Perfectly alien

KEEPING one's opinion to oneself rather than thrusting it on others is considered a virtue in Japan. Rhetorical skill has been considered an essential condition for leadership in the West ever since the days of the ancient Greeks, but in Japan those in leadership position have always followed the adage "silence is golden". There is no denying that this works to the disadvantage of the Japanese in international debates and negotiations, especially where English has come to occupy a predominant place. No one is more aware of the fact that they cannot speak English to international standards than the Japanese themselves and the Japanese struggle to master the English language has suddenly assumed the nature of a crisis. The government of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, who passed away recently while in office, had set up a special panel of experts to study the problem. The panel in its report submitted early this year recommended that Japanese should consider adopting English as its official second language! Some newspapers went to the extent of even wondering if the report could signal a "third opening" for Japan after the Meiji restoration of 1868 and the country's defeat in the second world war in 1945.

It is no doubt true that in spite of the government throwing millions of dollars to teaching English in schools, Japanese students consistently rank near the bottom of the class in international tests. A recent release of the results of a test of English as foreign language ranked Japan 18th out of 21 Asian countries, and Japan ranks 180 out of 189 nations in the TOEFL examinations. The main problem in regard to the poor grasp of English by the Japanese is that they have developed an inferiority complex regarding that language. They think that English is beyond them. Their men, in particular, tend to be conservative and have greater resistance to English than women. Japan should first rid itself of such ways of thinking that are deeply rooted in its society.

In the days before the inauguration of the modern era - the Meiji restoration of 1868 - contact with the West was localised to the Dutch who were allowed to open a trading post in Nagasaki and a small number of people were trained in the foreign language to handle the "western barbarians". These people who attained fluency in the foreign language and were translators and interpreters, were accorded low social status; and in this age of globalisation this is an anachronism. Today, the pendulum has swung to the other extreme and there is a new syndrome that causes all members of society to believe that they must become equally competent in every field. This requires every child to compulsorily study English in the middle school - from grade 7 to 9 - and to continue it in high school and college. A section of scholars feels that at a time when few Japanese students have satisfactory knowledge of even their native language, it is futile to cram English down the throat of every single individual.

An eminent linguist, Prof. Takao Suzuki, maintains that for 130 plus years, ever since Japan joined the international community in the Meiji era, the Japanese have put all their energy in deciphering English (and also German and French) texts in order to assimilate western civilisation. But they have failed to make commensurate efforts to train themselves to articulate their own viewpoints to other countries. He attributes the Japanese inability to speak English to their exclusive emphasis on reception rather than expression. There has been a brisk translation of English works in every field and far more works have been translated from English into Japanese than vice versa. And, the number of Japanese who understand English at various levels are much greater than the number of native English speakers who understand Japanese at corresponding levels. Why is it, then, while there is much discussion of the Japanese inability to speak English, hardly an eyebrow is raised over the fact that Anglophile westerners cannot speak Japanese

There is a growing awareness in Japan that the development of a language is essential for the development and growth of a nation. There is no longer a debate whether English should be retained as a second language or as an elective in Japan. English has become an instrument. English is now something like arithmetic and one has to know it. The Japanese are going to use English for business, finance, science etc. Moves are on to have all public documents in English - a revolutionary idea for a country that has always thrived on an image of its own linguistic and cultural uniqueness. Yes, culture itself has a unique status. When foreigners seek to learn about Japan, don't they have to rely on English translations? If we accept the above premise, competence in English is indispensable in order to achieve a bright and lively future for Japan.

Some academics and educators argue that raising general standards of English to a high level could take a long time, but there are others who think that it is "nonsense" to think on those lines. Ninety per cent of learning a language is motivation and the vast majority of people of Japan do not need it. With Japan increasingly pinning its hopes on the internet revolution to reboot a still weak economy, there are urgent calls for the nation to brush up its English and to make it central to every day life. Dianne Takahashi, a long time English teacher in Japan, is emphatic that the internet thing has got everyone running scared and the internet boom will do the trick.

If English has become influential as the lingua franca of today's world, in politics and business, the Japanese are not going to lag behind the rest of the world. Conservatives, already worried by the prospects of rising immigration as Japan's population ages, are wary of what they see as another threat to Japanese culture. The Japanese have shown time and again that they are a "never say die" nation and they have the capacity to make virtue out of necessity. Given the capacity and the will to come out of difficulties, Japan in a short span of time, probably could be leading the world for mastery over English. The internet revolution sweeping over the world might ignite the spark that could blow the (English crisis) fuse in the "tongue-tied" Japan.

N. KRISHNASWAMI

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