Languages in the Japanese education system

[Infection_]

What is the emphasis on language classes in the Japanese education system? Is it any better than the American/Canadian/British one? In those systems you'd be lucky if you came out of school knowing a few phrases, but with the European systems most kids are usually fairly conversational in another language (usually English) by 13-15.

[GaijinPunch]

If you're referring to foreign langauges, then I think it's fairly obvious they're pretty poor (worse than their North American counterparts). My sister and a few friends took Spanish all the way through high school, and could at least moderately converse, and probably find their way home, locate firearms or even purchase drugs if they were in a bind.

ALL Japanese these days take English all the way through high school, and many of them can't string a sentence together. It's arguable that they generally have better reading skills, as they have basically zero opportunities to speak in the 6 years they study.