Immigration to require Japanese Ability for long term gaijin

Interesting. Yesterday, immigration said they are at least testing the waters with an idea that will require long term foreign residents (doesn't state what type of visa, so presumably even simple work visas) to learn at least a basic level of Japanese. "Speaking Japanese is necessary for a livable quality of life in Japan" according to the foreign relations minister.

Source

Now common sense would tell you you need to speak the language when you live abroad, but you'd be shocked at how many times I see people that can't even order at a fast food joint. I've known bankers that have lived here for 10 years and can barely say hello.

 

Makes total sense and is integral to keeping a culture. I think this goes for any country....trouble is how do they measure satisfactory levels of knowledge?

Do people over 60 get a waiver? I think they should IMHO.

 

Good idea, I had an interview at a big foreign company in Tokyo recently and the German guy who had interviewed me had clocked -

25 years in Tokyo and Osaka
Japanese Wife
2 Kids whose first language is Japanese

And his Japanese was almost non-existant. Plus - no written at all. That is right, no Kanji, no hira/kata!!! Fk me! Needless to say my sales point |( I speak Japanese) did not impress at that interview.

So yeah, good idea.

 

Ask yourself this: would you want to work for someone that that lived somewhere for 25 fucking years and can't string a sentence together? If I ever got to an interview and they didn't care if I spoke Japanese, I left, since at that point, I had basically no other skills. Now I can wank left-handed and speak Japanese.

I'm sure they would have a test. I doubt they would require any writing, and I'm sure it would be survival level Japanese only. "Left", "Right", "Forward", "Yes, right there...no, there. Yeah, that's it". Shit like that.

 

Left-handed?! Good grief, they are making things harder for gaijin! (pun, intended):110:

More seriously - whilst not against the idea in principle, my concerns would be that they check for a sensible level of linguistic competency & not some silly level of expertise. Ideally, any company hiring non-Japanese speakers should be prepared to offer them some assistance in learning.

Having said that - in many avenues of professional employment & especially for companies with a multinational presence, English tends to be a dominant language. It obviously helps/is considerate/will enhance your own experience to work on your language skills, but it is possible to work & live with only a smattering of the local language.

 

It's all good and that but in the back of my mind there's something telling me that this is to save the Japanese from learning any English since they suck at it worse than any other Asian country. In fact probably worse than any other modern country in the world.

My child is going to have English as his first language no matter what his nusery school teachers tell me. Of course he'll be able to speak Japanese perfectly as well but in my eyes if he ever wants to get anywhere in this country (because they are racists) then English is going to be his battling piece.

Yakumo

PS: Am I the only westerner in Japan that thinks Pak-kun is a smug twat that thinks he knows it all? I can't stand that guy.

 

I support this.
I wish we had a similar policy in place here in the States.

 

@warakai, are you german? or why did you had an interview with a german guy?

 

the problem with the japanese language is, you need in minimum a good pinch of basics to kick on the self learning process of this language. if you never went into the basics and didn't spend in minimum some effort to learn some of the vocabulary, the japanese gibberish will enter one ear and exit straight the other without any notice. at that point, it doesn't matter you stay in japan for one year or one hundred. it keeps the same state.

so i think that what happens to all those "long time in japan but speaking not one damn word japanese" people.

 

Never been to Korea?

I'm still not sure how this policy is to prevent them from learning English. I'll throw out the obvious comment on how clearly a foreign language shouldn't be required in your own country.

Warakia is 110% English rock star. Apparently quite a whipped one these days, to boot.

 

Yes, twice. I used English a lot since I don't know sweet FA about Korean. We also have a Korean town here in Shimonoseki with quite a few that use English. I guess I'm just having a rant to be honest. You see, to me the Japanese are the biggest hypocrites I've ever met. For example. When you come here they expect you to speak Japanese but when they go abroad they expect Japanese speaking staff. This is why you find JTB in every popular Japanese tourist place. Another thing that really pisses me off is the food. I personally can't stand Washoku. It's awful in my opinion yet I get told "You're in Japan so you have to eat it". Yet, any Japanese that goes out of Japan for more than a week goes F*ing nuts in a desperate struggle to find a China town so that they can eat bloody rice !! This isn't just ones person I'm talking about but almost every Japanese I know that went to Europe or the states.

