Cultural Linguistic Research
Amanda Nudo
Dr. Stephanie Schlitz
History of the English Language
4 May 2012
Japan and English: A Story of Doubts, Frustrations, and Change
Japanese speakers seem to all at once embrace and resent the spread of the English language into their culture. While English became the key to communicate with Western culture and while many loanwords from English made their way into Japan through the media and popular culture, Japan was still wary about adopting English as the most spoken L2 language for valid reasons. English language learning has spread English cultural beliefs that changed Japan‟s world view. Also, Japanese speakers have difficulty acquiring and mastering English because of their reserved, dependent culture, the discrepancies between the English alphabet and katakana, and spoken variations between the two languages. This contributed largely to the rise of “Engrish” a glocal English reflected in the pronunciations and writings of Japanese speakers of English. Japan‟s desire to preserve its unique culture and language has led to the use of English strictly for interethnic conversation. This however, is beginning to change due to the trend in popular entertainment that incorporate English alongside Japanese and portrays natural code switching. While it is difficult to predict the results of this recent pro-English acceptance, it is clear that Japan has been influenced by the English language and, to some degree, culture while inadvertently creating their own “English” that varied from the standard.
Japan‟s motivation for adopting English as its second language was largely due to an increased interest in Western culture and economic gain. According to Ryuko Kubota‟s article, “Ideologies of English in Japan,” though English became the official second language of Japan in the 1850‟s because of increased trade with Western countries; English was not nearly as widely spread until after World War II because “Japan‟s post-war political, social, and economic reform was strongly influenced by the American system…” (3). The growth of these systems brought with them English loan words for which the Japanese did not have an equivalent. Furthermore, the more Western government and economy encouraged migration and visits by native English speakers and their language into Japan. Kubota also cites Japan‟s growing economy and the need to communicate with Western business partners as a factor in the spread of English (4). By this point, English was the lingua franca of many economically strong countries and learning English was essential to communicating with these countries in order to buy and sell goods and to maintain a strong economy.
The changes in Japanese culture resulted in the teaching of English both privately and in schools all over Japan. According to Assunta Martin in his article, “The „katakana effect‟ and teaching English in Japan,” At the age of seventeen or eighteen, a Japanese student will have had at least three hours of English per week for six years” (50). Despite this, Martin adds that, “it is rare to find a Japanese student who…is able to engage in even a marginal dialogue with a speaker of English” (50). Many of these communication issues are the result of Japanese cultural beliefs and their effect on education. Japan focuses on the idea of “amaeru” or a dependent, reliant, group oriented culture. Because of this, many students are discouraged or even bullied for standing out. Also, the traditional Japanese classroom style which encourages rote memorization over Western learning styles such as debate, discussion, analysis, and reading strategies that would allow students to figure out missing words in context make language acquisition problematic. Discouragement from asking questions or asking for clarification, and fear of being wrong further contribute to the difficulties of learning English because students are unable to work out their misunderstandings and to use the language informally. Lastly, students are often discouraged from learning the language because their teachers are not fluent speakers; if the teacher cannot master their subject, why should the students even try? (Martin 50-52).
“Beliefs about Learning and Teaching Communicative English in Japan” brings up additional reasons for issues with ESL in Japan, disagreements between students and teachers about how English should be taught. In their study, a 36-item questionnaire filled out by 82 college professors and over 300 students in Japan, Hiroko Matsuura, Reiko Chiba, and Paul Hilderbrandt found that what and how students of English wanted to learn did not always match their teachers‟ plans and style. One of the main disagreements appeared in the value of correct English pronunciation, while teachers felt that pronunciation was not significant to focus on, “more than 91% of the students indicated that learning correct pronunciation was important” (Matsurra 73). They also found that most students still shy away from discussing the class or questions they have with the teachers; 92.7% of teachers wanted feedback from students while only 3.7% of students were interested in giving it. Students were also more interested in learning English in mass lectures while professors support more current, group-centered approaches (Matsuura 75). Japanese teachers seem to have been influenced by Western education pedagogy that encourages communication and group centered work while students are caught up in traditional views of learning. Also, teachers value up-to-date course material as where students value material that matches their level and deals with everyday conversation (Matsuura 76). The dissenting views in the classroom could be playing a substantial part in interfering with developing a positive teacher/student relationship that would allow for successful language learning.
