Quote:
Originally Posted by Tsuwabuki
You can be placed as a teacher with a WHV. The problem is that the WHV usually isn't long enough for an entire contract period. In addition, you will be interviewed by Boards of Education and/or the schools in question. Sometimes both. You can be nixed at that point. It may not be right, once it is determined you are not from an English speaking country and did not attend school in English, the BoEs or the schools might well refuse to give you the nod.
While your written English may not be a true indicator of your spoken English ability, it would certainly give me pause as a recruiter/private company HR manager when evaluating your fitness to serve even in the capacity as a conversational instructor or an assistant English teacher. The Japanese are, from my experience, very sensitive about proper pronunciation, and more often than not, are specifically interested in what I call broadcast voice, or Standard American Accent. What you would hear listening to Katie Couric or Dan Rather.
I consistently get complimented for how clear my English is- what most people don't realise is... I'm a Texan, who took journalism courses and studied diction. It isn't my natural voice (which Japanese people can't understand at all!). It's merely emulating the standards of the American media. I found other Americans from certain areas have a hard time being as clear as the Japanese would like them to be, and British/Australian/Kiwi/South African accents are considered less desirable (not that a Japanese person will tell you that to your face).
If French Canadians who work with me have a tough time, despite growing up in an English speaking country, and going to school partially in English, who are completely bilingual have a tough time convincing Japanese co-teachers they are competent in the language, I imagine a German would have a pretty hard time.
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You say the British accent is less desirable, but when I was in Japan I stayed with a guy (an American) who ran his own language school and he said the Japanese still hold a belief that "English English" is the correct way of pronunciation and so being from England works in your favour just as much as being from somewhere in America with a neutral American accent.