日本掀學英語高潮 職場人士重回課堂

It's eight in the morning in a Tokyo office building, and a dozen middle-aged Japanese businessmen sit inside small booths, sweating as they try to talk English to the instructors in front of them.

"I hope my wife will understand my hobby," one 40-something man says, opening his mouth widely around the English words.

He is one of legions of Japanese businessmen, or "salarymen," struggling with a language they thought they had left behind them in school as fears mount that the growing push by Japanese companies into overseas business will mean a dark future for them without usable English.

This is especially true these days, with the strong yen and a lagging domestic market prompting more firms to look overseas for business opportunities essential for their bottom lines.

"I had a business trip to Amsterdam last year and that really was tough. My boss spoke no English, and I had to speak English for the first time in 10 years," said Masahide Tachibana, a 39-year-old software developer.

Tachibana now gets up at 5:00 a.m. to take morning lessons at a central Tokyo branch of Gaba, an English language school.

"I've always wanted to brush up my English and that business trip ignited my aspirations," said Tachibana, as around him other businessmen and women pack up and hurry to work after their 45-minute, one-on-one lessons.

Japan, despite being the world's third-largest economy and a major export powerhouse, is known for its poor English-speaking ability even though six years of study are required in middle and high school.

The country's average score on the TOEFL iBT, a computer-based test of English as a foreign language, in 2010 ranked 27th among 30 Asian countries, below Mongolia and Turkmenistan.

Only 9 percent of 1,156 white-collar workers surveyed by Recruit Agent, a recruiting firm, claim to be able to communicate in English. Many respondents evaluated their speaking and listening aptitude as "Barely."

But things are starting to change, prompted by a growing sense of urgency about employment.

As a result, Japan's foreign language education market is growing, with learners more than willing to fork out plenty of money on lessons, DVDs or e-learning.早晨八點，東京的一座寫字樓裏，12名中年日本商人坐在小隔間裏，費力地嘗試與對面的老師用英語交談。

一位四十歲左右的男士張大嘴巴說着英語：“我希望妻子理解我的愛好。”

像他這樣的衆多職員，也稱爲“工薪族”早就把在校學習的英語課程遺忘了，所以正奮力重拾英語。因爲他們擔心，隨着日本公司開拓海外市場的步伐加快，如果不能熟練使用英語，職業前景會一片黯淡。

這就是日本當今的真實寫照。由於日元走勢強勁，同時日本國內市場疲軟，更多的公司轉向海外市場尋找機會，這對其贏利很關鍵。

39歲的軟件開發商立花正英說：“我去年去阿姆斯特丹出了趟差，感覺很困難。我的老闆不會說英語，我也有10年沒開口說過英文了。”

立花正英現在每天早晨5點起牀，去參加Gaba英語培訓學校東京中心分部的早間課程。

他說：“我一直想提高英語水平，那次出差激發了我的學習慾望。”在他周圍，很多其他的商業職員在上完45分鐘的一對一課程後，正收拾東西趕去上班。

日本雖然是全球第三大經濟體，也是主要的出口國，而且中學階段需要學習6年英語，但國民英語水平之差卻是盡人皆知。

日本2010年的新托福考試成績在30個亞洲國家中排名第27，還不及蒙古和土庫曼斯坦。新托福考試採用機考模式，是針對非英語國家的英語水平測試。

根據招聘公司“招聘中介”的調查，在1156名日本白領受訪者中，僅有9%自稱可以用英語交流。很多受訪者認爲自己的英文聽說能力“幾乎爲零”。

但由於職業需求的緊迫性，這一情況已開始有所改觀。

因此，日本的外語培訓市場逐漸興盛，學習者十分樂意掏腰包就讀英語學習課程，購買英語學習光碟，或付費參加網絡課堂。