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Planet Hanyu Staff

By Planet Hanyu Staff
in Yuzuru Hanyu

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Sammie 4A

Sammie

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, rockstaryuzu said:

So today I went out to lunch with a friend, and while we were catching up I happen to mention I'm going to Toronto in a couple weeks time. One thing lead to another and suddenly I found myself trying to explain about Hanyu....and burbling and giggling like a teenage girl talking about her first crush...see what you cause, Yuzu? 

:1:

What was your friend reaction? 

My friends are used to my gushing over famous people.  :68468287:

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Rainbow Tissue box

Rainbow

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, Anki said:

Also the English teacher there was shocking too. I only knew very basic Japanese and I understood the Japanese teacher better than the English teacher (her grammar and accent made no sense to me, and English is my first language :xD: ) Hence, I completely understand Hanyu's English struggle if that was what he had to grow up with...

 

As you noticed, it is very hard for Japanese to learn English.  Especially many of us are not good at listening and speaking English.

To those of you who wish Yuzu spoke better English, let me explain as a Japanese why Japanese are poor in English communication.  There are many studies on this subject such as:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2017/10/29/commentary/japan-commentary/japanese-trouble-learning-english/

It is a long article and some points are:

 

“…the English level of Japanese is ranked 35th out of 72 countries. The top three are the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, which are all northern European nations. Among Asian countries, Singapore is placed sixth, Malaysia 12th, the Philippines 13th, India 22nd and South Korea 29th. Japan places between Russia and Uruguay.

Even though most Japanese learn English for at least six years in school, why are we still not reaching sufficient proficiency?

 

Usually, the poor achievement is blamed on the way English is taught in schools. It is said that there is too much classroom emphasis on grammar with very little time devoted to actual conversational practice. The emphasis is mainly on the silent skills of reading and writing. Listening is rather passive as opposed to being an active part of a conversation. The focus is on accuracy and avoiding grammatical mistakes. Students spend a great deal of time copying out what was written on the blackboard and memorizing it in preparation for tests… “

 

I can tell you this from my experience. We learn English in a classroom with English textbook read by a teacher who are non native English speaker and with heavy Japanese accent.  I want to emphasize that English language is absolutely different from Japanese in pronunciation and grammar, while European language speaker have easier time learning English because of similarities. 

 

Now imagine yourself being in a foreign country after studying their language (which is totally different from yours) for a few years with textbooks in a classroom instructed by a fellow countryman teacher who has never conversed in that language with native speaker.  In that foreign country you realize that people speak the language that sounds entirely different from the one you learned in the classroom. 

 

So please give Yuzu a break.  He needed to unlearn what he was taught in English class back home and started learning conversational English from scratch.  To me his English is excellent with good pronunciation.  Many of us Japanese would dream to be at his level.

 

Also Yuzu is an athlete and his focus and priority is training in FS.  Many Japanese athletes who are active in English speaking countries bring in their interpreters.  Most of the Japanese baseball players who joined US major leagues do not speak English even after playing there for many years, some for decades.  Compared to these athletes in other sports who are helped by interpreters he struggled to learn English and I admire his tenacity for not giving up.  There are some Japanese figure skaters who become quite good in English while training overseas but looks like they are partly helped by their off-ice active social lives.  We all know that Yuzu did not even go to dinner with Javi.

 

IMO his interview in Japanese with interpreter is a good idea as he can express his opinion freely without language handicap.  It is not the same situation but many Japanese politician and businessmen use interpreters in meeting and negotiations even when they are bilingual.  That way they have time to plan their answers while their interpreter is talking.  So until the time Yuzu feels comfortable speaking English I do not want him to be forced to speak English in interview.  Seems like he has more important thing to learn and focus now anyway.

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