For a year I taught English at the Miyakonojo Commerical High School, and Miyakonojo Agricultural High School, Miyakonojo, Miyazaki Ken, Kyushu, Japan, with the JET program. Kuyshu is the second largest and most southerly of Japan’s four main islands. Having a minor in East Asian Studies, China and Japan, it was an interesting time for me to learn first hand what I had read in university text books. Living in a foreign country for an extended period of time immerses you into the culture and gives you invaluable first hand experiences.

As a Chinese Canadian living in Japan the experience was jolting. Me teachers would introduce me as Chinese, but I would introduce myself as Canadian, and the kids would talk to me as a Canadian. I found it ironic that the kids would be able to see with their eyes.

My memories if Japan are largely pleasant ones. I remember vividly arriving in August to 34C heat and high humidity, and having almost no energy to move the whole day. Half way through the month they broke down and allowed me to use an electric fan! There is no air conditioning in the school. From 09:00 to 16:00 I just laid down on a bench and sweat. In August there were no kids in school and therefore no work. All the other teachers were at home, but I was employed by the school so had to attend work.

Miyakonojo Commercial and Agricultural High Schools, Miyazaki Ken, Kyushu, Japan

Miyakonojo was, by far, the smallest town I’ve ever lived. I believe there were about 200,000 people in the city. Most people in their 20s and 30s moved away from the city, leaving school aged kids, their parents and the elderly. It was a somewhat socially limiting place, but I still had a good time. I concentrated in learning Japanese, as well as knowledge gems such as “Don’t fly a kite during a hurricane”. As the typhoon swept into the city that day I decided it was time to watch more news!

I rode my scooter around the city and traveled to nearby towns, learning Japanese as I went. I once visited an onsen, to find the nice girl a the front desk was my student. She blushed and so did I. To the south of my apartment were rice paddies, which I explored. My Japanese map of the city had some traditional ruins marked on the map, but when I tried to find them the locals had little idea of what I was looking for. Even they did not know. I eventually found them.

Miyakonojo Commercial High School map, Miyazaki Ken, Japan

It is interesting to be able to use Google Maps to find Miyakonojo Commercial, but to not have any detailed satellite images. Maybe there are some restrictions in Japan about satellite images? I have labeled certain buildings in red, which you won’t get with Google Maps. My apartment one street east of the school, within 5 minutes walk. There were lots of kids around, so I was able to play with them on a daily basis. They would come over and I would give them peanuts and snacks, ride bikes and play tag.

My apartment was 2 story, each story was 7 tatami mats large. Other families that lived in similar apartments had 4-5 people living in the apartment, and I only had one. As well, in front of my apartment was a small garage, where I could park my scooter and bicycle. I was not allowed to ride my scooter to school, because of insurance purposes.

I probably won’t be going back, and I knew that when I left. Still my memories are pleasant and I often wished I would have better appreciated the time when I was there.

Dean, of Jiaozuo, China, has the ability to become a fluent English speaker. He can learn English like a sponge and will put any adult learner to shame.

Very often I am asked to help a Chinese person improve their English. They have the goal to talk just like a native English speaker. It is a noble goal but very difficult to attain. Even more frustrating is to be able to listen to a 4 year old who can yammer on in both English and Chinese in perfect fluency. The kid can’t even tie his shoes, but can speak much better than his supposedly much wiser and better educated parents. Here’s an excerpt of his blog:

It’s really frustrating when I find myself struggling to speak good English, especially when I think about this: I started to learn English as a junior high school student in 1990. It’s 19 years now! Anything can happen in 19 years! But today, I still stammer or talk in a confusing way and nobody can understand me when I speak to native speakers on the phone.

I’ve had enough of this!

I want to speak really good English, like a really good native speaker.

___Your goal to speak English as well as a native English speaker is a difficult one. My spouse is native Chinese, and I am native Canadian. Here in North America I have never met a Chinese person that spoke English as well as a native English speaker, unless they indeed were a native English speaker, born and/or raised in North America. While in China I’ve only met 2-3 people who’s spoken English was very close to a native English speaker, but grammar and vocabulary gave them away. I have a very good ear, and can usually tell not only that the speaker is from China, but from what area of China.

