Job Discussion Forums

[nawlinsgurl]

I was talking on the phone to my Father recently and he corrected my English several times. I didn't even notice the grammatical mistakes I made while talking, but he did! This got me thinking--am I losing my grasp of the English lang. as my Japanese level increases? I'm teaching at a kindergarten now, where no one speaks English. I have to always dumb-down my English to get simple ideas across to the teachers. Also, I have very few expat friends living near me, but I do use English with native speakers daily. Has anyone else noticed that their English is gettng worse? Or am I just becoming crazy?

[Yawarakaijin]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_attrition

"Knowing is half the battle."

- G.I. Joe

[furiousmilksheikali]

This can certainly happen. I remember the first few times I went home to England I was told I spoke in a strangely New Zealand-tinged accent for some reason and I sometimes found it a little difficult to keep up with fast-paced conversations.

That said, it also improved as I found myself able to put things into clear and concise terms a lot quicker than I had before and I think this came from having to give instructions, definitions and explanations to students in the most efficient way possible.

I have noticed that my speech tends to be a little slower than before but I don't condiser that a bad thing. I tend to enunciate my words more than before as well but that too isn't too bad except for when I go into pubs in Yorkshire when I go back home.

There are a lot of teachers who do have serious problems with their English after a while and that often comes from them imitating their students' pattern of speech. They often start dropping articles, or using the singular when they should use the plural, mixing up object-pronouns with subject-pronouns largely because their students do and they think that this is the best way for their students to understand. This awful pidgin English is something they start to use on a regular basis which is bad for the teacher and bad for the students as the students often look to their teachers as models of good English.

It is sometimes a good idea to record a lesson and play it back just to hear what you say. If you find yourself saying "House very big, yes?" or other pidgin constructions then it would be fair to both yourself and your students to start seriously trying to change the way you speak in class.

Other things to look out for are unnatural vocabulary and constructions such as these:

"I have many friends."
"I have much money."
"The food was very delicious."
"The movie was very interesting and very fun."
"Did you eat dinner yet?"

Of course you can see what is wrong with each of the above sentences. If not then it may be too late.

[gaijin4life]

[Yawarakaijin]

I don't know if it falls under the category of language attrition but I have surely undergone some weird kind of change since I have started teaching. Year after year of spending the entire day dumbing down your language for new language learners certainly takes it toll.

Sit #1 (with my best friend) " I like stores, shall we go to the place where we can buy some things?"

Sit#2 (to my sister) "Japan is nice. Japan is good. I make lots of money here."

Sit#3 (to a canadian girl back home in a bar) "Hi, I am James. You are pretty. Sex now?"



Since I started teaching/living in Japan I often find myself struggling to find a particular word in English. Never happened before. I find myself stuttering in English more often. In school I could get up before the entire class and make a speech without stumbling once. Anyone with similar experiences?

[Quibby84]

My English does seem to have gotten worse because if I spoke properly to my 5 year olds they would have no clue what I am talking about. I notice that I leave out conjunctions and just use verbs and nouns...it is bad!

[furiousmilksheikali]

OP: Could you give some examples of things your father corrected you on?

Quibby: Yes, that is bad. The problem is that unconsciously they consider your English to be correct and when they finally start trying to talk to you they will speak the way you do to them (at least grammatically). You have to give your students time to get an ear for the way you talk to them and it should be done in full sentences with more stress on the content words (usually the nouns and the verbs and the pronouns).

[TK4Lakers]

[king kakipi]

Even though I am back in Oz, and the wife and I usually use English not Japanese, I now nearly always use:-
"wa" instead of "is"
"tsugoi" instead of "great"
"chooooooooooooooo" instead of "very" and
"honto" instead of "really?"
Kinda bad, ne..............................

[Apsara]

Once while back in New Zealand I was asked by the hairdresser where I was from. I was born and grew up in the city we were in, I told her. She thought I had a kind of "different" accent and I have been accused of sounding either British or Australian by other people. I don't know if I've lost vocab and grammar, but my accent must have changed.

Although I usually speak both English and Japanese about equally during the day, I can go several days or occasionally a week or more without speaking to another native English speaker and I sometimes wonder how this affects my use of language.

[furiousmilksheikali]

[Apsara]

Oh yeah, I was talking to my mother the other day on the phone and put "toka" at the end of a sentence. I don't often do that kind of thing but as I speak to my husband in a kind of Japanglish I suppose it's inevitable that that kind of thing gets ingrained- "We need tissues, soap, dishwashing liquid toka"...

[casual]

I dont think I have lost my ability to speak English (although some might disagree!) but my accent has been watered down severely.
I frequently add ne to the end of my sentences when speaking to native English speakers which people back home find irritating.

[casual]

I dont think I have lost my ability to speak English (although some might disagree!) but my accent has been watered down severely.
I frequently add ne to the end of my sentences when speaking to native English speakers which people back home find irritating.

[canuck]

Looks like you like to repeat yourself too.