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Why do Japanese study English?

May 10, 08 Comments

About half of my students were born here in Tokyo. The other half comes from other—usually more rural—regions of Japan. However, they all have something in common: they must learn English one way or another.

While it's true that most of them need to speak English to do business internationally, there are many kinds of students and, thus, different reasons to study the language.

Businesspeople

We get many students who usually travel abroad on business not only to English-speaking countries, but also to other Asian countries or Europe where English is the official business language. Others simply have daily communication in English with colleagues, clients, or providers from all over the world.

Additionally, there are many businesspeople whose companies have offices overseas and get transfered to one of them. The most popular relocation destinations are New York, Singapore, London, or somewhere else in Europe. In this case, they come to class more often and, sometimes, they even take Intensive Courses where they have to study all day, all week.

Housewives

The majority of Japanese wives are stay-at-home moms. So why do they study English? There's more than one reason for them to come to Berlitz.

Some of them are studying in preparation for their husbands' relocation abroad. For example, I have a student who's studying because her husband is moving to New York soon, and another one is studying because her husband is already in the United Arab Emirates and she'll be joining him soon.

A fewer number of Japanese housewives study English as a hobby. Usually, these women are a bit older and are probably bored at home with no children to take care of anymore. Sometimes they study in small groups with their friends or with their retired husbands.

Students

Daisuke is a 26-year-old businessman whose goal is getting an MBA at an American university. In order to do so, he must improve his English. He comes to Berlitz every day from 10 am to 6pm. That's 10 lessons a day, with a short break in the middle.

Like Daisuke, we get many students who have to learn English as soon as possible to enter an English-speaking school. Personally, I don't believe studying so much in so little time can make a huge difference, but what choice have they got?

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