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1.
What does English mean to non-native speakers? Chika Kamata Today, under the globalization, English is
becoming more and more important and becoming a world
language. And more and more people speak English. If we can speak English, we
get many advantages. We have more chances to get good jobs, could talk with
many foreigners and broaden our views. But, have you ever stopped to think
about English more carefully? Do
you think and feel in English when you speak English? Do you feel bad if
somebody says bad words to you in English or do you feel so happy if somebody
says good words to you in English? I think it’s so difficult to think in
English and have strong feeling when we, non-native English speakers talk in
English. Even if some people use bad words in English, we don’t feel as bad as
native American people feel, and we don’t feel as happy as native people feel
even if somebody says good things to us in English. It is so difficult to express our feeling in English and
feel strongly about what people say in English as it is not our mother tongue.
And we are forced to think in our own language. English can be a communication
tool among people who speak different languages, but I don’t think it will
become a world language. Our mother tongue means so much to us. I would like to
explain 2 examples to prove what I have mentioned so far is correct. Example
No1: communication between non-native English speakers Through
my travels to Canada and the U.S., I made friends with many people and we
talked about what English means to us. My friends there said to me that they
wanted to say good bye in their own languages to me, and they wanted to talk in
their language. If they used their mother tongue, they could represent emotions
more strongly although they love to speak English. When I used English in
Vietnam, they didn’t react well to me, but when I talked to them in Vietnamese,
their reactions were very good. I felt good myself when my friends there spoke
to me in Japanese. These experiences prove that learning any other languages
than English is so important to communicate and make a good relationship with
non-native English speakers. I
heard that in the U.N., it’s really important to be able to speak any other
languages than English even if English is spoken in the conferences. If the
attendances can talk in Spanish, for example, with people whose mother tongue
is Spanish, it could lead the conference more easily and smoothly. So if
someone can speak any other languages than English, it can be her or his strength. Example
No.2: communication between native and non-native English speakers When
non-native-English speakers talk with each other, they don’t have to care much
about details. They can make jokes in English without difficulty. But when
talking to native English speaking people, we have to care about a lot of
things because there is a considerable gap between native and non-native
English speakers about what they really feel while they are speaking English.
For example, if somebody says “he is stupid and idiot” to someone, for us it
just means “he is idiot and stupid” but, on the other hand, for native
English-speakers, that surely hurts their mind. What does English mean to us, non-native English
speakers, then? I repeat that English can be a communication tool but it won’t
be a world language. Our own language forces us to think and feel with that. We
definitely have to study English harder. We need to use it more carefully and
sensitively. Thank you very much. 2.
My Style Hiroki Tokumaru “What do I want to do in the future?” In this
spring, I tried to do various things to look for it. In addition I began
reforming my consciousness because I noticed my view was too narrow, and so
needs to be broaden. After all those actions gave me many precious things and I
could change myself a little. In fact, I was very shy with strangers. And what
was worse, once I regarded people as not being able to get along with, I used
to hate them for some reason and I was often irritated by them. I’ve even
thought “Why are there such people in the world?” Eventually, I was wrong, but
at that time, I really thought it was right. I noticed this was a bad habit for
the first time when my friends pointed that out to me one day. They were really
angry with me. Bad habits die hard, but at that time, I was very shocked and
couldn’t say a word. I just thought I had to overcome my bad habit. I understood people have good points as well as
bad points. I couldn’t take it that way, then. I had seen only bad points in
people until then. But I never do so now. I learned to see people’s good
points. And now, I can get along with more different types of people and enjoy
the time with them much better than before. Still now, I’m proud of having
those friends who sincerely scolded me. Entering this university, because of that change,
I could make friends with more people than in my high school in just 2 months!
I never dreamed of this situation. My narrow view might become wider than
before. In such a situation I joined the E.S.S. The reason for joining is that I was interested in
English conversation. So, at first, I enjoyed its activities, meanwhile I
gradually became worried about taking lessons without having my concrete goal
for English. I was often said “Don’t worry about it now in the 1st
grade!” Without this concern, I could really enjoy the life of the E.S.S.
