Hell, it's not even the majority of california... :/
But you said "California"
Just California.
That could go as it as a whole. :/

Never said I was mad. :]
:/ Is also my :?

...Well, to be honest, not saying you're that kind of person, but a lot of people who seem to say so are americans, and may think english should be the only language too in the world in general.

I think Japan should be left alone- they already have a lot of things done to help learn english, but it's no use if they want to stay the way they are- monolingual.

Has anyone heard of Esperanto, btw?

Uhmm, this is all a little insulting... Not to mention embarrassing, because the OP is clearly ignorant to the subject.

Sure, a lot of people speak some English but I find it more like a novelty rather than fluency.


Does America even have an "official" second language? If we aren't willing to adopt Spanish, why the hell would the Japanese (or anyone) consider this a possibility?

Shouldn't there only be one "official" language?

Branding English a secondary language is a little eccentric, and unrealistic.

We don't even have an "official" first language.

I agree with you. Asking to all the scientists of a country to explain themselves in English is purely arrogant, especially when it is asked by a native English speaker.

i would be happy...i would actually get to learn it ^^

While I agree that it is unfortunate when it comes to scientific presentations, etc... That is no reason for it to be made a second language of Japan. Clearly, other countries out there are pulling it off without making English a second language.

I really see no justification other than simple selfishness.

I also don`t think that it would even be feasible if for some reason it did happen. I highly doubt that anyone in Japan is just going to switch over to speaking English simply because it has been designated as an "official" language. The world does not work quite like that...
If there were a significant subset of the Japanese population that spoke English as a first language, things would be different. But there is no such group. Most English speakers in Japan are transient - not even truly living in the country, let alone citizens.

No way. Why should they change? So people learing Japanese can have an easier time? I'm learning Japanese and you don't hear me complaining; it's hard, yes but fun. There's no reason they should change so people understand them better. We're the ones who should change, to learn their langauge. In all other countries except the US by the time kids are in grade school they know like five langauages. And I agree with Nyororin, it would be selfish for someone to ask Japan to make English a second langauge.

Is there even such thing as an "official" second language in most countries?

There are lots of countries who have two official languages, some even have three.

Why do they have more than one official language? That's because there is more than one culture. Japan has a single culture (and don't even think about immigrants 'cux they don't represent the culture of the country) so why should they have two official languages?

French scientists are even worse in English than Japanese. Is it a good excuse to make English as the second language of France? I can't see any link between the French and English cultures, I don't know why they should make English as the second official language of France.

Exactly...

I think people are worried that If Japanese peole can speak English, they will lose their Japanese which is simply ridiculous..

That tends to be the opinion from non Japanese.

Most Japanese I knew and know would love to be fluent in English, even if it was just for international vacations:vsign:

In Montreal, some native French speakers are unable to speak fluent French because English became too much important in every day life.

That's funny because sometimes in Syndye if you catch a taxi cab, the driver will ask if you have an Indian dictionary!

Well, that's probably because of the immigration! :D

Culturally it makes as much sense to make Spanish or French to be Japan's second "official language". Everyone in Japan speaks Japanese. Some speak another language. The majority of foreigners in Japan are Korean or Chinese, so it would make much more sense for Chinese or Korean to be Japan's "second language" over English. And that would make no sense at all.

Are you saying that English is not important in Spain and France?

I think the English thing in Japan is more of an international thing for travelling and business.

I used to teach mainly small childen in my later years in Japan and it was a huge want for JP Mum's.. Not sure why but I guess they thought international was Japan's future..

I also had a senior student who was in charge of the JR Railway concrete in the Kansai region and we spent many a lesson preparing his English speech for an International audience..

I think that's where the English comes in..

Japanese spent six years during my time learning to read and write, so why not speak.. They couldn't seem to understand and would often complain..

One thing for sure, I wish I could speak Japanese because what I knew, has slowly gone:rolleyes:

:confused: Some people actually think it SHOULD be an official language? I don't even think English deserves to be a recognised language of Japan...

If the average Japanese persons' level of English is the issue here, I think the Japanese Government should invest in better methods of teaching English rather than this official language malarkey.

