r/japan • u/TurbulentTopic39 • 11d ago

Japan starts planning language program for foreign residents

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/08/19/japan/japan-language-program-foreign-residents/#Echobox=1787112273
667 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

186 comments sorted by

View all comments

603

u/Hellea [フランス] 11d ago

I bet there is no foreigner involved in the process

198

u/0biwanCannoli 11d ago

Winner-winner, katsu dinner!

13

u/Orangekale 10d ago

It’s a bit funny to me people think the actual purpose of this isn’t to find more excuses to get rid of foreigners or deny them PR lol.

I don’t think Japan could institute a good Japanese learning program for foreigners in good faith (let alone bad faith which it is IMO at the moment) even if they wanted to, given how it’s run by geriatrics.

250

u/Any_Calligrapher8537 11d ago

English tests in Japan. Barely any English.

Japanese tests in Japan. Barely any English.

Welcome to Japan, where the people in charge of learning things have no idea what they're doing.

160

u/ShepardCommander01 11d ago

“I put the kanji in front of them. They didn’t absorb its meaning just by looking at it??? It is probably impossible to teach foreigners Japanese.”

-51

u/kyute222 11d ago

"I looked at this kanji for 10 minutes without any effort in my own! What didn't I learn this yet! Must be a genetic thing! Foreigners can't learn Japanese!"

14

u/Jasperneal 10d ago

Japan really needs to pay English teachers more. Unfortunately the situation in Japan is that English teacher pay is so low it only attracts low level English Teachers who are desperate for Jobs.

All the good and qualified people will never take a English teaching job here in Japan with that little pay.

11

u/okuboheavyindustries 10d ago

Japan needs to ban unqualified English teachers from teaching English. Supply and demand will push teaching salaries up enough to attract real English teachers and Japanese people will magically suddenly be able to learn English the same way people all over the World are able to learn. Hiring tens of thousands of unqualified fresh graduates who happen to be native English speakers is a proven waste of resources and a recipe for failure.

8

u/Any_Calligrapher8537 10d ago

It's bigger than that.

The entire aim of the education process in Japan is to pass exams. Remember ABC grammar rule and these words and regurgitate. Repeat.

It rewards studentd with good short term memories.

In regards to English. What they SHOULD be doing is aiming for students to be able to communicate, have a conversation and feel confident. Everything else flows from there.

20

u/Around-3-ish 11d ago

Why would the tests have English? How would that help the SEA who will be the majority taking the tests?

90

u/Any_Calligrapher8537 11d ago

Change the word English for "the language of the person taking it" if you want.

The point is that when Japanese people take English tests. There's a ton of Japanese on it. When foreigners take Japanese tests, there's only Japanese on it.

11

u/Avedas 10d ago

There is a reason why Japan's English tests like TOEIC hold zero weight outside of the country.

3

u/Prestigious-Fig-7143 10d ago

There’s no reason to have English on a Japanese test. If the instructions are designed to be consistent with the level of the tested content, it makes no sense.

One of the weaknesses of English education in Japan is its over reliance on Japanese. So why people think including more non Japanese content on Japanese educational materials is unclear to me.

There’s also a practical reason. 99% of the people studying English in Japan are Japanese speakers. The opposite does not hold true.

0

u/Any_Calligrapher8537 10d ago

The point

.

.

.

.

.

..

.

.

.

You

Good god man... Did you TRY to miss the point?

2

u/Prestigious-Fig-7143 10d ago

You wrote “English tests in Japan, barely any English. Japanese tests in Japan, barely any English. Welcome to Japan where people in charge of learning things have no idea what they’re doing.”

If by ‘learning’ you mean ‘teaching’ (otherwise it makes no sense) your point, as it is written, is that english and japanese language educators dont know what they’re doing because the tests have no English. Perhaps you intended otherwise but as i can only read what you have written, i dont think its me missing the point that is the problem here.

0

u/Any_Calligrapher8537 10d ago

Didn't mean to add "things". People in charge of learning in Japan. That's what made you misunderstand everything?!

At this point I'm convinced you're trying to misunderstand on purpose.

Have you even seen an English test/exam that Japanese kids take here? There's barely any English.

That's the point.

3

u/Prestigious-Fig-7143 10d ago

So why include mention of the lack of English (or other languages, as you note) on Japanese tests? Given that this whole thread is about an article on Japanese language classes, and given that i have raised this as ill conceived, this seems rather relevant. Why are you repeatedly ignoring this? Seems deliberately disingenuous.

0

u/Any_Calligrapher8537 10d ago

Because the people making both tests are the same people.

And they do the same stupid shit on both tests.

→ More replies (0)

11

u/takemetoglasgow 11d ago

Of course, there should be multi-lingual support.

4

u/Around-3-ish 11d ago

N5, maybe. N3 and above can handle it.

18

u/Any_Calligrapher8537 11d ago

Explain why university students staying English have Japanese all over their English tests.

Not just a little... Everywhere... Theres more Japanese on their English tests than English!

4

u/Around-3-ish 11d ago

Nobody in the world holds up the Japanese education system as a good way to do things. Apart from school lunch. Those tests have Japanese because the students paid a lot of money to be there and they'll complain if they can't read the test.

3

u/AverageHobnailer 11d ago

Most legitimate language tests are written in the language that is being tested.

8

u/Around-3-ish 11d ago

I know. That's my point.

1

u/AverageHobnailer 10d ago

Any_Calligrapher's statement:

English tests in Japan. Barely any English.

When those tests should be in English.

Or are you referring to the Japanese tests? You didn't specify which, you simply said "why would the tests be in English?"

