Job Discussion Forums

[easyasabc]

I just saw this on the FAQ section

[shmooj]

And...?

[Glenski]

Strictly speaking, you are right. However, everybody and his brother uses the word eikaiwa to mean the school. Live with it.

[easyasabc]

[PAULH]

[shmooj]

easy, I'm afraid that what you said about it not being the name Japanese use is simply wrong.

About four years ago, to try to rid our school of the associations that the name eikaiwa lends to our establishment, I tried to lobby for a name change to something like gakuin or gengo gakkou or something more upmarket sounding.

My Japanese owners closed me down pretty quick. They liked the name eikaiwa because they said it communicated directly with the clientele that this was a conversation school. Nowhere in our name does it mention school and yet the word eikaiwa, despite your correct literal rendering of the word above, has the meaning conversation school i.e. a place where you study and learn English no matter how loosely study and learn are defined. When you say eikaiwa, Japanese people think foreign teachers, students, desks, classrooms etc. It therefore means school to Japanese people.

My bosses wanted to keep eikaiwa as the name of our school because of this very meaning.

I'm not sure how being pedantic about what the word means really helps the profession of TESOL in Japan either but I'm hoping that you have a reason for your thread that is valuable to us.

And if you split any more of my hairs, I'll no longer be follicularly challenged!

[Canuck2112]

[guest of Japan]

I often hear Japanese refer to conversation schools as eikaiwa.

[Brooks]

I sometimes hear people say they go to eigo gakko.