Why do you Study Second Language?

Why do you study English? This is an easy question for Japanese. If we can speak English, we could do business internationally. On the other hand, it is pretty hard for Americans to answer this question. "Why do you study a foreign language? " This is because if they want to do business internationally, everyone can use English wherever they go: South Africa, Singapore, India and so forth.

Although English is spoken all over the world and everyone can use English, I argue that learning foreign language is beneficial for us. There are two reasons for this: to communicate with people in the workplace and to make strong relationships with local people.

The first important reason is that we can communicate with people in workplace effectively if we learn foreign languages. To be sure, most people can speak English fluently, but on the other hand, this is true that there are many people who cannot speak English.

For example, in Japan, although studying English falls within the scope of compulsory education and if we work for leading company, we have to get high TOEIC score; however, most people cannot speak English fluently in business. This is because Japanese English education focuses on grammar and writing. That is why we can read English but not speak English very well. For these reasons, learning Japanese is extremely important for business person if they want to do business in Japan.

The second significant reason is that we can make strong relationships with local people effectively if you can speak Japanese. To communicate with people who are from other country in their language is the best way to have good impression.

For example, if we want to do business in Kyoto that is traditional city in Japan, we have to learn Japanese. Of course, people in Kyoto can speak English a little because of attracting tourists from all over the world; however, people who are originally from Kyoto do not want to speak English because they take pride in their culture and heritage. Therefore, communicating with local people in Japanese is an enormously essential point to make relationships with them.