Gaijin smash?

One of my cousins tutored Engrish for a year in Japan. He was paid in yen and made out quite well when the exchange rate strengthened the yen against the dollar just as he was coming home. He loved the place, and would have gone back if he hadn't croaked.

Honya ga Yamada?

/Matsumoto! Outo!
//Gaki fan till the day I die.

oldebayer: One of my cousins tutored Engrish for a year in Japan. He was paid in yen and made out quite well when the exchange rate strengthened the yen against the dollar just as he was coming home. He loved the place, and would have gone back if he hadn't croaked.

Cpl.D: /Matsumoto! Outo!
//Gaki fan till the day I die.



Strangly appropriate.

Digital_Meltdown: Gaijin smash?

It'd be nice if he was still posting, or even still had that website

IcedInferno: Strangly appropriate.

Well, Dammit! How could I post in here without thinking of Jimmy Onishi? I award myself 1 demerit.

/Hangs head in shame.
//Cpl.D! Thai Kicku!

FTFA:

Now add the back-beat of Japan's crappy social science: Sensei and textbooks reinforce an image that speaking to foreigners is like a) speaking to a separate breed of human or animal, where "everything is different from us" and "we must study people as things," or b) attending an international summit, where both sides are cultural emissaries introducing allegedly unique aspects of their societies.

Wow. Just... wow. Wow.

well, they do have a separate writing system for borrowed words. anything foreign has to meld into their system.

have japanese friends whose 10 yr old daughter speaks english better than her american classmates. oh, that's because she's asian, you say?

You can blame lots of random obscene language throughout China on Old versions of Kingsoft Translation.

This article rings true of pretty much all education, everywhere.

Most hilarious use of Chinglish I've seen in ages.

I'm still suspicious that it's a feature of the system, not a bug. I'm not entirely convinced Japan truly wants its people to be proficient at a foreign language.

That said, the description of JET and english teaching there in general sounds pretty spot on from what I've heard from a number of friends who've done it.

Dwedit: You can blame lots of random obscene language throughout China on Old versions of Kingsoft Translation.

Damn, they fark a lot of fruit and vegetables over there...

CitizenTed: On my last business trip to Japan, I was seated in a sea of JET kids. They looked so young and well-scrubbed; I thought JET was some kind of Jesus camp. When I found out they were undergrad English teachers, I was taken aback. But I then realized why Japanese English studies are lacking: they're not getting the best possible instructors. The JET kids are OK, I guess. But I can't imagine they're optimal teachers.

/see now slashie added comment is included.

When the native teachers are incapable of reading Green Eggs and Ham out loud all that matters is getting someone that can even speak the language.

JonBuck: FTFA:

Now add the back-beat of Japan's crappy social science: Sensei and textbooks reinforce an image that speaking to foreigners is like a) speaking to a separate breed of human or animal, where "everything is different from us" and "we must study people as things," or b) attending an international summit, where both sides are cultural emissaries introducing allegedly unique aspects of their societies.

Wow. Just... wow. Wow.

Pretty much people from every culture I've met consider the Japanese weird. It's just kind of a global thing of Japan vs everyone, probably left over from them being isolated for so much of their history.

ITYM gloup psychosis.

I love those funny signs!

CitizenTed: But I then realized why Japanese English studies are lacking: they're not getting the best possible instructors. The JET kids are OK, I guess. But I can't imagine they're optimal teachers.

This.

Plus this FTA "But force that upon a JET, who comes here with an unclear mandate, has no control over class, and has a contract of only a few years before experience deepens? TOEFL scores will not budge."

Foreign English teachers are kids who graduated college and don't know what the hell they want to do. Many don't have English degrees, they're just looking to live abroad for a year and travel. Japan and Best Korea sweeten the deal by paying for your plane ticket. But when most of them think "Oh I can speak English, so I'm sure I could teach it" you get shiatty teachers.