As important to this conversation as the teacher/student dynamic and cultural hindrances to learning English are, the immense graphic and phonetic, and morphological differences that exist between the two languages play just as large of a role. In “Some Perspectives on the Phenomenon of “Engrish,‟” Jayne Hildebrand IKESHIMA, refers to the English spoken in Japan as “glocal English” (Engrish) or standard English mixed with local ideas and conventions (188). One common phonemic error, miswriting or misspeaking an [r] when an [l] is meant, as in “grasses” for “glasses” results from the Japanese language only having one sound for the two letters while English has two (IKESHIMA 189). Also, Japanese has only five vowel sounds while English has eleven, which leads to mix ups such as “sarve” when “serve” was intended. Other language characteristics Japanese speakers of English have difficulty with are distinguishing between count and non-count nouns when using articles or pronouns to refer to them, correctly using “s” and “‟s” for plural and possessive, and adjective and adverb placement. Words with multiple lexical meanings can also cause confusion for English speakers in Japan, like the sign that was meant to read “Poppy Seed Danish” but instead read “Opium Danish” (IKESHIMA 195). The languages vary so much that “common loan-words in Japanese (such as restaurant, coffee, hamburger, airmail, knife, fork, cake, and beer) may at first hearing…be incomprehensible” (Martin 53).
Errors in the language can also be caused by the Japanese writing system. Among the four systems, the Japanese use katakana, symbols that represent certain sounds, in order to pronounce foreign language words. The symbols have a consonant vowel order for pronunciation which causes Japanese speakers to automatically pronounce English words that do not end with a vowel sound in a non-standard way. Examples of this include basu for “bus,” ando for “and,” and testo for test (Martin 53). Some katakana symbols, such the one for “th” and “s,” represent more than one sound. This causes misspellings such as “Mouth Pad” for “Mouse Pad” (Martin 189). English words are sometimes written with gaps in the middle by Japanese writers because katakana can be broken up since each symbol has an equivalent sound. All of these factors lead to more confusion and frustration on the part of the ESL student. However, while the katakana system is a flawed one, it is not likely to diappear because, as Martin explains “…the general use-and general usefulness- of katakana, as well as its presence in as an aid in English-language textbooks- inadvertently assures the fossilization of Japanese intonation and pronunciation patterns in English…adding a crucial block to communication” (53).
According to Kubota, the negative effect of English language textbooks and teaching extend far beyond that of a flawed graphic system; it spreads stereotypes about other cultures and negative views about certain aspects of Japanese culture that never existed before English became the dominant second language (5). He asserts, “English has thus become eyeglasses through which the Japanese have viewed other ethnic groups, particularly minorities” (Kubota 5). The English language textbooks portray Native Americans and people of color from all parts of the world in ways that are very much in line with American stereotypes. They also depict Asian people from non-Western countries as lesser because they lack cultural and financial resources similar to Americans (Ryoko 5-6). Americans, on the other hand, are presented as devoid of flaws. “The negative side of American society including poverty, crime, illiteracy, racism, and so forth is rarely touched upon” (Ryoko 6). Also, these books discuss trivial encounters instead of focusing on real-world issues that could help Japanese students understand the culture they are attempting to communicate with better and practice their critical thinking skills (Kubota 6).
