English in Japan

[Mycernius]

I was wondering what type of English is taught in Japan, British English or American English? I know that the US has an influence over Japan is some respects, but does this include the English taught in Japanese schools? Does it depend on the teacher or is there a set standard? Also, if I was to teach English in Japan, would my English (British) be different to what is taught by an American, Canadian or Australian. It is the spelling that most interests me about it, as American and British English differ on spelling grounds, whereas Canadian and Australian seem to be a mixture of the two, especially Canadian.

[Ewok85]

From all the text books I've seen its American. Annoyed me a bit cause when I got back from Japan I was speaking american english not aussie/british english :(
(small things like elevator not lift, cellphone not mobile phone, lobby not ground floor etc)

[Nebiki]

I imagine you would be able to pick up the American "dialect", if you can call it that,in little time at all.
I can see why youmight find it a pain though.

[Kara_Nari]

Yeah, New Zealand and Australia follow British english.
Actually I have met a lot of people here who prefer British English over American English.
However I had a friend who taught English in Japan, and was forced for one job to speak with an American accent. Luckily she is quite good at changing her accent.
The other day I met a New Zealander who thought that I was British... until I told him where im from. But then I never really have sounded like a nasal Kiwi....

[MeAndroo]

I think they teach katakana english.

[PopCulturePooka]

Nova pretty much encourages teachers to teach American English regardless of where you're from.

But I didn't follow that rule at all.

[Jack]

american english is bull, those form england speak the truth

[PopCulturePooka]

British Written English is kind of stupid.

[lexico]

British Written English is kind of stupid.
Interesting view. How so :?

[Ewok85]

I dunno, i prefer using 's' to 'z' for works like organise, its doughnut NOT donut, etc :D

[Silverpoint]

British Written English is kind of stupid.

And your comment is what...? Intelligent?

[lexico]

The more I think about it; I think I misread PopCulturePooka. I had learned a lesson earlier not to judge by first impression. Therefore I must state that it was an extreme case of irony; sarcasm; a self-inflicting humour which is also typcially British in origin. For how could an "Aussie" betray the crown ? That would be out of character judging from the PopCulturePooka that I have known on the forum. Apologies for questioning your integrity. :sorry:

[Silverpoint]

For how could an "Aussie" betray the crown ?Without a second thought Lex. We're not living in the 19th century any more. Australia has no serious need for the British monarchy these days and just haven't actually managed to organise a decent referendum to form a republic. They tried one a few years ago but it was hijacked by politicians who wanted to push an alternative agenda, so it got voted down. It'll happen sooner or later though. Anyway, I don't think it counts as "betrayal" - just a dumb comment with no real evidence offered to backup the observation.

[lexico]

Ah, you got me there, dear Silverpoint, right on ! :blush: It would be anachronistic of me to think so. Do forgive my ignorant remark. At the same time, I am wonderfully better informed by your correction; the joys of learning ! :wave:

[misa.j]

I believe they use American English spelling in their textbooks.

To tell you the truth Mycernius, they had a poor curriculum for English class when I was in school; I had an Australian teacher who taught once a month in high school for one year, but most of it was taught by my Japanese teachers.

[PopCulturePooka]

The more I think about it; I think I misread PopCulturePooka. I had learned a lesson earlier not to judge by first impression. Therefore I must state that it was an extreme case of irony; sarcasm; a self-inflicting humour which is also typcially British in origin. For how could an "Aussie" betray the crown ? That would be out of character judging from the PopCulturePooka that I have known on the forum. Apologies for questioning your integrity. :sorry:
Lol dude... I'd gladly see the british royal family 6 feet under. I'd pat the dirt on the graves down myself.
Useless anachronsims that Aussies have no need for whatsoever.

By saying British Written English is silly, I mean things like the use of 'u' in words such as colour, odour etc. And other spelling forms. American Written English makes a lot more sense as words are written phoenetically, while British Written English has an over-abundance of silent or redundent letters.

Spoken though, its british all the way.

[Drkns]

By saying British Written English is silly, I mean things like the use of 'u' in words such as colour, odour etc. And other spelling forms. American Written English makes a lot more sense as words are written phoenetically, while British Written English has an over-abundance of silent or redundent letters.

