English Influence in Japan - Do Japanese Speak English?

The English Language is the universal language, even thousands of Japanese speak English, and there are Japanese words derived from that language. But there are many questions. How is Japanese English? Can I visit Japan knowing only English? What is the influence of English in Japan? We will see these and other subjects in this article.

English is not a priority in Japan, it is the fourth most spoken language in Japan, behind Chinese and Korean. Yes, you will find signs, pamphlets and directions in English all over the country. In addition to all the help and support from translators, since a large part of the population uses English. Ah, the problem begins.

Japan is the 14th country in English language proficiency, a significant position, but it is common to hear that Japanese people's English is difficult to understand.

the japanese speak Engrish(Slang used to define Bad English.)I was even chatting with a Japanese girl on Facebook, and I sent it to her who knew little Japanese, so she started sending me messages in English, then I didn't understand anything anymore. Yes you can find many people who know English in Japan, the problem is that neither they nor you will understand what they are saying.

For us Brazilians, it is easier to learn English because we also have many words derived from English, such as hot dog Japanese has many more English-derived words than Portuguese, but it has some phonetic differences compared to English.

The Japanese language is formed by syllables, making it difficult to pronounce the usual pronunciation of most words in other languages, so when you come across a Japanese speaking English, you will not understand, due to the accent and pronunciation of certain words. And as much as the Japanese are quick to hear and speak Japanese. They will have a hard time understanding Fluent English like we do.

Returning to the pronunciation of the English of the Japanese, See some examples of words that you will not be able to understand because of their custom and language. Even some of the words below exist in the Japanese language written in the Katakana alphabet.

  • Milk - Miruku
  • Ball - Booru
  • cheese-chiizu
  • Box - Bokuzu
  • Cool - Kooru
  • Sorry - Sorry
  • Bus - bus
  • Taxi - takushi
  • Hotel - Hotel

Well, simply writing is not enough to explain, just watch the Video below and understand the seriousness of the problem.

If we Brazilians have difficulty learning the pronunciation of English, imagine they don't have the thousands of phonemes that we use. But that's no excuse to learn English. But it is a fact that Japanese people have great difficulty in speaking English especially when pronouncing L and V or ending words with consonants.

Despite all the difficulties, English Influences the entire country. We can see that in Japanese songs, almost every song has to have an English phrase. Or also in the fact that most of the words are derived from English. Anyway, think hard about speaking English with Japanese people. Despite its great influence, it is not easy to survive without speaking Japanese.

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