Job Discussion Forums

[PAULH]

[Jazz1975]

[Apsara]

Although this doesn't apply to Jazz1975 I wanted to say this because I often see the idea that Japanese ability will harm your chances of getting a job here.

Just in case there are people who have spent a lot of time and effort learning Japanese in their home country and are now thinking that their years of study will put them at a disadvantage when they are looking for a job in Japan, I learned Japanese at high school and university in NZ, total 8 years, and was hired not once but twice by Nova (first time on a WHV, then when I came back a few years later), and worked for various other companies after I left Nova. Never was I made to feel that my Japanese ability was a liability. Granted, I didn't exactly have native speaker fluency, but I could easily hold my own in a conversation, especially the second time round.

I was of course told at my training not to use Japanese in the classroom, but I was also selected by the Japanese staff to teach or do level checks with the really nervous or difficult students or the older ladies because of my ability- there are actually some students who say they want teachers who can speak some Japanese. Then again, a student complained about me once (just once in 6 years of eikaiwa) because I gave him the meaning of a word in Japanese instead of explaining it in English- I think I was tired and couldn't be bothered explaining what a "lawyer" was to someone who still had trouble with "is/are".

I also taught classes of mostly older women and men at culture centres around Tokyo, and it was totally necessary for me to be able to explain concepts to them in Japanese, in the case of the absolute beginners' class I taught almost entirely in Japanese, just the drills and practice were in English! So not all jobs fit into the NOVA/ Aeon/ Ecc etc mould.

And then of course there is the extreme usefulness of Japanese in one's day-to-day life here...

[maya.the.bee]

viva manchvegas!!

to the OP - do you know of any japanese language classes offered over the summer in southern nh? i checked out unhm and a couple other places but no one has their summer schedules up yet. are you planning on taking an intro course before you head over to JP or just going cold turkey?

thanks in advance for any info.

[DarkMagus]