English language in Japan

[Fumbles]

Hello, my name is Tomas and I'm from Slovakia. I would like to ask you guys a favor. I'm writing a bachelor's thesis dealing with the English language in some Asian countries, including Japan, and I would be very grateful, if you could answer couple of simple questions regarding education and usage of the English language in Japan. Would you guys be so kind and help me a bit?

Here is the questionnaire:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...itdRvHB_A/edit

You can send me the results on tomas.kurocka@gmail.com
or through facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tomas.kurocka
or simply here in this topic.

Thank you very much

[Glenski]

Uh, you might have said the survey was for Japanese.
First Q:
Why have you decided to learn English?

If you don't know this, all Japanese will tell you the same answer: it is required. 6 years in JHS/HS.


Q2.
When picking a foreign language, is the English language popular?
They don't pick English. It's thrust upon them.

Sorry, but this survey was fairly ill-conceived, and you have to realize that the only people who will read it are the few Japanese who haunt this site and can read English well enough to understand it. Is that what your thesis accepts as research?

[Fumbles]

Uh, you might have said the survey was for Japanese.
First Q:
Why have you decided to learn English?

If you don't know this, all Japanese will tell you the same answer: it is required. 6 years in JHS/HS.


Q2.
When picking a foreign language, is the English language popular?
They don't pick English. It's thrust upon them.

Sorry, but this survey was fairly ill-conceived, and you have to realize that the only people who will read it are the few Japanese who haunt this site and can read English well enough to understand it. Is that what your thesis accepts as research?

First of all, if study of the English language is compulsory, just write it. If it's thrust upon students, great, thats exactly what I want to hear.
Second of all, I'm not well aware of how many users in this forum are Japanese. I hoped the number would be high, so thank you for letting me know.
And yes, these two questions you mentioned are meant to state the obvious. Nobody knows anything about the state of the English language in Japan in my country, thus i found questions like these important. You can write your opinions and describe the importance of the English language in other five questions. Those are the important ones.

Thanks for your feedback.

[Glenski]

Answers to those questions I gave is pretty easily found with a simple Google search. As for the others, do you want answers from an American (me) or a Japanese?

Is English language important in everyday life of a common Japanese citizen? (in a couple of words, explain why)
Only moderately so, but it depends on what line of work they are in, or what their traveling interests/habits are. Many are fascinated with English movies or music (like in karaoke). Japanese language borrows a lot from English and other languages. Watch J TV and you'll see a lot of it slipping into variety and game show chatter.


Where can you get in contact with the English language in Japan? (name couple of fields)
Fields? Science, engineering, medicine, teaching, international business, tourism. All pretty obvious.


What role does the English language fulfill in your country?
"My country" is the U.S. If you mean Japan (where I've lived for the past 14 years), the answer is a combination of the first two answers. International business and scientific research depend heavily on English. They are probably the biggest areas that need it.


Do you think that popularity of the English language can threaten cultural heritage of your country? Why?
No, it does not threaten Japanese cultural heritage. All cultures change daily, if only slowly. The Japanese maintain a strong sense of cultural identity, perhaps too strong. It will never die, and certainly not because of popularity of any language. In fact, without English, Japan's economy will suffer even worse than it is now.


Do you think that the English language will remain popular? Or can it be substituted by other language?
Yes.
Only the dominant one(s) in business and science.