The importance of English must be balanced

05/31/2008

run after sb/sth

Several years ago, a survey was conducted in the United States to test the geographical knowledge of Americans aged 18 to 24. The results shocked the people who directed the survey: One in three respondents said their country's population was "between 1 and 2 billion," even though the correct number at the time was only around 290 million.

The head of the survey team reportedly lamented that Americans' belief that their country was the center of the world may have been the reason for this.

That mistake probably stemmed from the fact that their country's economy and armed forces were No. 1 in the world. But I also think it had to do with their language--English.

English is studied and spoken all over the world. It's no surprise that the reality of their linguistic "hegemony" made Americans believe the world revolved around them.

Globalization is making English an even greater requirement, and Japanese primary school pupils are now being "sucked" into this "vortex."

Following the recent revision of the government's curriculum guidelines, all public schools will begin teaching English to fifth and sixth graders in April 2011.

But an advisory panel to the Cabinet on "education rebuilding" recently pointed out that children ought to start learning languages at a younger age, and recommended that English be compulsory from the third grade.

True, many Japanese struggle with English when they go overseas. China, South Korea and other Asian nations take English education very seriously, and if we fall behind, this could hurt our international economic competitiveness. I imagine these concerns were what led to the panel's recommendation.

I don't know individual panel members' English proficiency, but would it be idle speculation on my part to wonder if they themselves are sorry that they didn't start learning English sooner?

According to some language experts, people are kidding themselves if they think anyone will be able to speak English fluently by starting in the third grade.

Today, roughly 1.5 billion people around the world are said to speak English, and it is certainly my impression that English is the official language of the world.

Still, I understand that public opinion is split on whether to allot precious class hours to teaching English, or rather concentrate more on Japanese language education.

I just hope this issue will not end up as a case of "running after two hares and catching neither."

--The Asahi Shimbun, May 30 (IHT/Asahi: May 31,2008)