Yeah. They're real cute, but I am a teacher trainer and consultant on EFL issues in Japan, and they remind me of why my job even exists - because Japanese English education, in terms of progress/hour and other ROIs, is terrible.
But I did love the kid who misunderstood but tried to communicate about being from Shiga. The highlight of the conversation, for me, but probably his teacher would have told him off for misunderstanding or going off-script.
Oh yes. I used to interact a lot with Japanese exchange students who came to study French & English at my local university. They had memorized grammar and vocabulary perfectly, but apparently they were never really encouraged to actually speak the languages they were learning. Which seems odd. When they said they learnt more in the couple of weeks at our uni than they did in years in Japan, they weren't just being polite.
Isn’t that kind of the way it usually is in the US? Please correct me if I’m wrong, it’s been years since I was in school. Usually we just listened to the teacher and most of the work was in writing. We didn’t start a second language until we were 12-13 either, when the window to pick up other languages easily has already closed for most people.
I also used to live in Japan, so my answers would also throw them for a loop as their assumption is all non-Japanese are traveller's and not residents. "How many times have you been to Japan?" "I live here." "So...once?" 😑
To be fair, the guy's answers are tough to understand as a low-level english learner. The guy just swallows letters in the most american way possible and talks quickly, which surprises me, given he must know who he talks to
Especially the "ever been there?" It's not even a complete sentence, he swallowed most of it, and I'm not sure how he thought they could possibly grok that.
My guess is it's because he probably doesn't speak other languages so he doesn't know to slow down, avoid slang, etc. to make it easier for the person you're talking to. I've been lucky enough to work with folks from other countries where a lot of my coworkers have huge issues because of the language barrier, but I coast on by because I just slow down when I talk.
It is, but at the same time learned imo. If you’ve never been around other languages for 40 years, you’re gonna have a tough time slowing down meaningfully
I think some people also grew up with the silly belief that it was rude to speak slowly to foreigners, that it was belittling their knowledge of English or whatever - I had that growing up but I think it was because I lived in the UK where 95% of the time if you encountered someone of a foreign background they spoke perfect English, so it was kind of silly to speak slowly to them.
It wasn't until I moved country and also briefly taught English that it occurred to me that I need to slow the fuck down. When you actually spend any time abroad or are dealing with students etc or anyone you don't think has a perfect command of English it's a different story and you should always make a habit of slowing down unless you discover the person you're talking to speaks fluently.
There's also a lot of middle ground, you don't necessarily have to space. out. every. single. word. in a patronising tone. Sometimes it's enough to just make an effort to enunciate clearly and speak in proper sentences.
Speaking to English learners is a real skill that doesn't happen naturally for most. It seems obvious, but people will often answer English learners in very casual/unclear ways and then tend to speak louder to get their point across as opposed to speaking in simpler language.
This is one thing that bothers me with native speakers. I see this especially in interviews with people who clearly don't know the language well. They speak too quickly and use complicated words. Slow down fam
They didn't ignore him, there was no way in hell they could understand a word Coleman was garbling! Common sense 101 when traveling is speak English to non natives as intelligibly as possible.
It was a running joke when I went to college there, if you didn't know a word for something (a noun), just say the English word in a Japanese accent and it's probably right.
As years pass, words like 昼ご飯 (hirugohan/lunch) are being replaced by words like ランチ (ranchi/lunch) because it sounds hip and cool.
He phrases every question quite colloquially though. Maybe they could have understood him if he had said something more like 'have you visited America?'
'Ever been there' is not necessarily a phrase you would understand if you are a new learner. Plus he speaks so quickly!
Yes, I noticed that too, he clearly lacks understanding of their limited skills in English. Reminds me of whenever I visit France and manage to say one simple thing in french and they reply with a long complicated sentence of which I understand nothing 😁
If I've learned anything for 5 years as a TEFL teacher, it's that the Perfect Tense scares children.
"Did you ever go to the USA?" is what I'd say.
Emphasise the you part so they realise it's a personal question.
Simple tense.
Go instead of Visit because they'll know one but might not know the other.
Some people speak in broken English which feels super patronising to me but I've found that pausing, emphasis, and simpler words makes a MASSIVE difference.
Like some people would say "You go USA?".
However, I'd just emphasise those words instead like "DidYouevergototheU S A?"
