Masumi – which I have to admit I do as well – opened up a lot more and volunteered to be my second interviewee. As we were done with making our own humble contribution to keeping the Coney Island beach clean and enjoyed a burger at an iconic American fast food establishment Nathan’s Famous, we sat down on the beach to have a chat.
Back in Japan Masumi went to «an English immersive school» from Grade 1 to Grade 12 where all the subjects were taught both in Japanese and English. Masumi believes that was how she ended up picking up the language «naturally». At this private school most teachers were from English-speaking countries. Studying there definitely put Masumi in an advantageous position compared to her compatriots who normally start learning English during junior high/middle school through regular English classes focusing on grammar, vocabulary and making simple dialogues. Sadly as Masumi notes, as a result of such an education most ended up not being able to «produce» any English at all.
Detailing on the strengths of her language instruction back in her home country, Masumi remembers how listening was the easiest as she was exposed to English daily in her classroom. Then she gradually learned how to read and write. Unfortunately, speaking was really difficult and, in fact, she still finds herself struggling with it, which has her wondering why she «can listen but can’t produce English’. One of the reasons might have been that all her classmates were Japanese and even teachers who were foreigners could understand English so all interactions were in Masumi’s first language. Besides, she never used English outside school.
When it comes to the level of importance attached to learning English in Japan, it is not that high as a lot of companies use Japanese. But despite that being able to speak English would be «a strong point» for a job candidate as not so many Japanese people speak English well. But even without speaking it much one can work «normally».
Now that Masumi has been in the U.S. for a month, she has had more opportunities to use English as she is studying at Baruch College in NYC. Back in Japan whenever these limited opportunities to speak English occurred, Masumi used to be afraid to speak for fear of making mistakes. Being a foreigner here, she knows it’s ok for her to say something wrong.
Actually Masumi feels more confident speaking English compared to her native Japanese as in her first language she feels she cares about other people too much. As she says, in English she can be «selfish in a good way».
During this first month in the U.S. she has faced quite a lot of misunderstandings caused by her «mishearing» what people are saying. She is perfectly aware of answering some «weird» things when asked a question, but she has learned not to mind that too much.
Masumi is still too young for making a solid career choice, but she would love to use English in her future job. So, she might pursue translating or anything with «a connection to languages».
Currently she is learning Chinese, which she considers a quite important language to learn these days. On the surface, Chinese looks like Japanese, but grammar and vocabulary are totally different. Some parts of written «symbols» are a bit different, which makes it particularly confusing. At this point Masumi isn’t feeling confident enough to use any Chinese, but becoming a «good user» is part of her plan.
She believes that the most important thing in mastering a language is to actually use it. As for her own example, she feels that
her English is «showing some kind of improvement» as she uses it daily. Besides, the fact that there aren’t many Japanese people in NYC helps quite a lot.
∞ Not only was the ocean landscape against which we were sitting and talking soothing, but also so was Masumi’s manner of speaking. She seemed reserved yet totally relaxed speaking with me. What she said about rigorous language instruction back in Japan might be in line with what we believe an Asian education system to be – with a strong focus on achievement and discipline. That might in a way explain why people in Asia tend to generally feel uptight about using English for the same reason Masumi did – for fear of making mistakes… Some causes of certain linguistic barriers run so much deeper than a wrong teaching methodology indeed…
Unfortunately, we never crossed paths with Masumi again, but I would go back here to this exact spot in Coney Island quite a few times during the fall to contemplate these and many other things we talked about while enjoying my burger from Nathan’s. Even as a linguist, you sometimes feel like paying no attention to what languages are being spoken around you, but just want to listen to the sounds of the ocean waves instead…
A level-headed bilingual full of determination to succeed (Sharifullah, Afghanistan)
Languages spoken: Dari, Pashto, Urdu, English, French.
Field of study/career: Public Health (Montclair State University).
After over a month in the U.S. I became more proactive about meeting people «locally», i.e., at my host university as physical proximity facilitates longer and more sustainable connections. I met a fellow Fulbrighter Sharif from Afghanistan at an event for international students and scholars at Montclair State.
When we think about Afghanistan, news reports of never-ending war conflicts come up in our minds. But no journalistic report (even the most well-balanced one) or an in-depth research article would replace actual interactions with individuals who have had to witness and/or suffer the consequences of these atrocities committed in their home country.
It was a unique opportunity to do that while getting to know Sharif who seemed longing for company and open for new connections. For this interview we sat down on a lawn in the university campus. Despite 5 years of being a university teacher, I felt we were just students catching up in between classes having profound conversations – that was the way I had been imagining university life to be…
For Sharif learning English was a «long and steady process». He got his elementary education in Pakistan where it is the second language of instruction. Despite limited opportunities to speak, there was a lot of reading and writing practice in English.
Initially, it was somewhat difficult and even teachers themselves weren’t so good at grammar nuances. Whenever a student asked a question, the teacher switched to Urdu for giving explanations. At least a lot of opportunities to practise writing were provided. In senior classes Sharif took control of his language learning and improved his English dramatically by reading extensively outside the school curriculum and watching films.
As Sharif started building his career in Nutrition and Food Science, he found himself increasingly having to interact (send emails, make phone calls) with colleagues he shared no other language rather than English. Besides, as part of his job duties, he had to stay on top of the latest research in his field which is published in English and only considerably later might be translated into other languages.
In Afghanistan English isn’t taught until Grade 5 and 6. There are two national languages – Dari and Pashto – which everyone learns at school. According to Sharif, that might explain why English isn’t introduced earlier to avoid the pressure of teaching three languages at a time.
Unless a student in Afghanistan isn’t ready to take control of his own language learning outcomes the way Sharif did, there are some extra courses they can enroll in which are taught completely in English. That