Nevertheless I kept looking for my goal for English. And whenever I joined its activity, I could find
different aspects of myself. For example, I can read English, but I can’t talk
with people the same way. I speak English in Japanese nuance unawares. I’m poor
at talking in front of people. I wish to improve such situation gradually. If I think that way, my goal for English gets
clearer, doesn’t it? I would like to challenge how far I could go to progress
my English. I need therefore to expand English vocabulary and should join more
discussions in English and… study abroad
someday. My goal for English, in other words, is finding my possibilities. In
the process to develop my English skill, I may perhaps find what I want to do. I ask myself again, “What do I want to do in the
future?” Now, I may be able to answer it. “I haven’t decided it yet, but I try
to live an enjoyable life without always having future in mind. Because I think
people who can’t enjoy now can’t enjoy future. I believe this way of thinking
and doing things leads me to the best possible future.” I don’t mean to escape
from thinking about future. I rather prefer to take the longer view. And that
will surely give me a chance of leading a campus life that I never regret. This is just My Style!” I
am sure this is the best way for me. 3.
I still want to be a mother Yoko
Sato I love my
mother. My mother works as a flight attendant. So, she wasn’t always home. I
was brought up by my grandmother in my childhood. My mother had wanted to
become a flight attendant since she was very young. But she failed the entrance
examinations twice. Finally, she passed this exam, and she is now 54 yeas old
but she still works actively on international flights. My
parent’s home is in Shizuoka, so she commutes to Narita airport. It takes more
than 4 hours. She does washing and cooking when she is home however tired she
may be. I can’t be like my mother. But I want to work hard and what’s more I
want to manage the housework like my tough mother. But how many children today think that
they want to be like their mother sincerely? Recent reports by Ministry of
Health, Labor and Welfare suggest that the cases of child abuse by mothers are
increasing in number. Young mothers raised in a nuclear family with few
siblings can get much information about child-rearing from magazines, books and
websites. But they may get confused when the manuals don’t work with their own
children. And the confusion becomes a stress to the child- rearing, it may cause
child abuse. The association for the Prevention of Child Abuse
is setting up the hot line, and the number of consultation reached 34,451 last
year. The number is three times as large as five years ago. According to the association, most callers are mothers
in their 20’s and 30’s that have small children. They are not getting any help
from their husbands or anyone with whom they could consult on child-rearing.
Even though they wanted to stop the abuse, they admitted that they felt good
when they were hitting their children. Children cannot choose parents. The child treated badly has a grudge against the
mother and repeats child abuse to their children. The news is fresh in our
memory: Ayaka and Goken murder of Akita prefecture. Defendant Hatakeyama Suzuka
said “Bringing up my children didn’t go well.” Setting up hotlines or revising the law is not a
fundamental solution. I think the most important issue is the consciousness of
women. Status of women is improved and the number of working women increases,
so that the knowledge of women to bring up a child fades away. My family is a
typical example. But from children’s view point, father or a grandparent is
different from mother. Even the mother is far from perfect, and yet children
still want her to be always by their side. I considerably resisted my mother and quarreled
with her about her absence. However hard time I gave her, she has never
abandoned me. I appreciate that very much. My mother is not perfect, but it is
O.K. Mothers can develop themselves through the child-rearing. I want to marry some time, and have my family.
There are a lot of fear and uneasiness in becoming a mother. But I will never
think that I don’t want to bring up children. Bringing up a child is a natural
event that anyone can participate, but everyone is not acceptable for the
child. I wish and aim to be like my mother but not completely the same. I want
to bring up my child in my style. Megumi Ariji Well, first of all, I
have to tell you this speech is not about a certain movie of England. It is
related to, but not really about that movie. This spring, I went to
England all by myself, officially in order to study English for a month, not to
enjoy sightseeing. Experiences there were so amazing and exciting. There were
students from many countries such as Korea, China, Turkey, Venezuela, Colombia,
Thailand, Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany. Surrounded by people of
different nationalities, I learned a lot of things about them. No. In fact, I
only FELT that I learned a lot of things about them. What I want to insist here
is “what I thought in England and what I think back in Japan” are different. Before visiting England,
I had some fixed ideas about people by nationality. For example, many British
are beautiful and they hate American accents. Latinos are cheerful, open to
everyone and are not punctual. Koreans don’t like to be friendly with Japanese.