___Is speaking English like a native English speaker really so important? I say it is not.

___My wife, after 8 years of daily and constant language correction (and a source of great frustration), now speaks English extremely well. People are puzzled because they can hear that she is not a native English speaker, but cannot detect that she is from China or even Asia. I do not think she can improve her kouyu any further, even if she lives in Canada for another 10 years. I have known people who have lived here in Canada for over 30 years who have terrible kouyu. The length of time you live abroad is not an indicator of your English ability: There is little correlation.

___Many Chinese friends have asked me to help them. There are a couple of issues. Other native speakers will not usually tell you when you have spoken and made a mistake, because it is socially unacceptable to criticize the way someone else speaks. You will, initially lose face. A lot of face. Everyone learning a second language makes mistakes and loses face. You will need to find someone who will gladly correct your spoken English as well as your fangyan. You will need to do this for years. I recommend a qualified speech-language pathologist. I do know that actors regularly use them when, say, a Canadian actor wants to play the role of a person with a British accent.

___Your brain, mouth, tongue and ears need to be rewired for English. On the positive side, the number of phonemes in Mandarin exceeds English but by only a very few, so it is very possible for a Mandarin speaker to be a great English speaker, and vice versa. Spoken English, like spoken Chinese does not usually use a very wide vocabulary, but there are many subtle nuances you must master, and slang, common sayings, and humour are but a few of the stumbling blocks. You cannot learn these from a book, but only from life.

___Languages are difficult to learn and can take a lifetime to become somewhat proficient. Learning Chinese for me is, and remains, difficult, a constant battle for improvement. Study hard and do the best you can.

___The ideal environment would be to come to Canada, do not live in an area where there are other Chinese people, do not talk to Chinese people, do not surf the internet using Chinese, do not read Chinese books, do not shop at Chinese stores, and do everything in English. It’s called “going native”, and is quite difficult, but it works. IMHO. You may be miserable but your English will improve immensely. Is this the life you wish to lead?

___If you live in China, make friends with an English laowai not just for language exchange but for friendship. Spend time together and get to know one another. Your English will improve naturally and you’ll have more fun. You are looking for more than just language exchange.

I can input both English and Chinese (Mandarin, 简体字) on my computer. Mostly I type English, and every so often I do Chinese. Sometimes I like to torture myself by going to Mainland China and Singapore websites to read Chinese. It’s not often but a little searing pain between the ears helps you appreciate what you have. A reasonable memory for Chinese words. And English.

Today was not intended to be one of those painful days, and certainly I’ve not done anything painful previously while on Google.com. I logged in to my account, in English, as normal and went to update my personal information. After I clicked “Create a profile”, the whole screen went Chinese. It said if I needed help, click here (in Chinese). What I needed help on was how to get back to my native language. Back I went to the previous page, went to another Google link on my account, which was English. Nice. I input my country as Canada, and my language as English. Surely that would do it.

As I navigated through the labyrinth of Google screens, I felt something was chasing me. More Chinese screens were popping up. I’d backtrack and they’d disappear. Then my once previously English screens started turning Chinese. The more I tried to run, the more they appeared in front of me. If they were people, I’d be able to ask them, in fluent Mandarin, what the hell are you doing? Stand aside so the English screens can come through. This was not possible. I could only wonder in amazement how Google could so vividly come to life. Today, Google truly freaked me out.

I could not stand it any longer. I clicked my other tabs to other web sites and resumed my computing, all without issue, in English. After a couple more minutes, I thought that the Google Chinese people would have grown tired of “helping me”, become bored (Stooping down on their haunches. There’s nothing to see here. I’m a Chinese person speaking Chinese. If you want action go see that foreigner over there), and move on, but no, they were still present.

I switched to Google.ca. They must know that Canada is not China, that there are few Chinese people here. Chinese people only account for 4.3% of Canada’s population. I found this document with, you guessed it, Google.ca. Surely Google would go English on me from the soil of Canada. Alas, no. Once past the first couple of screens, the Chinese Google people kept after me, yearning and pleading to go to their side, to switch over. Let it be, dudes, we’re multilingual here in Canada, and it’s Ok

I’d had enough playing with Google Chinese people. I logged onto a nearby computer that seemingly was not haunted by Google Chinese people. Reassuringly, Google acted normally, as good friends always should.

Whatever new technology Google has in store for the future, I hope it does not include Google Chinese people chasing me through the Google labyrinth. Surreal, yes. Helpful, no. I am not a technology neophyte, but whatever Google has in store for us, this technology needs to have it’s bugs worked out. I’ll wait for version 2, and then not install it.