to start at the beginning …

 

One of the most memorable moments for me, and I felt one of the most successful in regard to all of the class was when Mayumi taught us to count. Mayumi provided phonetic English translations for the numbers 1 to 10, which she communicated to us through actions and recited in a sing-song voice . While much of our time initially was (again) spent in individual and choral repetition, we were able to memorize the numbers more easily and more quickly as we could now attach visual images to them. Research has shown that humans have astounding memory capacity for visual (but not auditory) memories (see Cohen, M et al:2009), a discovery that is at the heart of some of the most popular and effective memory enhancement tools (see Buzan:2003, Trudeau:1997).

 

However as David, one of my fellow students pointed out, what was a highly successful and enjoyable learning experience for us would not be that easily transferable as a teaching method. The success of this method rests on two key elements, that:

 

• All the students in the class have a fluency in one shared language, and
• The teacher also has a degree of fluency in this language.

 

Such a situation is unlikely to exist in a British ESOL classroom where the class is usually  comprised of a group of learners who speak a wide variety of languages yet none in common.  Conversely for a teacher who is monolingual (as I am, although now I speak a little Japanese), in an EFL class where the students usually share a common language, the teacher would not be fluent in it.

 

Comparing Japanese and New Zealand English

 

As discussed above Mayumi taught us Japanese through function rather than grammar, and as a learner I quickly focused on listening and speaking rather than reading and writing. This meant that I became very mindful of the ways in which words and phrases sounded and felt similar or different to my native tongue (New Zealand English).

 

Listening

 

The way I heard the words was pleasant and the sound of them seemed familiar. This was partly because the ongoing assimilation of East Asian words and phrases into Kiwi[1] had provided me with some prior exposure to the sound of Japanese (e.g. I was familiar with one of the first words we learnt ‘konichi-wa). However my pleasure came as much from the rhythm of the language as from any recognition of the sounds provided.

 

I have since discovered that Japanese is an Austronesian language which explains why the rhythm, pace and intonation of Japanese was very familiar to me as a Pakeha[2] New Zealander.

 

“The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of SouthEast Asia and the Pacific… It is on par with Bantu, Indo-European, Afro-Asiatic and Uralic as one of the best-established ancient language families” (Wikipedia)

 

Not only has my Kiwi dialect been formed over more than a century alongside the Maori language, I have grown up surrounded by Maori words, words that incorporate sounds (e.g kaukapakapa, turangawaewae, whangaparoa) akin to Japanese.  One of the most notable similarities is in the vowel sounds. The five long Japanese vowel sounds are the same as those of Māori.

 

Speaking

 

I found the pronunciation of Japanese relatively easy.  Fortunately for me the way Japanese sounds are formed has similarities with both Kiwi and Maori. As a New Zealand linguist has noted “the New Zealand accent is quite understated. It does not employ the shaping of the mouth in quite such a defined way as others do. We tend to speak without shaping the mouth as much. We tend to mumble more, be a little lazy.” (Crean: 2008). This is similar to Japanese speech, in which lip and jaw movement is often minimized and ‘tentativeness is preferred to assertiveness, hesitancy to momentum’ (Thompson: 2000:297). 

 

The Japanese acceptance and use of silences and pauses when speaking is paralleled in Maori (and increasingly Pakeha) oratory[3] and while for some English speakers the pronunciation of the Japanese ‘r’ causes some difficulty, it came easy to me as it is similar to Maori, involving the rolling (or tapping) of the tongue behind the teeth.

 

Furthermore the prosody of most of the words and phrases seemed similar to that which I was used to, particularly the pitch. I seemed to very quickly be able to mimic the teacher’s pitch and felt at ease with the related communicative implications (e.g. asking a question, greeting, showing interest, etc). The frequent use of particles at the end of Japanese sentences (e.g. ka, wa) is paralleled in Maori, and has been adopted into Kiwi in the oft-parodied ‘eh’.

 

The many differences between Japanese and New Zealand English[4], particularly in aspects of writing and grammar, are too numerous to discuss here. Perhaps the most significant differences pertaining to spoken Japanese, only hinted at by Mayumi, is the system of honorifics within Japanese called keigo[5]. This ‘respect language’ is extensive and has no parallel within Kiwi. In Japanese, for example there are more than five different words for the English word “I”, which are used depending on the context.

 

to continue …

 

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[1] Increasingly New Zealand English is referred to as ‘Kiwi’, This term has been adopted here. For more information on the characteristics of Kiwi see Crean, M, 2008.

[2] Pakeha is an ethnic identity referring to New Zealanders of non-Maori descent who adopt and display shared cultural, linguistic and social characteristics.

[3] For more information on aspects of Maori and Pakeha oratory see Stubbes, M and Holmes, J (2000)

 

[4] A good discussion of the differences in grammar, vocabulary, style and orthography between Japanese and English is provided by Thompson, I (2001) in ‘Japanese Speakers’

[5] Keigo falls into three broad categories: respectful language, polite language and humble language. Keigo means that different words and expressions will be used when talking to an unknown person or a superior, as opposed to when talking to a child, family member or a close friend.

Tags: tesol

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