Chinese speak too much, which is noisy. At the end of my stay, I found some
were true and some were false, and even found some other new facts. The British
did hate American accents, but not so many of them are beautiful, I dare say.
The appearance ratio of beauty must be similar in every country. Koreans were
very amiable to me, and one of my best friends in England was Korean. And every
British was very kind enough to show me the way or carry my heavy baggage. My
images have changed both for the better and for the worse. After I came back to
Japan, I watched a movie, titled “Spanish
Apartment” which describes the life in an apartment in Spain shared by
students of seven nationalities. The movie wasn’t so serious but there was an
impressive conversation to me. A Spanish girl said angrily to an English boy,
“So how can you define Spanish people?” She intended to tell him that it is
wrong to stereotype the Spanish knowing only a few of them. Yes, actually he
knew only a few of them. And I wondered if I myself did exactly the same thing.
To live in another country for more than a month might be a very special
experience. Especially, an occasion like a language school should be rare in
that we can be with many people from different nationals. But that might make
me too confident to be blind. Indeed I judged. Even if my prejudice is not in a
bad way, it is still a prejudice. Even if I didn’t mean it, it could be
offensive to some people. My stay was long enough to judge my friends’
personality but how about their national characters? How can I pretend that I
know them? Maybe I was proud and conceited. Even I, Japanese don’t know about
Japanese so well. But it is often
the case with us. We judge people. We can’t help judging: otherwise things
can’t proceed. So, what should we do? Well, I make some suggestions how to deal with, and
fight against our own prejudice. First, we should know that when we judge something,
there is a bias to some extent. Next, why not minimizing it by trying to be
skeptical about the resource on which we make a judgment? Nonetheless, prejudices shall still exist. In the final analysis, try not to stick to it. Be
prepared to change it. We have many chances to alter our mind with our eyes
open. Thank you for your attention. 5. Reading books is fun! Kanako
Yoshida Nowadays
I read more books than ever. It takes two hours to come to this university by
train. So I have plenty op time. But once I begin reading, I find it isn’t
enough. I really get into books. Reading books is very interesting.
Especially, I like novels. In a story, I can be anybody and anything. And I can
do anything! For example, if you read a story about a firefighter, you are a
firefighter. If you read a fantastic story, you can experience a fantastic
world. You can see a witch, a vampire and a lion which is able to talk. You can
even fly. Of course, this is nothing but imagination. But so is it fun. According to a report from the YOMIURI
Shimbun in 2004, 50% of people don’t read a book in a month. More and more
people no longer read as much as they used to. And there is a negative image about
books. “I have no time” is the primary reason they
don’t read a book. But I don’t think there is a need to take particular time for
reading. Reading is fun in itself. You can therefore read anywhere and anytime. Secondly, an opinion which I’m most
interested in is “I can get information or knowledge without books.” They say,
“Books are unnecessary.” Many people don’t know a delight of reading books.
This is a sad fact. The popular amusements these days may be
watching TV programs and movies. Publicity articles are more about movies than
about books. People who often read books tend to choose the ones introduced in
those articles. Like this, Articles in communication media play an important
part. Watching is very different from reading in
respect of whether or not there is a specific picture, but I think in terms of
“story”, these two can be considered exactly the same. But, at least to me, reading
books is more fun than watching because there is no real and fixed character or
things in books, and you are the director. You can use your own imagination. Isn’t this another way to enjoy a story? As
the number of readers decreases, some people express their anxiety about the
lack of knowledge, correct usage of words and imaginative power. I don’t really know true effect of reading.
