First of two parts
Staff writer Do all Japanese need to speak English? And will they? Yes, says an advisory panel to the prime minister that recently outlined Japan's goals for the 21st century. In the past, Japan has taken steps to improve English education by reportedly making textbooks more communication-oriented and introducing native speakers as teachers' assistants at public schools. But so far, these initiatives have not produced spectacular results: The general public doesn't speak English. This time, however, Japan is being very serious, more serious than ever before, about transforming the nation into one possessing what it calls "global literacy." In its report submitted to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi last month, the panel urged all Japanese to acquire a working knowledge of English before they become adults and even called for a national debate on making English an "official second language." The lack of proficiency in English will be a "national crisis" in the 21st century, said Tadashi Yamamoto, executive director of the prime minister's panel and president of the Japan Center for International Exchange, a nonprofit organization. At international conferences, the lack of influence of Japanese leaders is more apparent now because many other Asian leaders have a good command of English, Yamamoto said. "The Japanese leaders must be able to speak directly with their counterparts without using interpreters ... otherwise, Japan will be even more underrepresented in the international community," he said. Koichi Kato, a senior Lower House member of the Liberal Democratic Party and one of the few leading politicians fluent in English, admits there are very few people in Japanese political, business and academic circles who can use English effectively and persuasively in the international arena. "Probably, Japan has only about 100 such people now," Kato said. "Japan will change ... if there are about 1 million people in the mainstay of society who can use English at a very high level." Yoichi Funabashi, a member of the prime minister's panel and chief diplomatic correspondent of the Asahi Shimbun, has been one of the vocal advocates of making English an official second language. "The time has passed when only a handful of elite people explained Japan's stance to the world," he said. Japan's "critical mass" must be able to communicate in English in the age of the Internet, where 80 percent of information is carried in English, while the globalization of the economy is affecting every corner of society, he said. As specific steps, Funabashi said multinational corporations should be the first ones to make English an official language, where it is used for all documents and board meetings. In the public sector, the Patent Office is one place that urgently needs to write out documents in English, he said. "Disclosure of information means opening of language," he said. Experts say making English an official second language generally refers to a situation where it is understood by everyone -- from taxi drivers to waitresses -- and where all public services are offered both in Japanese and English. Education Minister Hirofumi Nakasone set up a panel of experts last month to discuss concrete measures on how to improve English teaching methods at schools. "In the near future, we want to see all Japanese be able to use English freely," he said at the panel's first meeting, emphasizing the importance of learning English as "the international language of communication." To improve English education, Yamamoto of JCIE said the government should provide opportunities for all English teachers at public schools to study overseas for one or two years, or at least during the summer. Entrusting English classes to teachers from private language schools and international schools would also be an effective way of improving teaching standards, he said. Along with teacher training, the introduction of TOEFL (Testing of English as a Foreign Language) for university entrance exams is a popular idea among advocates of enhancing English education. Shigefumi Matsuzawa, a Lower House member of the Democratic Party of Japan, is one such advocate. Being one of the new breed of English-speaking politicians, Matsuzawa says TOEFL is useful for assessing the comprehensive English ability of students. "If we use TOEFL, students will also know where they stand in the world's standards of English," Matsuzawa said. TOEFL is used by many U.S. and Canadian universities to measure the English proficiency of nonnative speakers. According to the average TOEFL scores in the July 1998-June 1999 period, Japan ranked 18th out of 21 Asian economies. In the previous year, Japan's average score was the worst among Asian economies along with North Korea. Matsuzawa is actively promoting a bill that outlines educational and social policies for the goal of making English an official second language in Japan within 10 years. According to Matsuzawa, all Japanese children should start studying English at elementary schools. Japan should also make everything bilingual -- from government documents to restaurant menus -- and broadcast more programs in English so people are constantly exposed to the language, he said. But looming over the question of whether to give English official status in Japan is a stark reality: Japan is not a country, like Singapore, where different languages are spoken at home, thus it requires a common language that everyone can use. "In Singapore, you cannot make a living if you don't speak English. But that's not the case in Japan," said Mineo Nakajima, president of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and chairman of the education minister's panel on English education. Trying to make English an official second language is "a little problematic" in a monolingual society such as Japan, he said. The level of English needed in Japan is not the basic English for traveling abroad or giving directions for foreigners here, Nakajima said. "What we need are strong communication skills to express our own ideas clearly to the outside world ... and the important thing is to greatly increase the number of people who can use that kind of English." One of the keys for that goal is to debate and discuss Japan's current affairs in English classes at universities, he said. Increasing the use of English in other courses, such as economics and business, is also important. The LDP's Kato put it more simply: "Not all Japanese need to speak English." But he said large corporations, financial institutions, major organizations and the central government should make strong English ability a prerequisite. "If they clearly state that they will only hire students who can speak and write good English, those who want to pursue those careers will be very serious about English."