My Struggles with English | Motohiro Tsuchiya, Vice-President / Professor, Graduate School of Media and Governance
2024.04.30
The other day, while on a plane, a flight attendant approached me. "I'm a graduate," she said. This was the second time I've been approached like this. While it's a pleasant experience, I honestly get flustered. This is exactly the kind of situation that makes me nervous, which is why I never fly without an eye mask and a face mask—to avoid being caught off guard with a blank, sleepy expression.
When we had a chance to chat during a less busy moment, she told me that she had initially worked at a financial institution but then changed careers to become a flight attendant. She laughed and said, "But I can't really speak much English." In fact, the same is true for me.
Although I am in charge of the university's international collaborations, I had never been abroad until I was a university student. As a university student, I could barely hold a conversation in English. Despite this, because I studied international politics, I was overestimated as someone who must be proficient in English and ended up in charge of international collaborations.
President Kohei Itoh has been familiar with English since he was a child and is the real deal, having spent a total of five years in the United States for his master's and doctoral degrees. I often find myself standing next to the President, listening to conversations between him and presidents of overseas universities, and I'm always impressed by how he can keep the conversation going so effortlessly. To make small talk, you need to be able to express everyday details and current news in English. There's a world of difference between being able to speak about your own specialized research in English and being able to make small talk. In fact, for academics, the latter is often more difficult.
During my Ph.D. program, I gave my first research presentation in English at an international conference. I managed to get through it because I had a Canadian friend record the script I was to read onto a cassette tape, and I listened to it on my Walkman on the plane until I had it almost memorized. However, I couldn't understand the Q&A session very well. I had no choice but to answer haltingly, breaking out in a cold sweat.
After that, I began working as a researcher at the Research Centers and Institutes of my previous university, and there were British and American researchers sitting near me. I tried to speak with them in English as much as possible and went on overseas business trips with the British researcher, and I gradually became able to make small talk in English. I was very glad they were there. That said, it's more accurate to say that they were used to Japanese people's English and were good at understanding me, as they had lived in Japan for a long time and both had Japanese wives.
After that, I lived in the United States for a total of three years, one year at a time on three separate occasions, but since I was just a visiting researcher at universities and research institutions and wasn't forced to use English in classes, there wasn't much compulsion. Nevertheless, I made friends in the US with whom I communicated regularly, and from around 2009, as my research topic began to be of some interest overseas, I started using English quite frequently.
However, in my current position, I often interact with foreigners speaking Japanese, and I've had many experiences where, as a native Japanese speaker, I can fill in the gaps and generally understand what they are trying to say. I suppose that native English speakers probably listen to my English in the same way.
The problem is when neither I nor the other person is a native speaker. When we converse while being considerate of each other, it can actually be quite enjoyable. However, there are times when I can't understand someone who speaks English with a strong accent and an attitude of "You understand what I'm saying, right?" It's very difficult when the other person holds a key position at a foreign university. It's acceptable to ask them to repeat themselves once, but I feel hesitant to do so multiple times.
While I'm always busy with my duties and worrying about such things, when I read the fifth chapter of "Fukuō Muchūden" written by Hiroshi Aramata, it says that Yukichi Fukuzawa's English was a broken English mixed with Japanese, a so-called "gutsy English." Of course, it goes without saying that it was a great achievement just to be able to speak English, even if it was broken, in that era, but it made me feel a little more at ease. It seems that even Yukichi Fukuzawa would forgive my level of English.
Be that as it may, the writing style of "Fukuō Muchūden" is quite different from "Muchūden—Fukuō Yowa," which was serialized in Hayakawa Shobo's "Mystery Magazine." I had read the serialized version, but the book version, which has been substantially revised and expanded, is also interesting. For those who haven't seen it yet, please start with the video of the publication commemorative lecture . While you're at it, I also recommend the dialogue between Professor Shinichi Kitaoka and President Itoh, "Yukichi Fukuzawa no Susume."