But from my actual experiences, I can say reading is enjoyment. You don’t have to
take things too seriously. Just like watching TV programs or movies, I want you
to feel free to read books. There is a limit to the number of things we can experience
in our lifetime. Through reading, we can get in touch with other views in the
world. Recently, you may have heard a Japanese
word “MOTTAINAI”. It can be translated as “what a waste!” Why don’t we apply this
word to explain this situation: It is surely MOTTAINAI not to realize the pleasure
of reading. Let’s
enjoy reading. I thank you. 6.
My Starting Point
Tomomi Higuchi Do
you like English? How did you get interested in English? In my case, there was
exactly a starting point. When
I was junior in my high school, I went to the United States and stayed with an
American home in summer. It was my first time to stay with whom I have never
seen. I had no confidence in English, but I was very excited and looking
forward to going there. My
host family told me that they will not be attending for the first week because
they decided to take a trip during the period. When I heard that, I was just at
Narita Airport waiting for the boarding announcement. Anyway, I left Japan with
anxiety. Accordingly,
I stayed with a substitute family who were Mexican during the first week. They
were very warm and kind, but the only problem was that they were not good at
English. As host parents could hardly speak English, I had difficulty to
communicate. The
day I change my host family came closer. One day, my host father said to me
“You are my daughter. You can stay with us all through your stay in the US.” I
was so impressed, and I could not stop shedding tears. I
thought well on whether I should change my host family. I wanted to consult
with someone in Japanese, but I could not. I felt very lonely as if I were the
only person in the world. In the end, I decided to change the family because I
wanted to experience another family. But, I was so nervous and afraid of
telling it to them. I
went to see my travel organizer and said to her “They were very warm and kind,
I like them. But … I want to see another family” She said “Yes”, but she
misunderstood me. In English, conclusion seems to come first. When I said I
liked them, she interpreted that I was satisfied. I realized then a big
difference between the languages of Japanese and English. I finally moved to the new family. They
were white and their life was American. There were many differences between
these two families. I had a great time with both families and said “See you
again. I will become a good English speaker” when leaving. This is how I became
interested in English. Now, I think I was very lucky to have stayed with two
families. Four years have passed since then. My
dream came true. I revisited my host family this summer. I had a great time
there. Although I’m not a good English speaker yet, I talked to them a lot and
had a great experience. This further motivated me toward English. I wish to
improve my English and go back to see them in the US again! To improve your English is not an easy
task. If you neglect your daily practices, your English will turn worse very
easily. You need to avoid such a situation. So, when you are fed up with
studying English, I recommend you to just remember your starting point. Rome
was not built in a day. But, where there is a will, there is a way! Thank
you. 7.
That’s why I like English Tiaki Suzuki If
I could master a hundred languages, I would make a lot of friends all over the
world and could exchange the ways of thinking each other. Sadly enough, it is
not so easy, however, to learn them. Actually I hadn’t been interested in
other languages or cultures until I became a high school student because I
didn’t have such opportunities to get the information about different languages
and there were no people around me who were interested in them. One day when I was 16 years old, my
mother found an interesting advertisement. It was about a project that junior
high school and high school students who lived in Hokkaido go to America or
Australia to have a home stay for 2~3 weeks. A few friends of mine have already
been overseas and they told me how great it was. Then, I made up my mind to
join the project. I decided to go to Australia because Japan at that time was
winter but that country was summer!! It was very attractive to me as I was sick
of heavy snow!! In fact, I had to depend on my mother for this. Now I think I
was a kind of spoiled child. In Australia it was so hot and dry and I
liked that. When I met my host family, I was so nervous to speak with them but
I just remember their smile now. My host family seemed to be in
'go-as-you-please' style. For example, everyone was taken by the host family’s
car to school without me. I had to take a bus by myself and it was terribly hard
for me because I didn’t understand what the host mother told me about how to
take it and didn’t have confidence to get through to a bus driver. But this
experience made me tough. In the end I did almost everything on my own, such as
making daily breakfast and lunch box and doing laundry. Besides,
I found that we can laugh at the same thing. This may be trivial for many
people but is an amazing thing for me. My inclination to speak more English had
been increasing day by day. When I was hanging around the mall with
my friends, some African Australian gazed at us. I wondered why they looked at
me so much. Actually there were little Asians in the area. Japanese were rarely
found and I thought at first that’s why they looked at us so curiously.