Furthermore, although the uniqueness of Japanese writing style has often inspired pride in native writers and readers, the teaching of English and its position as the perceived language of prestige has caused sudden doubts in Japanese texts‟ worth in academic writing. The Japanese began to classify their writing as emotional, subjective, unclear, indirect, and ambiguous while English writing style was seen as logical, analytical, direct, and succinct. This view led to Japanese writers attempting to master what they considered to be an English style of writing (Kubota 6-7). Japanese writers tend to work around a point, explaining their motivation and painting a picture with words before entering into evidence. They do not typically use topic sentences or transitions between paragraphs. Interestingly, after the spread of English teaching, many Japanese written documents began to appear with these distinct English characteristics (Kubota 8). One reason for this change may be that many scholarly documents are published in Western countries that use these trademark paper outlines. Therefore, in order to successfully communicate in this global discourse community, Japanese intellectuals may feel pressured to adjust to the writing format. Despite this there are clearly still problematic changes about how the Japanese view other cultures and their own in comparison to more Western cultures which they place on a non-realistic pedestal. One suggestion offered by Kubota to help keep the cultural bias out of language teaching is to adopt the teaching of Englic, English language disassociated from British and American culture (13). He also recommends encouraging the teaching of other languages and avoiding presenting English through the dominant language ideology (Kubota 4). Implementing these suggestions may help future generations but the bias has already left a lasting negative effect on Japan‟s cultural views.
Recently, the initial aspiration to mimic English culture in order to succeed in kokusaia (internalization) suffered some backlash as nihonijnron (uniqueness of the Japanese) began to emerge. Due to Japan‟s isolation from other countries for most of history, Japanese people tend to approach communication with foreigners on a personal and social level with unease (Martin 54). Andrew J. Moody further discusses the impact of nihonijnron in his article, “English in Japanese popular culture and J-Pop music,” when he cites multiple occurrences where English speakers learn the Japanese language in an attempt to communicate on a personal level only to be treated as guests and held at a disappointing distance by their Japanese peers (209). The findings were that the massive amount of English loanwords that appeared in the Japanese language in a matter of decades (over half of which were nonce borrowings) along with the swift spread of English culture and language caused fears that the unique Japanese language and culture would be tainted or wiped out altogether (Moody 210-211). For these reasons, the use of the two languages, for many Japanese speakers, has become dependent on the context. “Japanese is usually seen as the only appropriate language for intra-ethnic communication and it is frequently deemed inappropriate for inter-ethnic communication, which, whenever possible, takes place in English” (Moody 211). Japanese speakers have recently aimed to limit English to a lingua franca in order to keep its influence out of Japanese culture.
However, this trend has shown some reversal as a recent resurgence of English and Japanese crossing the customary contexts has been led by the entertainment industry; specifically language entertainment broadcast television shows and Japanese pop bands (Moody 209). Adult multi-lingual shows such as the example one with a Bilingual host who interviews Japanese people who have moved to the United States, tend to focus more on entertainment. While the communication is still intra-ethnic, the speakers switch between Japanese and English comfortably in conversation (Moody 213). Children‟s programming, which is meant both to entertain and to teach, often portrays characters from America and Japan easily code switching in everyday conversations. These types of shows offer supplementary reading books that feature the English words found in the show and allow the young audience to practice language learning and code switching with their parents (Moody 215). Television programs like the language shows seem to advocate the use of both languages in inter-ethnic and intra-ethnic communication without the stigmas of context.
Japanese Pop (J-Pop) bands have also been advocating a mixture of the Japanese and English through code ambiguation, mixing two languages in such a way that listeners cannot tell which language they are hearing. Single English words such as “jump” and “kiss” or entire English phrases were mixed into Japanese songs. Furthermore, sounds like “yeah” and “oh” were represented in romaji, the English alphabet, within the lyrics pamphlet (Moody 219). Moody also found that 65% of the songs on the Oricon weekly top-50 charts contained some English lyrics; 62% contained both English and Japanese (220). Language programming and J-Pop music, most of which is targeted at younger generations, shows a renewed interest in embracing both English and Japanese in all situations growing within the youth of Japan. At this point, it is unclear whether this is simply a trend or a cultural movement on the rise.
