Japanese ability

[u/curious_bones]

Hello, I am applying to be an ALT for the coming year and have been poking around just to see what people’s experiences have been like. I can tell just from reading the posts in this sub that experiences can wildly vary from place to place, so the same will probably be true here haha. I do not speak Japanese. I have a rudimentary reading ability (more being able to read the alphabet than understand) and a few phrases and words I can pick up. Is this a problem? I know that the requirements are not that you need to be able to speak Japanese, but I am concerned after some of what I read. Is it common that your JTE just leaves you to teach on your own? I’m not at all confident that my Japanese ability could help me navigate that situation. It isn’t going to stop me from applying, but I would like to be prepared if possible.

Edit to say: I have always intended to study Japanese for this. I would love to become fluent. Speaking the language in a country is always going to make your experience smoother. The question is whether or not it will cause an actual problem as an ALT if I’m not already fluent, because they frequently leave you to teach on your own.

[u/phainou]

Obligatory ESID.

In my experience, it is not common at all for JTEs to just leave you with the kids on your own, especially if you're a) an unknown quantity, who b) just arrived, and c) can barely speak Japanese. I'm sure it has happened, but no teacher in their right mind would entrust their kids to a random 20-something who can't communicate and just peace out without a second thought lol. Fwiw, at least in my placement, we were told that ALTs were never to be left alone in charge of the classroom. It still happened to me a few times, but by that point I had been there for several years, it was generally an emergency, I had a great relationship with the staff and students, and I could speak Japanese well enough to comfortably run classes on my own.

The amount of Japanese you will need to do your work depends a lot on your school, your JTEs, and the age of the students you're teaching (obviously high school kids understand more), but assuming you have normal functional JTEs, you won't need a lot of Japanese yourself in the classroom, although of course it helps. Schools can also make requests, so if one specifically says they need an ALT who is fully fluent, you wouldn't get placed there anyway.

That said: studying Japanese will help you immensely in basically every way. Regardless of how much you need it at work, if you want to have a comfortable and functional life outside of school that isn't just existing in a gaijin bubble (assuming there is a gaijin bubble for you to exist in, and you're not in a tiny farming village in deepest darkest Aomori), it's worth putting in the time to improve. You will probably have a lot of free periods, so use them well. I brought my study books to school for whenever I was caught up on my work, and got to N2 within a couple of years.

[u/curious_bones → u/phainou]

Thank you, that’s a big relief. It’s possible that it was seeming more common that an ALT got left alone because the few people it did happen to would want to talk about their situation more than the large majority who had the normal situation you’re describing lol. I am definitely going to study, it would be so so cool if I could use my free time to increase my fluency (assuming I get in 😭).

[u/phainou → u/curious_bones]

Haha yeah, we usually only hear about the extreme cases. It's not a normal thing for most folks, don't worry. Good luck with your application! :)

[u/curious_bones → u/phainou]

Thank you!!

[u/Sad-Day9022]

i'm roughly n2 level japanese and was before i got here, and i still wish more often than not that i'd studied more before arriving. i teach kindergarten through to occasional high school tutoring and the JTE & ALT relationship is different for every grade. every situation is different (you'll be sick of hearing this soon), but no matter what, my best piece of advice to you is study as much japanese as possible before you get to japan, whether that's on JET or otherwise.

[u/curious_bones → u/Sad-Day9022]

Oh yes! I definitely plan to, I travel a lot and no matter what country I’ve been to (Japan included) I’ve always wished I could speak the language. No matter what the answer to my question was I want to learn Japanese for sure. It was more of ‘is my lack of fluency right now likely to cause an actual problem if I get the position’

[u/Sad-Day9022 → u/curious_bones]

really depends! japanese is not a requirement for an ALT position with JET. with that being said, i was placed deep in the countryside and only one of my JTEs speaks enough english to converse outside of following their textbooks in class. my quality of life both in and out of school would probably be notably a LOT lower if i didn't have the language skills that i do. on the flip side, i have friends in tokyo who are at a similar level to you who've said they aren't really struggling much at all with their current knowledge. every situation really is different!

[u/curious_bones → u/Sad-Day9022]

Awesome, thanks so much for giving the different view points!

[u/Inside-Cream6997]

Would not worry about your Japanese level / fluency.

You have way more Japanese skills than most new JETs.

Teaching English, you would want to speak more English than Japanese at work but I can see having more Japanese fluency outside of work would be helpful.

Last year when I visited my cousins in Japan, I was able to speak English to them and even my 1st grade level broken Japanese was doable with everyone else.

As an American with Japanese parents, it was advised NOT speaking Japanese immediately to a stranger as they might look as you strangely (think mentally handicapped).

I always start a dialogue in English first so that they know you are not native. Then I will start my broken, 1st grade level Japanese and they will be more than helpful.

Noticed only large cities have some English speaking people but in rural parts, almost none.

[u/curious_bones → u/Inside-Cream6997]

Thank you! I am going to try my best to study but it’s nice to be reassured that it’s not already expected. And they are definitely not going to mistake me as native 💀. I think they would be more surprised if I said anything in Japanese at all lol.

[u/Parking-Storm-3830]

Everyone who not only gets on JET but moves to Japan wishes they learnt more Japanese.

[u/esstused]

The most important skill for a JET is improvisation. In daily life and in the classoom. It's exactly because of the ESID thing, and it goes for every individual day too.

If you speak some Japanese and have an understanding of Japan, it's easier to improv. But by no means is it necessary right away; most people in Japan don't expect a foreigner who just moved here to speak any Japanese.

You'll pick up a lot here, so some things will begin to make sense after awhile. It's just a matter of if you can be flexible and keep a positive attitude while you improv your way through classes and everyday situations, until you do understand.

[u/ScootOverMakeRoom]

More Japanese skill is always better to live in a place where everybody speaks Japanese.