/It works sometimes when you have high school students who just want slang/conversation

Engrish exists because the Japanese decided long ago to teach English in Japanese. When you take the limited Japanese phonetic alphabet and convert it into English you end up with poor results. For example, there is only one consonant in Japanese that does not have a vowel sound attached to it and that is "n" as in the "n" in "in". Japanese also totally lacks x, th, v, r and l. Kids are not taught to seperate consonant and vowel sounds in English classes. This has the maddening effect of turning every plural s into a su, the into za and hard consonants into an amalgum of consonant sounds with a vowel on the end.

My brother was a JET for a few years and I went out to see him at work a few times. Most of the time the teachers simply used him as a sounding board prior to the lessons being taught. He made the mistake early on of correcting a teacher's poor grammar and was effectively blacklisted from one school. He then learned his place; smile, act like the goofy gaijin, grade papers and answer questions when asked.

It's the brind reading the brind over there.

/speaks japanese

RedEmily: I love those funny signs!

Actually those are true. If you've ever seen Japanese porn you know that in some cases, the Cabbage actually farks the shrimp.

One of my all-time faves for some reason.

Most native English-speakers can't seem to grasp the language. I don't expect people who learn it as a second language to do much better. Just read the comments on any YouTube video and you'll lose all hope for the future of written communication.

Perducci: Most native English-speakers can't seem to grasp the language. I don't expect people who learn it as a second language to do much better. Just read the comments on any YouTube video and you'll lose all hope for the future of written communication.

Why go to youtube. Fark is a good defense of a strong eugenics program.

saintc79: /speaks japanese

Honya ga Yamada?
Konya ga Yamada-fu!

fairleym: RedEmily: I love those funny signs!

Actually those are true. If you've ever seen Japanese porn you know that in some cases, the Cabbage actually farks the shrimp.

I've never seen japanese porn.

Engrish: accidental irony at its best.

Why change something which works so well?

I have a cousin who became a JET in Oshima after retiring as a grade school teacher here in the States. Her hubby died when she was in her late 50's, and she went over a couple of years later "for a change of pace". She's still there more than a decade on. Even though she comes home for a few weeks annually on holiday, she says she will be there until she dies or physically can't work any more. She really likes Japan.

RedEmily: fairleym: RedEmily: I love those funny signs!

Actually those are true. If you've ever seen Japanese porn you know that in some cases, the Cabbage actually farks the shrimp.

I've never seen japanese porn.

Well, the internet is a wonderful tool for deficiencies like that. I'd make reccomendations but, um, uh...neither have I. Yeah, that's it. Also, I'm at work.

Back a while I was asked if I wanted to be a JET instructor. I never knew why at first because I had (and still don't) no experience in teaching languages whatsoever. However, my english level was the thing that called their attention.

It seems that the JET people don't really care about hiring actual language instructors, which I think it's fundamentally wrong. You don't hire some guy that watched too much ER to teach med students, don't you?.

fairleym: ... in some cases, the Cabbage actually farks the shrimp.

In other cases, it's the shrimp doing the (skull)farking.

Minxy goes to the Candy Store. (new window)

/Much better without the sound.

I was a third of the way through the article before I realized that they weren't talking about Jet magazine.

/"magazine"

Sample JET lesson in English (new window). No wonder they don't learn English too well.

as someone who is applying to teach ESL in South Korea, getting a kick. ;-)

For the record, this article was written by the world's biggest weeaboo/crybaby, Debito Arudou (formerly David Christopher Aldwinckle). While his point is valid, he has made a habit of stirring up trouble there since becoming a citizen, akin to (or so I've heard) those who immigrate to Western nations and want to institute Sharia law.

pic related

The_EliteOne: Minxy goes to the Candy Store. (new window)

/Much better without the sound.

She's got some huge tracts of land.

The_EliteOne: Minxy goes to the Candy Store. (new window)

/Much better without the sound.

Those are some huuuge... Tracts of land.

/Why a woman of her age has such a high-pitched voice?