In sum, English language and culture have played an important role in Japan since a combination of trade and a more Americanized government led to the need for a trade language and loanwords. However, native Japanese speakers had difficulty acquiring the language due to both cultural variations in teaching such as rote memorization and the taboo of asking the teacher questions and language differences such as the katakana system and the different sets of vowels and consonants. In spite of these challenges, Japanese people have generally been eager to learn the language and accept new loanwords. This has led to negative stereotypes about non-Western cultures and minorities. Also, English culture and writing was been held to an unrealistic
standard and Japanese texts conversely suffered criticism and change because of the mixed viewpoints of their own and English culture. The swift and general acceptance of all things English caused a backlash through nihonijnron, or the preservation of Japan‟s unique characteristics. Japanese speakers began to only use English in inter-ethnic communication and to speak their native tongue amongst others of the same ethnic background. Recently, J-Pop bands and television programs have paved the way for a reverse through code ambiguity and code switching among members with different native languages. There is no doubt that English has played a large part in Japan‟s recent history and continues to do so in the present. What is still up for debate as the Japanese public attempts to find a balance between embracing international connections and preserving its culture and language is how much influence English will continue to have on Japan as its number one second language.
Works Cited
IKESHIMA, Jayne H. "Some Perspectives on the Phenomenon of "Engrish"" The Keiai Journal
of International Studies 15 (2005): 185-96. Web. 15 Apr. 2012.
Kubota, Ryuko. "Ideologies of English in Japan." World Englishes 17.3 (1998): 2-15. Web. 14
Apr. 2012.
Martin, Assunta. "The 'katakana' Effect and Teaching English in Japan." English Today 77 20.1
(2004): 50-54. Web. 16 Apr. 2012.
Matsuura, Hiroko. "Beliefs about Learning and Teaching Communicative English in Japan."
Japanese Association of Language Teaching 23.1 (2001): 73-78. Web. 15 Apr. 2012.
Moody, Andrew J. "English in Japanese Popular Culture and J-Pop Music." World Englishes
25.2 (2006): 209-20. Web. 15 Apr. 2012.
Dr. Stephanie Schlitz
History of the English Language
4 May 2012
Japan and English: A Story of Doubts, Frustrations, and Change
Japanese speakers seem to all at once embrace and resent the spread of the English language into their culture. While English became the key to communicate with Western culture and while many loanwords from English made their way into Japan through the media and popular culture, Japan was still wary about adopting English as the most spoken L2 language for valid reasons. English language learning has spread English cultural beliefs that changed Japan‟s world view. Also, Japanese speakers have difficulty acquiring and mastering English because of their reserved, dependent culture, the discrepancies between the English alphabet and katakana, and spoken variations between the two languages. This contributed largely to the rise of “Engrish” a glocal English reflected in the pronunciations and writings of Japanese speakers of English. Japan‟s desire to preserve its unique culture and language has led to the use of English strictly for interethnic conversation. This however, is beginning to change due to the trend in popular entertainment that incorporate English alongside Japanese and portrays natural code switching. While it is difficult to predict the results of this recent pro-English acceptance, it is clear that Japan has been influenced by the English language and, to some degree, culture while inadvertently creating their own “English” that varied from the standard.
Japan‟s motivation for adopting English as its second language was largely due to an increased interest in Western culture and economic gain. According to Ryuko Kubota‟s article, “Ideologies of English in Japan,” though English became the official second language of Japan in the 1850‟s because of increased trade with Western countries; English was not nearly as widely spread until after World War II because “Japan‟s post-war political, social, and economic reform was strongly influenced by the American system…” (3). The growth of these systems brought with them English loan words for which the Japanese did not have an equivalent. Furthermore, the more Western government and economy encouraged migration and visits by native English speakers and their language into Japan. Kubota also cites Japan‟s growing economy and the need to communicate with Western business partners as a factor in the spread of English (4). By this point, English was the lingua franca of many economically strong countries and learning English was essential to communicating with these countries in order to buy and sell goods and to maintain a strong economy.
