Why do you have to study English?
- You may wonder why you must study English at school, especially at this school of technology. At some universities, for instance, students do not have to study English at all if they do not want to.
- I think this may be a good idea if the students are quite sure that they have mastered English. Honestly speaking, I do hope the day will come when college teachers do not have to teach English at all.
- In other words, students should master English as well as Japanese before entering universities. There are no university teachers who teach you how to write basic Kanji characters, are there?
- Therefore before wondering why we must study English, please reflect upon yourself honestly: are you quite sure you have mastered the basic level of English? Are you quite sure you can make yourself understood in such simple English as we learn at a junior high school?
- I confess my answer was "No" when I entered university. The reason may be that what I learned at high school was not necessary for our daily use of English. I learned there not how to write a simple letter in English but how to pass the entrance examination, just "memorizing" many difficult and unnecessary phrases.
- So let's watch the reality and think about how to improve our English ability. Before that, however, we should admit the very fact that we feel happy when we succeed in communicating with foreigners.
- In my view, another basic problem lies in the fact that most Japanese students do not realize how important it is to use English as a means to communicate with foreigners. For example, if you think you are a citizen of Japan, you must learn Japanese at school, don't you? Without the knowledge of Japanese, we could not live as a responsible citizen in this society, nor could we express our ideas to make ourselves understood.
- Just so, the knowledge of English is essential if you wish to live as a responsible citizen in the world. This is the fact we could not deny. When we talk with an Italian or a Danish, we need not learn their language; we can use English, because they use English.
- In recent years electronic computers have become increasingly important and they are now widely used for communication. This is another important fact that we should pay attention. In short, we can communicate with people all over the world in a second with the help of e-mail on the Inter-Net.
- To sum up, I really hope that most of us will acquire the useful ability of English and make full use of this wonderful system of communication. For what? To make your life more enjoyable, to make a lot of friends all over the world.
