I was relaxing in the jacuzzi of my swimming pool one day after a swim, when a young guy next to me said: “Where are you from?” in perfect English. “America,” I said, “And you?” We had a great conversation. It turns out he had gone to North Carolina to be a sushi chef, living there for four years before returning to Tokyo and opening his own izakaya. He told me his story, about living in the U.S. and returning to build his dream. He invited me to his izakaya, which specializes in different kinds of fish and special brands of “nihonshu.”
It might be expected that someone who had lived abroad and speaks good English would return to open a hamburger shop or serve some other foreign food, but clearly, he was in love with Japanese cuisine. It might be unusual that the owner of a Japanese izakaya speaks English, but his speaking another language is not really that rare. An estimated 60 to 75 percent of people in the world are bilingual, and even more are conversant in a second, or third, or fourth language.
There may be some argument about how fluent one must be in a language to deserve the term “bilingual,” but all bilingual, or nearly bilingual, people know a second language for many reasons: living in a multi-lingual area, having parents who speak two different languages, studying in a school system with different languages, immigrating to a new country, working, being required to take languages at college or simply self-study out of self-interest. Whatever the reason, learning another language changes one’s thinking, lifestyle, work opportunities and understanding of life.
Interestingly, many people who learn another language do not abandon their first language and culture, as many conservative Japanese educators argue. My friend with the izakaya went in just the opposite direction--learning to appreciate Japanese things more by being abroad. The “Japanese first” belief, just like the “English only” movement in America, misunderstands that people with a second language will somehow be weakened or slowed down.
In fact, it’s just the opposite: learning a second language enhances the first language and a broader view of the world promotes a deeper understanding of one’s own culture. Whenever my students return from studying abroad, one of the first things they always say is how interested they became in Japan! This is more than just a longing for a nice bowl of ‘chazuke,’ it is the beginning of a deeper awareness. I think what those monolingual defenders are really afraid of is that people will be changed.
For Japanese students, studying English offers the chance to reevaluate the basic building blocks of Japanese life, most of which are based on language. In some cases, students learning another language do reject certain aspects of Japanese life. However, that is one of the side effects when young people are given greater choice about how to think and how to live. They change their thinking, mixing and blending choices into a new whole for themselves. There is loss in this process, but there is more to gain as a globalized worker and world citizen.
A second language is always learned in a mirror. English language and culture is reflected back and forth with Japanese language and culture. It is easy to get turned around, of course, but the excitement of reflected values means questioning some aspects while accepting others. The school system forces language study into either-or choices: English or Japanese. However, people are more complex than this. There is always a healthy mix of languages and cultures that can be found. When that mix is found, students are amazed at what they can do.
Studying languages leads to thinking, reflecting and understanding. This process, if continued long enough, leads to a more globalized and cosmopolitan view of the world. To learn a language means to also learn different ways of thinking and responding to the world and deeper understanding of themselves. Language acquisition is a process of cultural and social acquisition rather than grammar memorization. Learning another language involves thinking, feeling and understanding. That process can be very confusing, but with the right attitude and approach, it is enlivening and revelatory. It opens up a new world, in fact, two new worlds, one outside and one inside.
When my students finally get a job where they use English, they feel they have brought their life together into a coherent whole with English as a key component. Many other people feel the same for whatever reasons they study English. They are no longer isolated by one language, but connected through another language. I suppose that for many people, the freedom of choice that English opens up could be a rather threatening thing. This liberating function, for individuals and for the society at large, is too often overlooked. For those students who 'get it' though, languages become one of their main motivations and main pleasures in life.
Some proponents of "Japanese first" maintain that learning another language at an early age confuses students and detracts from learning their own language and their own culture. However, we do not have to learn one thing perfectly before moving on to the next. In fact, everyone learns many subjects simultaneously. Two languages can be, and around the world two languages usually are, learned together.
Nowadays, some people still argue that only specialists need English. They argue that businessmen, diplomats, translators and maybe scientists need English, but no one else. The idea that English should be reserved for some elite group of Japanese who then contact the outside world on behalf of the monolingual masses is rather surprising to hear in this globalized age. Yet, it is very common--even among English teachers. This elitist argument is rather isolationist, implying that all knowledge outside Japan should come through specialists only.
The global age means that even very traditional areas of Japanese life need to use English. Ironically, completely Japanese places, traditional crafts stores, pricey hot springs resorts and historical restaurants and temples are the places where English is most accepted as part of doing business. There are few places more Japanese than a ramen shop, but one ramen shop owner in Shinjuku spoke to me in flawless English one day! He had been around the world studying noodles! So for him, English was the key to the world of international noodles!
Two stations away from where I live is an excellent wine store. The owner, a young guy who inherited the liquor license through several generations, decided that he could not compete in the traditional way, since his store was rather far from the train station. He changed his focus from the traditional items of big company beer and mass-produced sake to European wine. And, he started distributing wine to Italian, French and Spanish restaurants all over Tokyo. To make this shift from mom-and-pop liquor store to wine entrepreneur, he had to learn English to talk with distributors abroad, read email and deal with invoices and bills. Is he bilingual? He’s bilingual enough to make a good living.
Oh, and by the way, he also sells rare and delicious “nihonshu,” hand-chosen from all over the country. I usually buy a bottle of both, just to be bilingual in another way!
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