The changes in Japanese culture resulted in the teaching of English both privately and in schools all over Japan. According to Assunta Martin in his article, “The „katakana effect‟ and teaching English in Japan,” At the age of seventeen or eighteen, a Japanese student will have had at least three hours of English per week for six years” (50). Despite this, Martin adds that, “it is rare to find a Japanese student who…is able to engage in even a marginal dialogue with a speaker of English” (50). Many of these communication issues are the result of Japanese cultural beliefs and their effect on education. Japan focuses on the idea of “amaeru” or a dependent, reliant, group oriented culture. Because of this, many students are discouraged or even bullied for standing out. Also, the traditional Japanese classroom style which encourages rote memorization over Western learning styles such as debate, discussion, analysis, and reading strategies that would allow students to figure out missing words in context make language acquisition problematic. Discouragement from asking questions or asking for clarification, and fear of being wrong further contribute to the difficulties of learning English because students are unable to work out their misunderstandings and to use the language informally. Lastly, students are often discouraged from learning the language because their teachers are not fluent speakers; if the teacher cannot master their subject, why should the students even try? (Martin 50-52).
“Beliefs about Learning and Teaching Communicative English in Japan” brings up additional reasons for issues with ESL in Japan, disagreements between students and teachers about how English should be taught. In their study, a 36-item questionnaire filled out by 82 college professors and over 300 students in Japan, Hiroko Matsuura, Reiko Chiba, and Paul Hilderbrandt found that what and how students of English wanted to learn did not always match their teachers‟ plans and style. One of the main disagreements appeared in the value of correct English pronunciation, while teachers felt that pronunciation was not significant to focus on, “more than 91% of the students indicated that learning correct pronunciation was important” (Matsurra 73). They also found that most students still shy away from discussing the class or questions they have with the teachers; 92.7% of teachers wanted feedback from students while only 3.7% of students were interested in giving it. Students were also more interested in learning English in mass lectures while professors support more current, group-centered approaches (Matsuura 75). Japanese teachers seem to have been influenced by Western education pedagogy that encourages communication and group centered work while students are caught up in traditional views of learning. Also, teachers value up-to-date course material as where students value material that matches their level and deals with everyday conversation (Matsuura 76). The dissenting views in the classroom could be playing a substantial part in interfering with developing a positive teacher/student relationship that would allow for successful language learning.
As important to this conversation as the teacher/student dynamic and cultural hindrances to learning English are, the immense graphic and phonetic, and morphological differences that exist between the two languages play just as large of a role. In “Some Perspectives on the Phenomenon of “Engrish,‟” Jayne Hildebrand IKESHIMA, refers to the English spoken in Japan as “glocal English” (Engrish) or standard English mixed with local ideas and conventions (188). One common phonemic error, miswriting or misspeaking an [r] when an [l] is meant, as in “grasses” for “glasses” results from the Japanese language only having one sound for the two letters while English has two (IKESHIMA 189). Also, Japanese has only five vowel sounds while English has eleven, which leads to mix ups such as “sarve” when “serve” was intended. Other language characteristics Japanese speakers of English have difficulty with are distinguishing between count and non-count nouns when using articles or pronouns to refer to them, correctly using “s” and “‟s” for plural and possessive, and adjective and adverb placement. Words with multiple lexical meanings can also cause confusion for English speakers in Japan, like the sign that was meant to read “Poppy Seed Danish” but instead read “Opium Danish” (IKESHIMA 195). The languages vary so much that “common loan-words in Japanese (such as restaurant, coffee, hamburger, airmail, knife, fork, cake, and beer) may at first hearing…be incomprehensible” (Martin 53).