Suddenly, they came closer to our group and asked us if we were speaking
Japanese. I said “Yes”. They told me they were interested in the country, Japan
so they wanted to become friends. I was surprised by their active attitude and
learned that nothing would happen unless I positively act on my own. After 3 weeks I was completely used to the
life in Australia and when I came back to Japan, I was unconsciously speaking
English. My family was surprised and asked me if I forget Japanese. This experience changed my life quite a lot and is one of my great assets now. Thank you for your attention. 8. Tokyo-the city of utopia for me Shota Watanabe Tokyo-that is the town flooded with full of hope
and possibilities. World big city Tokyo continues evolving every day. Shinjuku
is the town with towering skyscrapers and is sleepless attracting customers to
famous Kabuki-cho. Roppongi is the town with enormous number of foreigners,
unlike Japan anymore, and is symbolized by a tall fururistic building. Shibuya
leads the fashion in the daytime, while at night attracting adults to bars and
night clubs. I love this city, Tokyo where different types of towns are
scattered in this way. That is one of the reasons why I entered the university
located in Tokyo. This feeling of mine is quite similar to that of the 2nd
daughter of noble Sugawara Takasue, who is the author of “Sarashina Diary”,
which was written in Heian Era, everybody longing for the city life of Kyoto. The other reason why I came up to Tokyo
is that I wanted to live alone and freely. In other words, I didn’t want to be
interfered with by my parents and the local community. Actually, my hometown is
a Japanese traditional and historical region - Kansai. There are a lot of
venerable temples, Shinto shrines and beautiful rows of houses along the city
streets. But the existence of traditional and venerable things in daily town
scenes and in people’s heart means that there is little newness, freshness or
evolution. If anything, it is a duty of Kansai Region to preserve the tradition
or history and protect the property of Japanese citizens. People’s way of
thinking, therefore, is apt to become conservative. Actually,
I used to feel that I was always watched by someone. I remember clearly that
there was an atmosphere in which it is hard to do anything new, dynamic or
different. If focusing on my family, I also remember that I preferred to stay
in my house because my parents were stern and had the atmosphere that I
couldn’t do anything freely. On
the other hand, many people come up to Tokyo in order to realize their dreams
or to begin new businesses. Population of Tokyo continues to grow with new
university students or business people every year. It is quite possible,
therefore, that a person living next to you moves out today, and a different
person comes in a month later. Accordingly, people are reluctant to communicate
with each other. Tokyo
is not the community where activities or behaviors are restricted. Indeed, it
is the city where I can do whatever I wish to do as far as I take
responsibilities for what I do. That’s why I call this town as the Utopia for
me. It has been six months since I came to my Utopia.
I have experienced many things there. For example, I sometimes went to watch
live TV programs at TV Asahi or shop in sophisticated shopping boutiques and
even work as a part-timer in the Roppongi Hills Building. Especially,
my current part time job office on the 52nd floor in the Roppongi Hills
Building gives me many chances to experience many rare things that can’t be
experienceed in other areas. I feel grateful to be able to live in this
environment. I love Tokyo very much. I will keep trying as many things as
possible that I haven’t yet experienced. Thank you for listening. 9.
