Thread: Uses of English in Japan?

I think is perhaps better suited in the Japanese Culture section.

~Moving~

people have saying if the world is going on like this..the whole world will be speaking English...it depends on you...i think that allot of the Americans and other English speaking countries are going there allot..and English is useful because the richest country America ( i don't think so) speaks English and they can do businesses with each other.

Originally Posted by equinn

Uses of English in Japan?


I wonder if Japan will become a bilingual country in the near future. Everyone that i've met online, well almost everyone, speaks English or has studied it and knows the basics.

Many people say that they need English for their careers. So if Japan has become very used to English and it seems like a very important language to them, then can we expect that Japanese society will have a drastic change in the way they speak and communicate with each other and the world?

perhaps soon Japanese society will not need the Japanese language and even some people will not learn Japanese as kids.

Anyway, what i'm saying is that i think English is becoming like a second language in Japan that everybody knows at least to a certain level. Any opinions?

Actually, I think the Japanese have major problems with incorporating English in their education.

1) They will not give up the Japanese language, that's just absurd. English might be a popular language but it has never replaced another country's own language. And it certainly won't replace Japanese. Do you have any idea how nationalistic they are?

2) The Japanese don't thoroughly learn to speak English and most of them totally suck at it.

3) Another obstacle is katakana. It's Japanese that usually sounds like English but it sure isn't. It's a phonetic interpretation of English (and some other languages) transferred to Japanese. This poses extra difficulties for the Japanese who wish to learn proper English.

Originally Posted by Hassun

Actually, I think the Japanese have major problems with incorporating English in their education.

1) They will not give up the Japanese language, that's just absurd. English might be a popular language but it has never replaced another country's own language. And it certainly won't replace Japanese. Do you have any idea how nationalistic they are?

2) The Japanese don't thoroughly learn to speak English and most of them totally suck at it.

3) Another obstacle is katakana. It's Japanese that usually sounds like English but it sure isn't. It's a phonetic interpretation of English (and some other languages) transferred to Japanese. This poses extra difficulties for the Japanese who wish to learn proper English.

i don't agree with the 1at point because now allot of people my age(20 and under.) doesn't really care about their languages ( not me) but allot of people are learning English instead of Japaneses because they think is cooler.

Originally Posted by exderz

i don't agree with the 1at point because now allot of people my age(20 and under.) doesn't really care about their languages ( not me) but allot of people are learning English instead of Japaneses because they think is cooler.

But can they speak and write their own language? The answer is "yes".
And has it replaced a main language? The answer is "no".

i think..or the scientist think in the future the world might speak only English. just like America/Canada allot of people only speak English not there own language, and those people are evolving.

Originally Posted by exderz

i think..or the scientist think in the future the world might speak only English. just like America/Canada allot of people only speak English not there own language, and those people are evolving.

Oh really? And exactly where did you read that and who are those scientists?