I think it would need to be termed "official" for people to actually have the chance to learn how to speak.

What I have heard from japanese people over six years is complaining learning for six years but not being able to speak it.

It seems people want it but it won't happenn until the criteria to be a Japanese politician is dropped to over 30, instead of 60:eek:

That doesn't make any sense... In Algeria, French isn't even a recognised language, but the majority of people that are educated have an excellent level of French by the time they finish High School (age 18). Whereas Thamazight is a recognised language, but only Amazigh people speak it. Similar situation in Spain with Spanish and Catalan and many many other places/countries in the world.
It all comes down to the way the language is taught and how available it is (i.e. are there any programmes on tv that use English, is English music advertised a lot etc etc).

Not being able to speak a language after 6 years has nothing to do with a languages' status to a country. I put that down to people expecting something without putting in anything. You can't expect to learn a language in 6 years if you only ever study it for 2 hours a week during school terms.

Hi I'm new here. just wanted my opinion heard aswell.

I don't understand why some of you seem negative to the idea. I'm from Norway and over here we start learning english as soon as we start school (well almost). Is there really any downsides to this? I'm almost as fluent in english as I am in my native language. This removes language barriers and make us able to communicate with big parts of the world. Cannot see why some people wouldn't want this!

Now I didn't answer the poll because of the way it was formulated, it's not up to me; but i dont see why they wouldn't want to learn a language spoken by so many nations. Perhaps i feel this way because of my ignorance. but I'm not forcing anyone, so please dont slaughter me because of my opinions :rolleyes:

noneedforname, as you obviously know, English isn't an official language of Norway. You yourself prove that all that is needed is a good educational system for a language to be taught properly! So, really, where is the need to make English an official language?!

Looks like i kinda misinterpreted this entire thread. :o
I was not promoting english as an official language. I thought we were discussing if english should be mandatory in Japanese schools. My bad! You are correct sir.

EDIT: I'll read the thread more carefully next time.

It's not ridiculous, it's quite serious, and I have history to back me up. If English was made a second official language, it be more commonly used by the young generation in their groups and with each generation the Japanese language would pushed aside due to the fact that English is easier and faster to learn than Japanese. The same thing right now is happening with Japanese culture the teenagers rather spend their time on Visual Kei and cosplaying, rather than tea ceremony and flower arranging. People prefer western influenced fashion and style over country's tradition, and because English is more beneficial in terms of worldwide communication, people will choose it then Japanese which is only used in Japan.

Of course. The French president doesn't even speak English.

French forever :p

Easier and faster to learn for who? How could you say English would be easier for young Japanese to learn than Japanese would be? What history do you have to back it up? I have never heard a Japanese person say "English is so easy to learn". It requires a completely different way of thinking than Japanese, which is why Japanese is hard for English speakers to learn. It goes both ways.

I guarantee you a lot more of Japanese young people participate in tea ceremony and flower arranging clubs than dress up in cosplay.

Go to any summer festival and tell me people prefer western style over traditional styles. Of day to day this is true, but kimonos are brutally expensive and not very convenient.

The stereotypical Frenchman's attitude...

MMM, I'm not the one who should be reminding you that Japanese requires to learn 1,900 kanji + hiragana and katakana, while the English alphabet only 26 letters and that's just the writing system. You still think that to the Japanese people Japanese language would be easier to learn then English?
And just because you haven't heard a Japanese person say that "English is so easy to learn", it doesn't tell anything. Japanese is almost hard for every Westerner (only Finnish would find Japanese easy because both languages have similar sentence structure), but it depends on persons will and effort. For one person Japanese might be hard to learn, for another it might be easy. Same goes for any language, no matter who's learning it and the way of thinking doesn't play a huge part in it.

