Konbanwa nihongo speakers!
I've just finished lessons 6, 7, and 8 from both JapanesePod101.com's Survival Phrases and SurvivalPhrases.com Japanese. The main focus of my day's lessons were how to ask, "do you speak English?" and "how do you say this in English?" Respectively, these phrases are "Eigo o hanasemasuka?" and "Kore wa eigo de nanto iimasuka?"
A lot of the talk was about the Japanese people's ability to speak English, though they shy away from doing it. I, for one, did not realize just how much the Japanese are required to study English in school. I was shocked that most study English for at least six years.
In my teachings in the United States, I took at least six years of Spanish, or "supeingo", and really feel today like I have a fairly good grasp of the language. With this said, it seems to me that the Japanese people would have at least some understanding of English like my experience with Spanish.
I have found that there are two types of people here in Japan when it comes to speaking English. There are the Japanese who are excited to practice their skills in English and will often start a conversation in English with you out of their own will. The second type of person is the one we heard about in the podcasts; the ones that are shy and a bit too intimidated to try their hand at English with a native English speaker.
Let me tell you about my experiences with each…
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