Job Discussion Forums

[ranmawoman]

Hey all,

Got a question for you all out there. Besides looking into Taiwan and China to teach English, I'm also looking at Japan. The problem is that I don't speak Japanese, don't understand it, can't read, can't write.

Will I have a problem? This isn't to say that when I have free time I won't take some Japanese classes in Japan... Thanks!

[Glenski]

You do not need Japanese to teach English. Most eikaiwas prohibit it anyway. Realistically, know some and sneak it into lessons with the really low level beginners, or you can even slip it into lessons with higher level students just to shorten the teaching process.

You will obviously need some Japanese for daily living. Depends on where you live. Larger cities sometimes hardly require any Japanese.

[shmooj]

[denise]

There are many people (me included) who come/came here with no knowledge of Japanese. It can be really frustrating sometimes, but for me that frustration is part of my motivation to study. A year into my stay here, I am still a beginner and can only bumble my way through conversations, but I am learning new things every day, and I no longer feel illiterate. Don't let the language barrier stop you. You will pick things up, and/or you will find people who can help you.

The only real problem I've had came a few months after I arrived. I did not recognize my water bill, since it looked different from my other bills and I couldn't read it, so I neglected to pay it for three months. Got one of those nasty "pay us NOW or we will shut off your water at 5pm" notices, which I could not read... Hooray for my next door neighbor, who sorted the whole thing out!

d

[ranmawoman]

Hmm Denise.. That may be a problem. Not being able to read those important things, ie, POISON - do not drink.. =)

Yeah, I was planning on taking some Japanese while I'm there. I'm looking into the NOVA program which seems like there may be a lot of extra time to take classes.

Thanks all for responding!

[Li-ka]

Extra time at Nova? Umm...

Nova is a 40 hr work week with only ten holidays... other programs give you more time.

Geos is 40hrs with 4weeks vacation, plus national holidays

Aeon is 36 hours with 5 weeks

ECC is 29.5 hours with 7 weeks

I responded to one of your other posts with the websites for these three companies.
As for speaking Japanese...there's no reason you can't start now. I've been trying to learn at work with the audio cd's from the "Learn in your car" program. I've been going for about two months now and plan on continuing till I go to Japan and while I'm there. It's pretty helpful, as they tell you transportation phrases first.

Good luck!

[ranmawoman]

Thanks for getting back to me. Hmm, bad... I thought that there would be x-tra time. Guess not.. SUCKAGE. At least I won't be bored and will be kept busy at all times!

Does anyone out there know of any good, cheap Japanese language programs to take out in Japan? I think I may start memorizing Katakana. At least I'll be able to read things like ap ple. Koh he, etc..

[Li-ka]

yeah.. I'm pretty good with hiragana, but haven't done much katakana yet. I've seen that written more than hiragana on some things.

Then there's the world of kanji... eep!

[Gordon]

[ranmawoman]

Oops. My bad.

Thus, I don't speak Japanese.

[Munchen]

Dig into this Japan forum past page 1 here. You will find others who have had constructive thoughts about speaking Japanese, self-study audio language programs and the like.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

[azarashi sushi]

[PAULH]

[quote="The Great Wall of Whiner]

I remember apple as being lingo, not ringo.[/quote]

Japanese does not have an "l" or an "r" sound but the closest equivalent you hear is the sound which falls in-between l & r. So "Reiko" will not sound like "lake-oh" or "Rake-oh" but the tongue is pulled back just as it momentarily hits the roof of the mouth. "R" the tongue is kept in the middle of the mouth.

[Lynn]