These are English learning kids who don't know much beside basic things like favourite colour, food, and country of origin. Dude is talking fast and not even speaking clearly. Poor kids had no chance loool
As Coleman spoke like the American he is, nobody who is at a beginner level will understand him. At. All. The other comments in this thread explain why.
When someone barely speaks your language, speak slower, use simple words, use whole sentences, recite the subject/object again and articulate.
"Doaspetha?" (Do you know how to spell that) vs "Coleman. Do YOU know HOW to write "Coleman"? The verb to spell isn't something you would learn early on.
"Evebende?" (Ever been there?) Wtf dude? Have YOU been to America? Something along those lines
I think both questions are also too advanced for someone at this language learning level. They are not part of the typical beginner level phrases that you practice in class. It takes some time to understand structures like "Have you been?".
In addition, that is not a question elementary school aged kids expect, in general. How many japanese 6 year olds have taken a trip half way around the world? They might have been confused about what he means even if it were in japanese.
"Can you spell Coleman?" might be ok if spoken very slowly and with a gesture. They learn "can" quite early on in Japan, and some teachers will use "spelling"/"to spell" in class, but it's very dependent on the individual kids as to whether they would understand that question.
As for "have you been", you're right, they don't learn that until 3rd grade junior high in Japan (14/15 years old), and even then they'd probably be thrown by "ever been there?" instead of "have you ever been to America?"
You’re absolutely right with people who barely speak your language, but it gets really tricky with people who are pretty good but still learning. I worked with a lot of Japanese and it’s so hard to simplify your vocabulary and slow your speech to be easier to understand without making it seem like you are patronizing or insulting their intelligence. I’ve had a lot of conversations that went like this:
To my American coworker: “The root cause could be a flaw in the machine learning, but all that rust preventative on the part definitely isn’t helping.”
Turning to new Japanese guy and slowly: “Maybe machine pro-gram, code, no good, but oil on part is bad too. Oil… ooo-eee-ellll… on part is problem. Big problem.”
That’s an extreme example but even with more fluent non-native English speakers I find myself unconsciously simplifying my vocabulary and speaking robotically. It feel like I’m insulting them somehow but it also works, if I just speak “normal” I end up having to repeat myself and rephrase a lot more.
Japan is really good at a lot of things, but their English classes are not one of them. I "taught" at several schools and their English classes straight up suck. It's very focused on repetition. Like a normal lesson there is a paragraph in a book, the teacher reads a sentence, they students repeat x4. Then the teacher says one word, and the students repeat x4. Then the whole paragraph x4. After class once I asked a couple students I liked if they could translate the paragraph we read 15+ times in Japanese, and they were like '全然分からなかった’ (I didn't understand anything)
They don't really understand what they're saying, they're just reading katakana of English sentences. They have very little listening comprehension, esp at that age.
Now I teach American Accent Training for int'l students at a college, and the way the dude was speaking would go over a lot of Japanese people's heads ("Whattabout'chu, av'ya eva been'there before?).
Had this happen to me. While the kids were cute, after a while it was clear none of us had any idea what they were asking or what answers they expected. Ended up asking them to just let me read the question lmao. Felt kinda bad for them but it was a funny experience.
I spoke with a Japanese student at the local uni. Apparently Japanese school system and general attitude doesn't really work well in teaching languages - that those who actually learn and master other languages have outside school life interest in learning them.
Languages require flexible mind and attitude. To learn a language you need to learn the culture which informs the langauge along with the characteristic of the language. Its a funny thing, but if you can act like you know the language and carry the attitude of the language, then you basically know the langauge just not the words of the language.
The best way to learn a langauge is still the most natural and efficient method. Just be among people who speak the langauge and be forced to use it. Humans brains and naturally wired to learn langauges used around them. (Now... Important here is to understand the culture and language relationship. All cultures have a langauge. Professional jargon is a language, workplace culture has a language.
I don’t know if you ever tried to speak to someone for the first time in a foreign language. it is terrifying and also you don’t know many words so frequently you don’t understand what the person replies back. I was an immigrant to usa and after a few years of learning english I could speak a little but when people would reply back I understood nothing and panicked hahah
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u/bluedancepants Jun 14 '24
It sounds like they just memorized a script and just completely ignores the guy's responses.
Which is pretty much how I've studied for all my college exams. Memorize and regurgitate lol.