Strangely enough, I find the American spellings to be rather stupid. Especially the repeated use of the letter 'z' in place of 's'. And I'm no expert, but I swear that neither 'color' nor 'colour' are phonetically accurate. The word is certainly not pronounced col-OR, but more along the lines of cull-er. Therefore, would not "culler" or "cullor" be the phonetic spelling?

Furthermore, I regret to inform you that the American spellings, while they may well remove what you describe as "an over-abundance of silent or redundant letters," tend to appear to have been written by an illiterate British individual, rather than an 'educated' American. Criticise our spelling if you wish, but remember that British English is the ONLY true form of English. :p :-)

Of course, we all have a right to our own opinions. Oh and I definitely agree about spoken English - British all the way!


On a side note:

I'd gladly see the British royal family 6 feet under. I'd pat the dirt on the graves down myself." That's a little harsh isn't it? Perhaps you'd like to see the anachronsims and the institution of the royal family '6 feet under' but I can't imagine you have any reason to wish death upon the individuals who are, incidentally, BORN into the family - they don't have any real choice in that matter. That is, excluding those who marry into the family.

Also, just in case you haven't heard, while they may consume some tax-payers' money, the royal family contribute a great deal of time and money towards charity work. If it hasn't helped you, are you sure a friend or family member hasn't been admitted to a ROYAL hospital? Or helped with a ROYAL scholarship or ROYAL funding? Hell, we have no idea what influences the British royalty maintain to this day and I think it is both foolish and disrespectful to nonchalantly wish the death of or even the removal of a title from people or an institution without knowing the first thing about them or the extent of their deeds.

"Our failures are known. Our successes are not."

*deep breath* *deep breath* *deep breath* :wave:


In response to the original question of this thread: I would imagine that, primarily, American English is taught in Japan, as the American occupation following WWII would undoubtedly have influenced the education system as well as the government.

[Silverpoint]

Personally I sit somewhere between the two of you. I think essentially the Royal Family is fairly handy for the representing Britain abroad, bringing in the tourists etc... However, I find the idea that in the 21st century, someone is automatically my superior simply because a fluke of nature caused them to be born into a certain family, is somewhat bizarre.

[Mycernius]

American spelling became the way it is mainly due to a man called Noah Webster. A rather stuffy man who took it upon himself to re-spell words. Some of them stuck and others didn't.

[Silverpoint]

Interestingly, according to a book I read recently, American English is at times more traditional that British English. Words like "gotten" for example were previously in use in the UK but gradually fell out of popularity whereas they've been preserved in the States until the present day. We Brits often accuse Americans of taking the language and messing it up, but in fact this isn't always true. Sometimes we changed and our transatlantic cousins kept to the old ways.

[Mycernius]

@ Silverpoint Bill Bryson mentions that in one of his books. They say the Maine accent is very close to the way English was spoken.

[Drkns]

We Brits often accuse Americans of taking the language and messing it up, but in fact this isn't always true. Sometimes we changed and our transatlantic cousins kept to the old ways.

While I consider that quite an interesting discovery, could one not argue that however English is spoken in England at that moment in time is the ONLY genuine form of the language? The different forms may well have maintained certain words which fell out of popularity in England, but, at the same time, language is ever-evolving and I believe that at the end of the day, the British English in use at the time will forever be the 'true' form of the language. That said, there is no doubt that the variety of cultural influences affecting most, if not all, languages around the world will cause them all to become hybrids - each and every one losing a number of ties with its 'traditional' form.

As long as words such as 'bling' *shudder* and the like don't become everyday terms in both the written and spoken forms of language, I think I'll survive. :-)

[Nebiki]

/RANT
I find it incredibly frustrating when people speak of the "British monarchy". There is no such thing. To be historically accurate the only really monarchy that resides in Britain today is the English monarchy.
I find it particularly frustrating as I am Scottish, and the Scottish monarchy died out quite some time ago.
Therefore I have no love of the monarchy and can't understand why they have such relavence to the English.
/END OF RANT
Ha, ha nationalism all the way, eh? :relief:

[Jack]

there is always a relation to things that happen in england is something of britain, but in all fairness, Englands history is Englands history,

hmmm,.....think about it!!