Errors in the language can also be caused by the Japanese writing system. Among the four systems, the Japanese use katakana, symbols that represent certain sounds, in order to pronounce foreign language words. The symbols have a consonant vowel order for pronunciation which causes Japanese speakers to automatically pronounce English words that do not end with a vowel sound in a non-standard way. Examples of this include basu for “bus,” ando for “and,” and testo for test (Martin 53). Some katakana symbols, such the one for “th” and “s,” represent more than one sound. This causes misspellings such as “Mouth Pad” for “Mouse Pad” (Martin 189). English words are sometimes written with gaps in the middle by Japanese writers because katakana can be broken up since each symbol has an equivalent sound. All of these factors lead to more confusion and frustration on the part of the ESL student. However, while the katakana system is a flawed one, it is not likely to diappear because, as Martin explains “…the general use-and general usefulness- of katakana, as well as its presence in as an aid in English-language textbooks- inadvertently assures the fossilization of Japanese intonation and pronunciation patterns in English…adding a crucial block to communication” (53).
According to Kubota, the negative effect of English language textbooks and teaching extend far beyond that of a flawed graphic system; it spreads stereotypes about other cultures and negative views about certain aspects of Japanese culture that never existed before English became the dominant second language (5). He asserts, “English has thus become eyeglasses through which the Japanese have viewed other ethnic groups, particularly minorities” (Kubota 5). The English language textbooks portray Native Americans and people of color from all parts of the world in ways that are very much in line with American stereotypes. They also depict Asian people from non-Western countries as lesser because they lack cultural and financial resources similar to Americans (Ryoko 5-6). Americans, on the other hand, are presented as devoid of flaws. “The negative side of American society including poverty, crime, illiteracy, racism, and so forth is rarely touched upon” (Ryoko 6). Also, these books discuss trivial encounters instead of focusing on real-world issues that could help Japanese students understand the culture they are attempting to communicate with better and practice their critical thinking skills (Kubota 6).
Furthermore, although the uniqueness of Japanese writing style has often inspired pride in native writers and readers, the teaching of English and its position as the perceived language of prestige has caused sudden doubts in Japanese texts‟ worth in academic writing. The Japanese began to classify their writing as emotional, subjective, unclear, indirect, and ambiguous while English writing style was seen as logical, analytical, direct, and succinct. This view led to Japanese writers attempting to master what they considered to be an English style of writing (Kubota 6-7). Japanese writers tend to work around a point, explaining their motivation and painting a picture with words before entering into evidence. They do not typically use topic sentences or transitions between paragraphs. Interestingly, after the spread of English teaching, many Japanese written documents began to appear with these distinct English characteristics (Kubota 8). One reason for this change may be that many scholarly documents are published in Western countries that use these trademark paper outlines. Therefore, in order to successfully communicate in this global discourse community, Japanese intellectuals may feel pressured to adjust to the writing format. Despite this there are clearly still problematic changes about how the Japanese view other cultures and their own in comparison to more Western cultures which they place on a non-realistic pedestal. One suggestion offered by Kubota to help keep the cultural bias out of language teaching is to adopt the teaching of Englic, English language disassociated from British and American culture (13). He also recommends encouraging the teaching of other languages and avoiding presenting English through the dominant language ideology (Kubota 4). Implementing these suggestions may help future generations but the bias has already left a lasting negative effect on Japan‟s cultural views.
Recently, the initial aspiration to mimic English culture in order to succeed in kokusaia (internalization) suffered some backlash as nihonijnron (uniqueness of the Japanese) began to emerge. Due to Japan‟s isolation from other countries for most of history, Japanese people tend to approach communication with foreigners on a personal and social level with unease (Martin 54). Andrew J. Moody further discusses the impact of nihonijnron in his article, “English in Japanese popular culture and J-Pop music,” when he cites multiple occurrences where English speakers learn the Japanese language in an attempt to communicate on a personal level only to be treated as guests and held at a disappointing distance by their Japanese peers (209). The findings were that the massive amount of English loanwords that appeared in the Japanese language in a matter of decades (over half of which were nonce borrowings) along with the swift spread of English culture and language caused fears that the unique Japanese language and culture would be tainted or wiped out altogether (Moody 210-211). For these reasons, the use of the two languages, for many Japanese speakers, has become dependent on the context. “Japanese is usually seen as the only appropriate language for intra-ethnic communication and it is frequently deemed inappropriate for inter-ethnic communication, which, whenever possible, takes place in English” (Moody 211). Japanese speakers have recently aimed to limit English to a lingua franca in order to keep its influence out of Japanese culture.
