.
12:46It's failing, they know it's failing, it's getting worse and worse as their, as their
12:51ability gets worse and worse, and they're not changing it.
12:55All they're, all they're talking about is giving some more tests, which, all that does
12:58is, illustrates how bad the problem is.
13:02It doesn't fix the problem, does it?
13:03So, until they totally overhaul their approach to English, it's not going to get any better.
13:08Again, by the way, you always get someone, for some strange reason, whenever we talk about
13:12this, someone gets all emotional in the comments and says, Japan's Japanese, they shouldn't
13:16have to speak English.
13:17Why do you say they should have to speak English?
13:19I don't.
13:20I've never said it.
13:22In any of our thousands of videos, I've never once said anybody in Japan should speak
13:26English.
13:27Not once.
13:27All I'm talking about is what the Japanese people are talking about.
13:31Some of the Japanese politicians are saying they need to improve their English level.
13:35That's what this video's about.
13:37It's got nothing to do with it, I think.
13:38I totally agree with that comment, actually.
13:40It's Japan.
13:41The language is Japanese.
13:42I've actually said that to people here before.
13:44Occasionally, you get some really polite person that I'll be speaking to, and they'll
13:47apologise to me and say, I'm very sorry, I can't speak English.
13:50And I'll say, we're in Japan.
13:53You don't have to speak English.
13:54We're in Japan.
13:54I've got to speak Japanese.
13:56And I totally agree with that.
13:58So, leaving that comment, I think this video is just silly, because that's not the point
14:03of the video, and it's not what was said.
14:06I'm not saying Japanese people need to speak English.
14:09Japanese politicians are saying Japanese people should speak English better than they
14:14do.
14:16Anyway, having said all that, someone will still leave a comment that totally misses the point.
14:20It doesn't matter how short a video, how succinct I try to be.
14:25There's always somebody who totally misunderstands what was said and then emotionally responds.
14:30It's inevitable.
14:32It's the internet.
14:34Anyway, that's more than enough of that.
14:36More videos coming soon.
14:39It's the internet.
14:41It's the internet.
14:43It's the internet.
14:45It's the internet.
14:46You
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