Like I said, I'm just having a rant. Bored, nothing to do and can't go home till 5:30 :banghead:

Yakumo

 

Sounds like you need to go to the UK for detox. If you don't like the people or the food, I don't see how you can stand to live here...especially outside of a major city.

The west is far worse. The average western tourist expects everyone to speak English, regardless of location. Japanese are typically more helpful and willing to at least try to speak English than many other places... Europe, for example.

Korea is a disaster. Get out of your hotel and you're fucked. Better have a map and your addresses written IN Korean if you're looking to go anywhere other than a hotel.

Hour and 10 minutes to go, eh?

 

yeah, back home now 7pm. Now I can unwind and stop ranting. A trip back to t he UK would be nice. After all I only get to speak to native English speekers twice a month at the moment.

Yakumo

 

pm 5:30 to leave! nice one, i'm usually kept here back up to pm 9+ every night:crying:

 

They'd probably try that with me if they thought I wouldn't tell them to shove it up their arse :lol: I made it very clear when I started work that I'm strict about work and free time. Most people in my company spend more time flapping about doing nothing than actually getting stuck in to their job. Then they complain when they have to stay and do over time or go in on a Saturday :shrug: Like today, there I was all finished just waiting for an hour and half to go while others are running around like mice in a panic. If only they'd understand the words "communication" "delegation" and "planning" :lol:

Yakumo

 

Don't be afraid to speak to your kid your mother tongue.

I learned 3 languages by the age of 2-3 this way, because my parents spoke their own language to me and since they spoke English between themselves I started picking up on that too - they were surprised that my English was as good as it was (Spoken) the first time I started conversing with my American cousins.

The doctor was saying to my mother that the "boy will be confused and won't learn any language if you keep doing this" , but hey, look at me now!

 

@Langauge

From what I understand, you shouldn't let your kid know you speak Japanese. If he's home w/ mom all day (and other Japanese kids) he'll want to speak that more. You have to be a dick about English early on. I already speak English only to my kid, but of course, Japanese to the lady.

@hours and delegation
One could write their dissertation on how the Japanese Office really works. It's pretty amazing at how corporate Japan has gotten this world wide reputation of being efficient, when it's anything but. My personal opinion, having spent quite a lot of time in a Japanese office is that it has stemmed from two things. 1) Desire for job security, and 2) lack of desire to go home. Being at home is far less pleasant than it is w/o a kid. Most office jobs are pretty mundane. Rather than just do the work and sit around, they'll just stretch out a 5 hour work day into about 12 hours with a 1 hour lunch break. There's that whole "you can't leave before the boss" anyway. As for home life" Sure, the kid is great, but it's just hectic. Wife is probably worn to the ground by the time you get home, and isn't really going to be nice. Might as well hang out at the office, drink coffee and play freecell.

So glad I work at home now.

 

in my case i really have a lot to do (beside of posting in forums o'coz) due to manpower problems, cost cutting etc. and 2ndly i have to talk to europe every day a lot, so there is no other time than between 4pm up to 8~9pm TYO. in the other hand i'm really pissed about the efficiency in japanese offices. everything needs triple the time.

 

Well said, however I also speak in English to the wife. In work I speak nothing but Japanese so I don't want to speak Japanese at home unless it's light. My wife will speak in Japanese to me though. Quite odd really. She uses Japanese and I use English (mostly). Looks like one of those interviews on TV were the person being interviewed will answer in a completely different language to the question :lol:

I do speak English to the boy even though the nursery school said he'll just get confused. That's bollocks though. He now understands some words in both languages such as nominomi in Japanese or just plain drink in English. He also understands that No and Dame are the same. So far he's 10 months old however he can only say mama which means food and shake his head for no. They must have taught him mama at nursery school since I call his food slop :lol:

Yakumo

 

Apparently bilingual kids are a bit late, but obviously, you shouldn't shield him from one or the other. I would've probably punched someone that said it would confuse him. She can come hang out in my neighborhood. Fucking bilingual kids everywhere... little bastards.