View Single Post
(#1 (permalink))
Old
princessmarisa's Avatar
princessmarisa (Offline)
JF Old Timer
 
Posts: 233
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Leeds, UK
Why do so many non-Japanese speakers think they can get a coveted job in Japan? - 12-31-2010, 02:07 PM

This may come off as a tad passive aggressive, but it is more a genuine desire to understand others.

I see so many threads of people who genuinely think they have a chance of being anything but an ALT/similar without being fluent in Japanese, or having any experience of working and living in Japanese society and how it works.

I think shooting people like this down and asking them to reassess is a dash of much needed tough love, but hey maybe I am just jaded or something?

I don't hear people say this about other countries, even though in many other places, especially across Europe being fluent in English would perhaps be enough, provided you were the top of your game in that field already.

Yet there seems to be this idea, that with sheer will and determination alone, one can fill in a form, pack up their bags and within a couple of years be a really successful manga/anime/videogame artist, living in Japan making lots of money and having the time of their life. Or otherwise just somehow "live" there and "get a good job".

How do people with this dream think it will work, or is it that the learning Japanese to a native level will only take you a couple of years due to your burning passion for the bigger picture?

Or is it that they think they are so talented in their chosen path that it is enough for every single other person in the industry to overlook all the problems caused by not being fluent in Japanese language and work practises?
Most with these ideas seem to be students or otherwise at the start of their true working life, so I don't see how they can be such amazing established artists that they no longer need the other things?

As someone who has struggled on with Japanese for a couple of years and still sounds like a primary school child at best, and a grammer-nightmare at worst, I don't see how the required level of fluency can be possible for anyone without non stop study and immersion in the language, even then I am not convinced.

With all that time spent studying the language, when will you study your art and do all the other steps to have a successful career in any field?


Help me to understand your dreams JF!


Fighting ignorance and slaying a few narutards whilst I am at it.
Reply With Quote