[Silverpoint]

I believe that at the end of the day, the British English in use at the time will forever be the 'true' form of the language.

Obviously it depends on whether you consider the country and the language to be to be intrinsically linked. If that's the case then surely only 'English English' can be the true form as opposed to 'British English' (since Wales has its own official language, and parts of Scotland at one time had a gaelic, which has all but disappeared these days).

Personally I don't subscribe to this view. English is now a global language which is 'true' in all its forms and regional variations. Saying our own tongue is the only true form is like saying rounders is the real sport and baseball is not. (For our non-British readers, "rounders" is an old bat and ball game which involves running round 4 bases, still sometimes played in Britain from which baseball is said to have derived).

[Pachipro]

Personally, I feel that English, spoken with a refined British accent, is the true form of the spoken language regardless of words, phrases, and spelling used in Australia, the US and other English speaking countries. It's a beautiful language to listen to and quite easy to comprehend. When I hear British English spoken in it's finest form it gives me the impression (probably false) that the person speaking it is intelligent! And this comes from a person who used to have a thick Brooklyn, NY accent!

On the other hand, come to think of it, although the Brooklyn accent (along with the Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia accents) may sound tough, it does lead me (and maybe others) to have the impression (again false) that the person speaking it is unintelligent and uneducated when I hear it. The same holds true for a thick southern accent although I know all cases to not be true.

Why American English is often required to be spoken in Japan is beyond me.

Anyone else feel this way? Just a personal observation. :wave:

[Minxie]

I prefer American English (not b/c I am patriotic or anything). I do like the Brit-English accent tho. I mean like... British think Americans speak funny... but we all came from the same place - some of us just migrated to the US and then called it USA (back in the 15/1600's - 1700s). doesn't mean much... and on the other hand... Americans think the British speak funny... its like a lose/lose situation *lolz

American English is derivative of a lot of German and other languages. Japanese uses a lot of German words... like albeiten (german) = albeit (japanese). It might be easier to pronounce I guess... i have no idea... just my own opinion

All i know is that a lot of Japanese students come from Japan to learn English in New York City. (I know b/c my mom was a rep for an ELS program). So I guess its really preference. I dunno about how many go to the UK to learn English tho.

[Mycernius]

People always talk on how American and British English differ, but I feel that with gobal communication as it is and English become such a dominant language that the differences between the various dialect on spelling will gradually fade. Look on how many people spell alright as alright, not all right, the correct British way. Sulphur is officially Sulfur and has been for several years. English slang words are interchanable across oceans. Years ago Bollocks was a purely Britsih word yet I have heard used on American films and televsion recently. With things like this forum America and Britian are no longer two countries seperated by a common language.

[WHEATTHlNS]

People always talk on how American and British English differ, but I feel that with gobal communication as it is and English become such a dominant language that the differences between the various dialect on spelling will gradually fade.

Highly doubt it honestly. MAYBE if this was a mono-ethnic country (or on the same level as the UK), but that its not pretty much prevents that from ever happening. AMERICAN ENGLISH is pretty much here to stay and really has no chance - in our lifetimes at least - of becoming married to or having its dialect indistiguished from BRIT ENGLISH.

[Silverpoint]

Can I just point out (since people seem to be rather over-generalising) that there is no such thing as a "British accent". When you say you like the sound of a British accent, what you're thinking of is an accent which is probably most commonly found in the Home Counties (south-east England) but is by no means the only accent in this area. There are literally dozens of regional accents in Britain, many of which are wildly different from the one some people are referring to.

Believe it or not, we don't all sound like Hugh Grant (or James Bond for that!)

[Drkns]

Believe it or not, we don't all sound like Hugh Grant (or James Bond for that!)

Which is almost certainly a great shame, as I, personally, prefer that form of British accent over the many others I have encountered.

[Silverpoint]

I'd suggest you never walk around Liverpool or Manchester late at night saying that....

[Drkns]

Haha. I'm actually headed up North for university! The fact is that when all is said and done, the diversity that the various accents of Great Britain represent is part of what makes us who we are. Some accents are quite pleasant, if not beautiful, to listen to, but at the same time, some would be best forgotten... That statement might seem unfair, and we are of course entitled to our own opinions, but can you honestly say that you've never heard an accent that sounded absolutely horrible?