Job Discussion Forums

[buddhaboyjp]

If you have lived for more than say, 5 years, do you feel your English has sufffered any?

I feel that I am floating in the middle grounds someplace.
I am not fluent as a Native Japanese speaker, though I can get by, and I do not speak that much English as I would in my Native country.

I have had a few people comment on my syntax.
This is one of the 'cons' with living overseas for so long.
Maybe I should be taking my own classes?

The only remedy that I have done to alleviate this, is to get out more often and socialize at the ex-patriot bars, but doesn't do much good after 4 or 5 beers and the speech starts to slur, or read read read read.

Any comments?

[PAULH]

[markle]

My Eng lish has always been a bit dodgy, but my Thai is getting really poor.

[buddhaboyjp]

[bobs12]

Konichwa. Three years in Russia has turned my English to mush. I keep it in check by writing a lot (articles, diary, etc. etc.). I find that after 1a.m. Russian shuts off for the night. English goes bye-byes at about 3a.m.

Know a lot of folks who speak more than one or two languages and who find they can't keep all the balls in the air at once. Concentrate on one, the others all suffer. Give them all equal attention, none of them are perfect.

Kinda fun when you ask your students to close the door and they point out that the word you were looking for is 'window'.

[6810]

Paul,

Do you have colleagues to talk to in English? Are you reading enough? Are you writing enough?

Seriously, I've found in doing my doctorate (I've just fired up the writing process again) I need people to talk to in English (so I call my PhD buddies and supervisor in Oz all the time), I have to constantly read and take notes on what I am reading and I have to write - even if it is letters or drafts of journal articles etc, writing reveals the gaps in my knowledge and motivates me to plug them.

Which is not to say I don't sometimes forget words, but I am stubborn and will often fight until the end until I remember what I forgot. Plus, the above regime helps to stop forgetting.

[Apsara]

I find my everyday English hasn't suffered too much, I had to modify my accent and vocab slightly after I came to Japan because I found both Japanese and North Americans had trouble with Kiwi English. If I tried to write a research essay or similar now I think I would have lost a lot of the facility I had as a university student, but that might have happened even if I'd stayed in NZ.

Where I have trouble is when I teach yoga- my other job- I usually have an entirely Japanese class, so teach in Japanese, but when a non- Japanese speaker comes to my class I teach it bilingually- Japanese instruction followed by English e.g. "dekiru dake ashi o nobashite, straighten your legs as much as you can" etc.

Unless I am very careful I have a tendency to translate my Japanese instructions directly into English and realise after I've said it that it was a really strange English sentence. I also confuse "foot" and "leg"- not usually, just when I'm teaching, since there's no distinction in Japanese, both "ashi".

I started practicing and teaching yoga in Japan so the Japanese instructions actually come more naturally to me even though I'm a native English speaker! Then there are all the Sanskrit names for poses as well- my poor brain really has to work overtime!

[markle]

[PAULH]

[earthmonkey]

Last time I returned to America, (Christmas 2003), my step-brother said to me "Why are you talking to me like I'm 5 years old?".

For me, it's not so much a matter of learning too much Japanese. I just have learned to simplify my English. I speak way too clearly. I don't know how to describe it any further because I have forgotten the English words.

[Jazz1975]

[PAULH]

[abufletcher]

Before I started my Ph.D. my vocabulary was small, but now it's big.

[PAULH]

[Apsara]