If you watch movies from 40-50 years ago, there are many scenes where even parents and children speak to each other using very polite expressions. I wouldn’t say it’s gotten “worse,” but I certainly think that people use less polite speech (myself included). Because of this, many of them seem to have trouble increasing their conversation skills.ĭo you think Japanese people’s language ability has gotten worse compared to the past? Unlike students from Asian countries, when Western students are here, Japanese people won’t always speak to them in Japanese. But students who memorize kanji because they think it’s interesting do advance quickly. With European and American students, kanji of course is a big hurdle. But the Korean rules about formal keigo speech are very similar to Japan, so they understand that quickly and use it correctly. Korean students seem to have problems with pronunciation (for example, “tsu” becomes “chu”). Many of my Chinese students have trouble using particles like "ka," "wo" and "he." But in the advanced levels, where the text involves lots of kanji, they are able to understand more easily. Have you noticed certain strengths and weaknesses depending on their native languages?
You teach foreign students from many different countries. Even though it was only May, she had brought along a swimsuit and even a swimming cap (and of course, we’d warned the students beforehand not to swim). Once, when we went on a field trip to the mountains, one of my students caught a turtle by the river and said to me, “I’m going to take it home and eat it.” On another trip to a lake, one of the female students went swimming.
What are some other surprising things that your students have said or done? I’ve also gotten lots of comments from readers saying that they were inspired to study more about Japan and Japanese, so I’m glad that I could be the cause of that interest. How does that make you feel?įirst, I’m happy that more people have become aware of Japanese teaching as a profession. "Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo" has caused quite a stir. The book was a surprise hit, topping the sales charts for 2009, and a second volume has just been released. Last year, she released Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo (“Japanese the Japanese Don’t Know”), a collection of manga-style stories based on her years of experience. When Nagiko Umino started out as a Japanese language teacher, she didn’t realize how much she would end up learning from her foreign students.