Global Language

The proportion of students able to speak fluent English is rapidly increasing, even in the short time of three and a half years since I started teaching here. When I started, many of my students were real beginners, barely able to manage survival-level English. As for the kids, most of them had little exposure to English and knew only a few phrases. There was also an ingrained inablity of many people who had been studying for years to advance beyond about Intermediate level of spoken English. I'm not sure what the reason was, the accepted logic was that it was because Japanese non-fluent speakers had taught them at school and university by focusing on grammer drills. I personally thought it was psychological, at least partly, and that the students needed to build confidence. Anyway these days, most times when I get a new student they will be around Intermediate level and able to have long and complex conversations, and some are close to or at advanced level. Schools have put more emphasis on English and on spoken English. Private efforts to improve English skills are also continuing to accelerate. Last year, Eikaiwa schools surpassed Japanese calligraphy as the third most popular out-of-school activity for schoolchildren.

What happens to Japanese? Projecting from current trends, it's not hard to imagine a time when the Japanese language becomes obsolete. English will start to be taught more as a second language than a foreign language. Regional versions of Japanese will be the first to fade away, and difficult or old-fashioned words will be lost. Technical, business, fashion and slang words will continue to change from original Japanese concoctions to katakana versions of English words or "Japanese English" words. As English continues to be more important in business, what reason will there be for a student who is weak in Japanese Kanji to make an effort for anything other than marks if they happen to excel in English? At some point even if it takes a hundred years, it will be irrational to insist that students must graduate with a knowledge of Japanese when it no longer serves the needs of every student to do so. From there, it will only be a matter of time until that system will have to be changed.

The most unpromising thing is how totally Japanese people have given up many other aspects of their culture from wearing kimono to reguarly participating in festivals, even as many lament the loss. Both of these are easy to maintain, fun for everyone, and are theoretically easy to reinvigorate and bring back to new generations even after they go out of fashion for a few decades. I can't imagine how easily a tedious system like kanji would disappear in comparison, and once it is gone and not commonly used in business, advertising, politics and so on it probably never could be bought back. Kanji is not any more Japanese than kimono or festivals, if anything it is less so.