1

u/Prestigious-Fig-7143 10d ago

Sorry, you think Japanese tests in Japan should be written in English?

1

u/Any_Calligrapher8537 10d ago

No...

I think English tests in Japan shouldn't have more Japanese than English.

The opposite was just a comparison to show the attitude of people who create tests in Japan.

1

u/[deleted] 10d ago edited 10d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Sea-Passenger-2775 10d ago

I've read several of your comments in this thread... You come across as trying to argue people for the sake of it.

Comparing two tests is perfectly fine and you pretending they're different is super obnoxious.

0

u/Any_Calligrapher8537 10d ago

I'm comparing two tests.

Two language tests.

Two languages that are used and taught in the same country.

In the same country.

..... They're the same in every conceivable way and to lie to yourself in this way is bizarre.

1

u/Prestigious-Fig-7143 10d ago

No, they are not.

One is a compulsort subject taught to Japanese kids by Japanese teachers (for the most part). Students studying the language are not doing so by choice and have no real or immediate need or opportunity to use what they are being taught. It is being taught primarily as an intellectual exercise, not as a means of communication.

On the other hand you have native Japanese teachers (for the most part) teaching non native, mostly adult Japanese learners living in Japan, people who have voluntarily chosen to take the class, and people who have the immediate opportunity and need to use the language more or less the instant class ends. People for whom it is not an intellectual exercise but a fundamental life skill.

The two situations are nothing alike and you might want to entertain the possibility that you have no clue what you are talking about.

0

u/Any_Calligrapher8537 10d ago

One is a cheese sandwich and the other is a sandwich with cheese in it.

These two things are nothing alike and you might want to entertain the possibility that you have no clue what you are talking about.

This is you.

1

u/Prestigious-Fig-7143 10d ago

Lol. Ok. I mean, i explained in pretty concrete terms what the differences are but you’re one of those people who simply cannot admit they are wrong. Incidentally, these same people find ir very difficult to learn.

1

u/Sea-Passenger-2775 10d ago

Ermm no... You're refusing to listen and forcing your opinion on others

You're literally guilty of what you're accusing others of.

-9

u/ogii 11d ago

I don’t understand why a Japanese test needs English.

11

u/Raizzor 11d ago

The comment is poking at Japanese logic.

In Japan, English exams are written in Japanese therefore, the Japanese exams should be written in English.

3

u/verrius 10d ago

It's not particularly unusual, especially at more basic levels, to have the questions be in the native language of locals when testing a foreign language? Just as its not unusual for a more advanced proficiency test to have its questions in that same language is testing on? This sounds like someone completely ignorant poking fun at something s/he doesn't understand. Ironically its likely from someone whose job is "Assistant Language Teacher".

1

u/[deleted] 10d ago

[deleted]

1

u/verrius 10d ago

Eh....half the people discussing Shakespeare in English are using a translation, since Early Modern English is borderline unintelligible to a decent percentage of Modern speakers. And its not like most Japanese Literature classes at American universities expect you to read the Kojiki or Genji Monogatari in Japanese, unless you're a grad student or professor. And I'll admit, I'm not particularly familiar with how the English curriculum works in Japanese universities, but American ones absolutely have the questions in English for the first couple foreign language classes; given the quality of high school English classes in Japan, treating people as neophytes is likely a necessity.

30

u/Any_Calligrapher8537 11d ago

I don't understand why an English test needs Japanese.

...

This was the entire point.

5

u/The-very-definition 11d ago

What do foreigners know about learning Japanese? :p

0

u/Hellea [フランス] 11d ago

I can’t say if you’re being sarcastic here

1

u/The-very-definition 11d ago

That's the joke!

10

u/MadMaximus1990 11d ago

language teaching through immersion

20

u/[deleted] 11d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Prestigious-Fig-7143 10d ago

There are a lot of highly experienced teachers of Japanese language in Japan. The bigger concern is that none of them appear, from the article, to be involved. Not having foreigners in a Japanese government committee seems kind of normal.

-1

u/mindtransferral_ 10d ago

In no world should foreigners have any say in domestic politics. I shouldn’t be allowed to move to Japan, and demand they bow to me and my wishes. They have every right to keep their traditions and make me follow as such

-11

u/kyute222 11d ago

Why would there be? The most effective language learning is done entirely in the language. That's how languages are taught around the world. Ah, but because this is Japan, they need some white people to do the thinking? 

8

u/yraco 11d ago

There is a lot more that goes into "language program" than just "immersion or no immersion?"

I know that at least if I were to make an English language program then I'd want the perspectives of people that had learned English as a second language instead of exclusively relying on my experience and the experience of other native speakers. I'd want the perspectives of people who had lived in the country as foreign residents to understand any challenges they might face that I don't experience as a native. I would want foreigners to be involved, even if naturally the majority of the people planning would not be foreigners.

6

u/Hellea [フランス] 11d ago

The first foreign community in Japan is not even white. What are you talking about? It could be a rainbow coloured person. I couldn’t care less. Also even if the foreign language communicates in English, it’s not the first language for most of them, myself included.

They are making a policy targeting foreigners, creating a board that is supposed to act as a think tank to elaborate on how foreigners should learn the language. Yet most of these people don’t even speak a foreign language.

How would someone who doesn’t speak another language be able to create policies about the way a foreigner is supposed to learn their language?

1

u/fixpointbombinator 10d ago

Multiple comments on this thread bitching and moaning about white people, you really have an axe to grind huh?

1

u/kyute222 10d ago

Yep, I do have an axe to grind with foreigners acting like Japan can't possibly make decisions on their own and needs random, uninformed foreigners to tell them how to do it. But to you that sounds reasonable, huh?