By
Dr.Foo
Tue Jul 29, 2003 6:44 pm
most people in japan can speak some english. anyone who went to grade school in the 80's is usually fluent in english. (basically in japan, from Jr. high up, its MAD Competetive. Here just college is really comeptetive, but there to get a chance to compete for a good college, you have to coome from a good Jr. High and high school and so on down the line) In fact, one of the main ways they sort students for high school is how well they speak english. Those with good english skills are given prefernce for Jr. High and High school which = good college. those who dont speak english well have a hard time getting into good schools there. THis is why they have those "teach english in japan" things you see advertised to US college students.
Why pay these college kids so much to teach w/o having to speak Japanese? School there is 6 days a week, and most parents send their kids to tutors after school, so the school day is from 8-7Pm for most kids there.
With so many people willing to pay big $$$ to ensure that their kid can speak fluent english (to ensure a good high school and a good college and then a good job) they can afford to hire college grads to come over and just talk at the kids (thats all they really do), in the hopes that it will improve their english enough to make them stand out.
so, anyone using an mpc can probably understand how it works just fine.