世論 What Japan Thinks

At the start of February MyVoice performed a survey of their internet monitor group to find out what people thought about learning English. 16,057 people, 46% male, completed an internet-based questionnaire. 3% of the respondents were teenagers, 23% were in their twenties, 37% in their thirties, 25% in their forties, and 12% in their fifties.

Teaching English is a huge business in Japan. Actually, I would argue that it is not learning English, it’s being seen to be learning, or just the buzz of hanging around foreigners that is popular here. One of my wife’s pals, for instance, has been going to various classes and homestays for at least ten years, yet her English is still barely useable; she just seems to be feeding her fantasy of getting a gaijin boyfriend.

I’m also a bit surprised that amongst three in four reckon that English lessons should start before the end of primary education. Although the earlier one starts learning a language the better, on the whole, there are more foreign languages than just English!

Q1: Have you ever had to use English? (Sample size=16,057)

Yes	57.5%
No	37.5%
Don’t know	5.0%

Q2: Tell me where being unable to speak English would be a problem. (Sample size=16,057, multiple answer)

Foreign travel	41.7%
When someone speaks English to me	39.2%
On the internet	21.2%
Reading instruction manuals	19.3%
At work	18.9%
When getting a phone call from overseas	10.0%
When calling to overseas	7.5%
Buying from overseas	6.9%
Other	4.7%
Nowhere in particular	23.0%
No answer	0.2%

I wonder if that 4.7% included writing signage for a trillion yen project?

Q3: At what age did you wish you started (or do you want to start) learning English? (Sample size=16,057)

Nursery or kindergarten	35.1%
Early primary school (Age 6 to 9)	22.5%
Late primary school (Age 10 to 12)	15.3%
Middle school (Age 13 to 14)	12.4%
High school (Age 15 to 18)	0.6%
University	0.2%
When becoming a member of society (ie, finishing full-time schooling)	1.7%
Other	1.4%
Never thought I wanted to start	10.5%

Q4: Do you think you want to study English in the future? (Sample size=16,057)

Yes	53.3%
No	25.9%
Don’t know	19.8%
No answer	1.1%

Q5: If you were learning English in the future, in what way do you think you would want to learn? (Sample size=16,057, multiple answer)

English conversation school	43.5%
PC-accessible internet-based course	26.5%
Watching films or DVDs	24.4%
English conversation book	15.7%
Reading books or magazines, etc	14.2%
Radio-based course	12.1%
Other correspondence course	6.2%
Formal broadcast education (Open University-like?)	5.2%
Video On Demand contents	4.8%
Mobile phone-accessible internet-based course	1.4%
Other	7.6%
Don’t particularly want to use any of them	18.2%
No answer	0.4%