However, this trend has shown some reversal as a recent resurgence of English and Japanese crossing the customary contexts has been led by the entertainment industry; specifically language entertainment broadcast television shows and Japanese pop bands (Moody 209). Adult multi-lingual shows such as the example one with a Bilingual host who interviews Japanese people who have moved to the United States, tend to focus more on entertainment. While the communication is still intra-ethnic, the speakers switch between Japanese and English comfortably in conversation (Moody 213). Children‟s programming, which is meant both to entertain and to teach, often portrays characters from America and Japan easily code switching in everyday conversations. These types of shows offer supplementary reading books that feature the English words found in the show and allow the young audience to practice language learning and code switching with their parents (Moody 215). Television programs like the language shows seem to advocate the use of both languages in inter-ethnic and intra-ethnic communication without the stigmas of context.
Japanese Pop (J-Pop) bands have also been advocating a mixture of the Japanese and English through code ambiguation, mixing two languages in such a way that listeners cannot tell which language they are hearing. Single English words such as “jump” and “kiss” or entire English phrases were mixed into Japanese songs. Furthermore, sounds like “yeah” and “oh” were represented in romaji, the English alphabet, within the lyrics pamphlet (Moody 219). Moody also found that 65% of the songs on the Oricon weekly top-50 charts contained some English lyrics; 62% contained both English and Japanese (220). Language programming and J-Pop music, most of which is targeted at younger generations, shows a renewed interest in embracing both English and Japanese in all situations growing within the youth of Japan. At this point, it is unclear whether this is simply a trend or a cultural movement on the rise.
In sum, English language and culture have played an important role in Japan since a combination of trade and a more Americanized government led to the need for a trade language and loanwords. However, native Japanese speakers had difficulty acquiring the language due to both cultural variations in teaching such as rote memorization and the taboo of asking the teacher questions and language differences such as the katakana system and the different sets of vowels and consonants. In spite of these challenges, Japanese people have generally been eager to learn the language and accept new loanwords. This has led to negative stereotypes about non-Western cultures and minorities. Also, English culture and writing was been held to an unrealistic
standard and Japanese texts conversely suffered criticism and change because of the mixed viewpoints of their own and English culture. The swift and general acceptance of all things English caused a backlash through nihonijnron, or the preservation of Japan‟s unique characteristics. Japanese speakers began to only use English in inter-ethnic communication and to speak their native tongue amongst others of the same ethnic background. Recently, J-Pop bands and television programs have paved the way for a reverse through code ambiguity and code switching among members with different native languages. There is no doubt that English has played a large part in Japan‟s recent history and continues to do so in the present. What is still up for debate as the Japanese public attempts to find a balance between embracing international connections and preserving its culture and language is how much influence English will continue to have on Japan as its number one second language.
Works Cited
IKESHIMA, Jayne H. "Some Perspectives on the Phenomenon of "Engrish"" The Keiai Journal
of International Studies 15 (2005): 185-96. Web. 15 Apr. 2012.
Kubota, Ryuko. "Ideologies of English in Japan." World Englishes 17.3 (1998): 2-15. Web. 14
Apr. 2012.
Martin, Assunta. "The 'katakana' Effect and Teaching English in Japan." English Today 77 20.1
(2004): 50-54. Web. 16 Apr. 2012.
Matsuura, Hiroko. "Beliefs about Learning and Teaching Communicative English in Japan."
Japanese Association of Language Teaching 23.1 (2001): 73-78. Web. 15 Apr. 2012.
Moody, Andrew J. "English in Japanese Popular Culture and J-Pop Music." World Englishes
25.2 (2006): 209-20. Web. 15 Apr. 2012.