3 ms·

I think you're unfairly generalising. I certainly never expect fluent English from people who don't have English as their first language. I do expect that peopl

I think you're unfairly generalising. I certainly never expect fluent English from people who don't have English as their first language. I do expect that people who studied a language for years at school should remember some, particularly if those school days were less than a decade ago. This is orthongonal to my suspicion (which I cannot prove) that English education in Japanese schools may emphasise formal rigour over conversation practice. Now that I think about it, in the UK the comedy archetype of an idiot going abroad who expects everyone to speak English is well-known and a figure of fun. Which would suggest that people broadly don't expect everyone overseas to speak English. I would be curious to know how many people in US or UK consider themselves fluent in a foreign language for a class they took for a few years in middle/high school. I certainly remember enough of my schooldays French (last lesson would have been about 22 years ago) to ask simple questions, give directions, interact with shopkeepers, ask people how their day went, that sort of thing. I do not consider myself fluent. Of course, living and working in the UK, I do get opportunity to use it every so often, which helps a lot I expect.

Kurtz79 9y ago
"I think you're unfairly generalising. I certainly never expect fluent English from people who don't have English as their first language." That's definitely seems to be the attitude of the author, and that of many people I see posting here, or many people I see every day that do not even try learning some local word. I agree that I expressed my opinion like I was generalizing, not my intention. "I certainly remember enough of my schooldays French to ask simple questions, give directions, interact with shopkeepers, ask people how their day went, that sort of thing" As probably do most people learning English at school. It's clear that the author is not talking about this level of fluency.
- EliRivers 9y ago
  That's definitely seems to be the attitude of the author I interpret his words ("The level of English in Japan is shockingly low, despite everyone studying it for 6 years at school") not to mean that he expects fluency. It's clear that the author is not talking about this level of fluency. I disagree. I think the author simply says that the level of English is shockingly low. I don't think that we can infer from those words that he's expecting a high level of fluency.

Kurtz79 9y ago

"I think you're unfairly generalising. I certainly never expect fluent English from people who don't have English as their first language." That's definitely seems to be the attitude of the author, and that of many people I see posting here, or many people I see every day that do not even try learning some local word. I agree that I expressed my opinion like I was generalizing, not my intention. "I certainly remember enough of my schooldays French to ask simple questions, give directions, interact with shopkeepers, ask people how their day went, that sort of thing" As probably do most people learning English at school. It's clear that the author is not talking about this level of fluency.

EliRivers 9y ago
That's definitely seems to be the attitude of the author I interpret his words ("The level of English in Japan is shockingly low, despite everyone studying it for 6 years at school") not to mean that he expects fluency. It's clear that the author is not talking about this level of fluency. I disagree. I think the author simply says that the level of English is shockingly low. I don't think that we can infer from those words that he's expecting a high level of fluency.