The power of music Eriko
Murakami When Japanese people hear ’Western music’, some of
them may feel something formal because there are few TV programs in which we
can listen to Western music. And most people don’t understand the lyrics,
hearing only one time. They think, therefore, they can’t accept it being different
from Japanese music and keep away from it. The reason I say this is
that I used to have the same opinion before. I had almost no
family members or friends who used to listen to Western music. I
feel now there is a barrier between people who always listen to Western music
and who don’t. I have been
majoring in English literature and culture to study English since April. I have made a lot of new friends there and I
am
surprised to know they love Western music, and not Japanese music. My image
that Japanese people like Japanese music has been changed. It has, however,
motivated me to listen to Western music. In fact, I could have a
chance to listen to them by borrowing CDs from my friends. It didn’t take long
before I was absorbed in the unique world of Western music
and I enjoy listening to them everyday now. To my
surprise, I have even become intrigued with the singers’ native countries. I’m going to
take one instance. It is said ’The Beatles’ is the great musician in the 20th
century. Virtually, they have been loved by many people even after their
breakup of 1970. Until I entered the
university, I hadn’t known such a fact. So, at first when I was recommended their songs it took a bit time for me to
really appreciate them, because it was difficult to understand the lyric which
they sang with too many slang in their songs and I found the
style of music was different from the Japanese. But I gradually
started appreciating Western music. The reason why
I respect them is that they broke out so-called common sense of music, and
created new type of music one after another. If I didn’t start to listen to
Western music, I would not have been given their ’frontier spirit’ or
’creativity’ and may be looking up in dictionaries to understand what the words
or phrases used in the lyric mean. And I started to be interested in Britain where
such great musicians have been brought up. I only knew where Britain was and
who the Queen was up until a little while ago, but now, I can tell someone
about British culture. One day I got a chance to talk with a British
woman. She was unfamiliar with Japan. And so I began talking about British
culture. Then she said to me, ”You know very well, don’t you?” I was glad to
hear that and could talk positively. After that, I changed the subject to The
Beatles. We had quite a chat, and had a good time. She said, “I didn’t know
Japanese people understood so much about British culture. I realize now I must
study harder about the Japanese culture.” The
experience like this is all thanks to the encounter with Western music. I
appreciate my friends gave me a chance to listen to them. I
wish more Japanese would have a chance to listen to them. I
believe knowing foreign music will lead to understanding the country’s culture.
Any country will do. Music may be one of the best ways to understand other
countries. That is my belief. Thank
you for listening. 10.
The difference of culture Sho Nakamura It is often said that western people tend to
express their own opinion clearly and directly. This is common in western
societies. Even though argument comes up, it is rare that human relation
completely collapses. On the other hand, Japanese people are shy and it is hard
to guess what they are thinking. The Japanese people have their own idea, but
they communicate by listening to other people. If they disagree with other
people, they just keep listening, then, disagree in an ambiguous way. This is
very polite in Japan. If you disagree with other people and argue emotionally,
human relation collapses so easily. They do not talk very much in a public
scene, but talk well in private scenes. Japanese people
and western people are different in the meaning of silence. In Japan, it is
thought that silence is a deep thinking, while in western societies it is
thought that silence is discomfort and no intention to communicate. Western
people consider direct and clear expression of their own opinion important. So,
too much silence often discomforts western people. Japanese people consider
talking too much as discomfort. Therefore the difference in the meaning of
silence leads to troubles and misunderstandings. Ambiguity sometimes results in
misunderstandings, and Westerners become irritated because the Japanese do not
answer straightforward. For example, Japanese people are asked “Which will you
have, tea or coffee?” They usually reply, “Either is OK” This reply may be
polite among Japanese, but is rude for Westerners. The word Japanese people
hesitate to use is “no” and the resulting ambiguous denials result in troubles.
Japanese people don’t like to deny directly. Japanese people regard affirmation
as virtue. Thus, troubles happen between Japanese and western people. The difference of culture between the
west and Japan leads to a great deal of troubles between individuals or nations
in communication. The best way to resolve this issue is to understand each
other’s culture and lifestyle; that is, whereas Japanese people should try to
understand western culture and lifestyle,
western people should try to understand Japanese culture. I am sure this is
effective. It would take time and should be hard. But, we must resolve in the
increasingly internationalized world. It is to understand our own culture
through contacts with different cultures. We first recognize who ourselves are
by contacting with different cultures. In other words, cross-cultural
communication is the start of a trip of self-searching. In addition, we
discover new senses of value by cross-cultural communication. Thank you very
much. |