Teacher Discussion Forums

petwilso · Joined: 21 Mar 2003 Posts: 4

Can anyone give origins or reasons for the Japanese preference for American English over British English? Thank you.

soos · Joined: 16 Apr 2003 Posts: 8

That's an interesting question. Ask your students. I wonder if the vowel sounds or the prosody has anything to do with it.

soos from Maine, USA

plato · Joined: 15 Apr 2003 Posts: 4

Hi,

It is my beleif that the reason(s) are not because of linguistic nature or preference, but more of a sociological/political leaning.

Regards, Plato.

soos · Joined: 16 Apr 2003 Posts: 8

hi plato

you are probably right

soos

petwilso · Joined: 21 Mar 2003 Posts: 4

On reason Japan may have adopted American English as its preferred variety because of the strong influence the US had over the Japanese education system during the post war occupation where reform, democratisation and new textbooks were ordered after a US education mission’s visit.
Hoshiyama claims that ‘New [post-war] English textbooks were compiled under the suggestive directive of the U.S. Occupation Forces’ educational advisors,’ (Hoshiyama, 1978:105) indicating that America was in a key position to influence the school text materials. Post-war Japan embraced American culture and language is certainly rooted in culture. Gimson (1978)

soos · Joined: 16 Apr 2003 Posts: 8

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for your response.
soos

Glenski · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 164 Location: Sapporo, Japan

Dritzen · Joined: 09 Jul 2003 Posts: 2

American English seems like it is a lot easier to understand. The British accent constantly leaves sounds out, says things oddly such as "aluminium", etc.

Australians and Brits have told me that we (Canadians) speak slowly. Maybe there's truth to that.

benlewis3 · Joined: 22 Jul 2003 Posts: 1

CEJ · Joined: 23 Dec 2005 Posts: 55

Just reviving this one a bit. Japan doesn't quite present the contrast of say, Hong Kong plus Singapore plus Malaysia vs. Philippines, where the UK-US rivallry in late imperialism plays itself out in English too.
I give the edge to an idea of American English as a standard over British, but on the other hand, I think I could show that, given the size of each country's relative populations, British teachers are actually over-represented compared to Americans (and ditto Canadians and Australians, though I'm not sure about Irish, New Zealand, S. Africans, etc.). Also, Britain would seem to have more of an impact in terms of materials sold, but the big presses tend to write in a sort of 'American' English now. That's also assuming that these materials really have a large impact on what the people learn (I highly doubt it). Finally, the TOEIC, a very popular test, has favoured American models, but it's said that it's going to change that starting next year. A toss up, slight edge to American English because of CNN, Time, and Hollywood especially.

Superhal · Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 131

Imho, American pop culture dominates most countries, and is the "cool" dialect.

CEJ · Joined: 23 Dec 2005 Posts: 55

[quote="Superhal"]Imho, American pop culture dominates most countries, and is the "cool" dialect.[/quote]

But offsetting that is the fact that a lot of people might be attracted to American pop culture without really learning American English. And this culture also causes as much cultural bewilderment or at least gets interpreted differently than is expected. When I watch an American film with Japanese students, I'm reminded of this all the time. Many can't really follow American films at all. Oh, and in defense of British, up until the corporate sell-out of the music industry there, they ruled popular music in the 70s and 80s, and that influence is still felt and acknowledged, even though they now export mostly lame corporate pop that is indistinguishable from the US version.

Superhal · Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 131

What's really interesting about British pop is that you can't hear the accent from most singers. I read about this (albeit from a non-reliable source) that singing eliminates accents to some degree, and you end up with a uniform American midwest accent.

CEJ · Joined: 23 Dec 2005 Posts: 55

[quote="Superhal"] What's really interesting about British pop is that you can't hear the accent from most singers. I read about this (albeit from a non-reliable source) that singing eliminates accents to some degree, and you end up with a uniform American midwest accent. [/quote]

I think there is a lot of imitation of some 'American' styles: soul, rap, country-western, bluegrass, blues, jazz etc. I've also heard Japanese doing Japanese that sounds a lot like the Jamaican reggae English (only done in Japanese of course).

patsensei · Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Posts: 15 Location: Tokyo

yeah it seems they prefer it. think they think it is easier to understand and in junior high schools most if not all texts are written in American English.

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