I’ll give you the short story. After the establishing of the USSR Russian language became an “official” language in all of the Soviet Union and was thought in schools, used in media, etc. And while it was an official language of the Soviet Union in all but formal name, all national languages were proclaimed equal.
In that period a lot of Russian loan words were acquired by other languages because of every day use, causing harm to them and after the fall of USSR when all countries got their independence the whole damage became seen. Some countries are still having problems with eliminating the damage, and the problems mostly consists in people who got used to it in time, and don’t understand what’s the problem with using Russian words with their native language.
Now, I'm NOT saying that the same thing is going to happen with Japan if English is going to be made and official language. I'm only trying to prove that if a foreign language "officially" steps into a country, in time, it will cause a lot damage to the native language.

True, I'm not going to argue with that. Maybe I was overreacting about this, but I didn't make my assumptions from out of nowhere. Recently there was a show about the Japanese who are living here and they told that with each generation of Japanese young people show less interest to traditions and that is slowly becoming a problem in Japan. I've also read somewhere about it on the net.

Why? Why should it?
English has zero relevance to japanese. The amount of english speakers in is so small, that it would be like introducing arabic as the second official language in the US.

The only reason i can see for them to do it, is to give lazy bums a free ride in to japan

There's already things for them to get there. Like the schools where you only
need to speak English to teach at and live there.

But I agree, Japan adopting English makes no sense...

これ、逆鱗に触れたよ・・・

Saying that English is easier to learn is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. It`s both an insult to Japanese and English. I think you do not realize the direct implications of what you are saying. Languages that are "easier" have to fall at a lower level of complexity than those that are "harder".

Are you going to tell me that English is less expressive and less able to convey ideas and concepts than Japanese? That is what considering it "easier" would be.

It is pure and total arrogance to toss up some trait of a language you do know as a reason it is "easier". But if you want to play on that sort of field - Japanese children are generally able to learn to read at a very early age. Why? Because hiragana/katakana are ALWAYS pronounced in the same way. There is no need for worries about "spelling", silent letters, dropped consonants, blended sounds, etc etc etc that are oh so very common in English. If I follow your logic, that would make Japanese much easier to learn.

Showing less interest in traditional ceremonies does not equate to showing more interest in Western culture. I think you will find Japan is doing what it has always done for the past 2000 years, taking bits and pieces of culture from the current super power and integrated in a way that makes sense to the Japanese. I'm talking about China in the past and the US in the present.

As for the future, well Korea is having a small movement to bring back Chinese characters into its writing system so....

Also Aniki, just how much Japanese do you speak, I have a feeling you are not up to a stage when you realise just how differently you have to think just to speak Japanese.

Nyoronin and MMM, thank you for explaining that English isn't an "easier" language. I thought I would do it, but I felt that it would be better if it was explained by someone who actually speaks both languages.

I think the biggest problem is that westerners can't get around the idea of the number of Kanji you have to learn and the ever so famous "you should studying Japanese seriously for about 4 years to be able to read a newspaper". This sentence is ever so annoying because I never see a 9 year old native English speaker (who has been studying english for 4 years or more) read The Times for example, or any serious newspaper for that matter.

Obviously speaking to you would be the same as talking to a wall, since you have NO idea what it means to have a second official language in a monocultural country. So I'll try to explain it you. I don't know how OP understands the whole "official second language" idea, because there are various situations where a country has two official languages but only one is the dominating while the second one is only used in some parts of the country. There are various degrees how the second language operates.

This is how I see the presence of English as the second official language in Japan. English will lose the status of a 'chosen' second language and starting from elementary school everyone will be taught no matter they want it or not. And being an "official" language in going to be used in courts, government meetings, food products, documents (of any kind) and other merchandise will be printed in both languages, all street signs, advertisement sign boards will have both languages in them, same goes for the media foreign movies will dubbed in Japanese with English subs and otherwise.
Now imagine a kid being born 10 years after "in such Japan", and think how hard will English be for him to learn when it's so evident in everyday life?

Now, to answer your to post. You can save your breath by explaining me something what I already know, and I'm not going to argue about it. Yes! English is a pain the ass! (Was that what you wanted me to say? I'll gladly say it again any time you want)
What I was trying explain, was that Japanese person would find English easier to learn when it's a part the everyday environment in which he was born.

Um. She lives in Japan. So she understands more than you think.
She understands more of what would happen, I would fairly wager.
So you're more of the wall.