1.

WHY JAPAN IS BEAUTIFUL

Weil, F. A. (2010, December 02). The surprising wealth and success of Japan. The Atlantic.
Retrieved April 20, 2018 from https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/12/the-
surprising-wealth-and-success-of-japan/67302/

ORIGINAL

The Japan of today is amazingly prosperous. The first thing you notice is that it is spic

and span clean: not a cigarette butt on a station platform; metro car floors you could eat off of;

all new autos including many Mercedes and BMWs; endless flows of prosperous Japanese

students and other tourists; ultra modern buildings everywhere; restaurants full of diners; Kobe

beef at $250 or more a pound. In back streets of Tokyo and Kyoto, there is not a sign of poverty,

dirt, or disease.

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Japan’s prosperity is evident in many different aspects: spotless streets and public

transportation; high-end cars and buildings; never-ending crowds of Japanese students and

tourists of other nationalities alike; eating places with high-quality food and countless customers;

and no indications of poverty or health hazards around their cities (Weil, 2010).

All this without prioritizing the learning of English. (TRANSITION TO WHY JAPAN ISNT

GOOD AT ENGLISH)
 2. WHY JAPANESE AREN’T GOOD IN ENGLISH
Tsuboya-Newell, I. (2017, October 29). Why do Japanese have trouble learning English? Japan
Times. Retrieved April 12, 2018 from
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2017/10/29/commentary/japan-commentary/japanese-
trouble-learning-english/#.Ws990YhubIU

ORIGINAL

Usually, the poor achievement is blamed on the way English is taught in schools. It is

said that there is too much classroom emphasis on grammar with very little time devoted to

actual conversational practice. The emphasis is mainly on the silent skills of reading and writing.

Listening is rather passive as opposed to being an active part of a conversation. The focus is on

accuracy and avoiding grammatical mistakes. Students spend a great deal of time copying out

what was written on the blackboard and memorizing it in preparation for tests. They often

describe English lessons as boring. The teachers themselves — most of whom were taught in the

same way as they now teach — do not have adequate enough English communication skills. In

fact, more than 70 percent of junior high school English teachers have a TOEIC score lower than

730.

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There is not even a need for all its inhabitants to learn English for a country to thrive. The

country of Japan has proven that. Japan is not an English-speaking country because only a small

number of Japanese citizens have access to that education. Tsuboya-Newell (2017) stated in his

article that the country’s poor proficiency in English is due to the fact that Japanese schools put
 too much priority in teaching English grammar through reading and writing rather than actually

practicing the language in a conversation. He added that their curriculum is more on memorizing

words for their exams which also makes the students find their English lessons lackluster. Even

the teachers themselves do not have ample knowledge in English, having been taught in the same

way as their students (Tsuboya-Newell, 2017).

3. VALUES, BELIEFS, IDENTITY WITHIN LANGUAGE

‘Our values, beliefs and identity' are embedded within language, UNESCO says on Mother
Language Day. UN News. (2018, February 21). Retrieved April 20, 2018 from
https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/02/1003191

ORIGINAL

“A language is far more than a means of communication; it is the very condition of our

humanity. Our values, our beliefs and our identity are embedded within it,” said Audrey

Azoulay, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO), on the occasion of International Mother Language Day.

“It is through language that we transmit our experiences, our traditions and our

knowledge. The diversity of languages reflects the incontestable wealth of our imaginations and

ways of life,” she added.

Audrey Azoulay, the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO), even said that a language is not just a medium for understanding one

another, but also the state of peoples’ humanity wherein their morals, views, and identities are

rooted (as cited in “Our values, beliefs and identity,” 2018). Azoulay also added that knowledge

and culture is conveyed through language and that its wide range of variety shows how precious

people’s beliefs and philosophies are.

4. ENGLISH PROFICIENCY IS KEY TO LANDING A JOB

Marcelo, P. (2010, February 21). English proficiency is key to landing a job. Planet Philippines.
Retrieved April 13, 2018 from http://planetphilippines.com/current-affairs/english-proficiency-
is-key-to-landing-a-job/

ORIGINAL

King says proficiency in English is a huge advantage for every job seeker, even those

who have no plans of working overseas. Foreign companies in the Business Process Outsourcing

(BPO) sector, he notes, locally administer their contracts in English. “A foreign company won’t

enter into a contract that’s not of their language.”

In response to IDP’s released test results, the government assures that it remains

committed to improving the quality of teachers in the Philippines, particularly in public schools.

Malacañang cites a number of ongoing projects to improve the English proficiency of teachers

and students in public schools, such as the “Project Turning Around,” “Every Child A Reader

Program,” and the National English Proficiency Program. Officials also said the government is

allotting P1.1 billion to train nearly 400,000 teachers in Math, Science and English skills.
 PARAPHRASED

The Philippines also prioritizes the learning of the English language because it is the

language that is more commonly used in various businesses. According to an article by Marcelo

(2010), Andrew King, country director of IDP Education Pty. Ltd. Philippines, said that being

fluent in English could work to the advantage of a person looking for a job especially for those

hoping to work abroad because foreign enterprises would not let someone work with them if

he/she does not speak a language that they understand.

The government even provides various programs for students and teachers in public

schools to help them become adept in English such as the Project Turning Around, Every Child

A Reader Program, and the National English Proficiency Program, along with budget of P1.1

billion to improve teachers’ teaching skills in the fields of Math, Science, and English (Marcelo,

2010). However, there is not that much effort for the subject of Filipino.

5. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FILIPINO AND TAGALOG

Filipino? Tagalog? Pilipino? What's the difference? (n.d.). Retrieved April 13, 2018 from
https://www.tagaloglang.com/filipino-tagalog-pilipino/

ORIGINAL

The aforementioned evolution of the Philippine national language is taught as part of the

school curriculum in the Philippines, such that when you ask a Filipino what the national

language of the country is, the response is “Filipino.”

Plus. Filipino is inclusive of the contributions of languages other than Tagalog. For instance, it is

quite all right to say diksyonaryo (from the Spanish diccionario) in Filipino, whereas a Tagalog

purist (or someone stuck in the “Pilipino” era) might insist on a native Tagalog word

like talahuluganan. It is also more politically correct to refer to Filipino, not Tagalog, as the

Philippine national language. For Filipinos from other parts of the country, Tagalog is not their

first language; they learn to speak Filipino because it is constitutionally the national language

and taught in schools.

PARAPHRASED

According to the article “Filipino? Tagalog? Pilipino? What’s the Difference” (n.d.), it is

sometimes confusing when asked what the national language of the Philippines is. Some would

say “Filipino” while some would say “Tagalog”. What is the difference between these two

terms? It is more accurate to say that Filipino is the Philippines’ national language because, aside

from Tagalog, it also consists of words influenced by languages of other nationalities such as

Spanish (“Filipino? Tagalog? Pilipino?”, n.d.). According to the same article, this is also because

Tagalog is not always the first language of Filipinos who come from different regions of the

country.
 6. WHY WE BETRAYED THE FILIPINO LANGUAGE

Contreras, A. (2014, June 17). Betraying the Filipino language. GMA News Online. Retrieved April
16, 2018 from http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/opinion/content/366049/betraying-the-
filipino-language/story/

ORIGINAL

One of the tragedies of a colonized society like ours is the absence of a solidly-founded

national narrative that permeates our lives. This is aggravated by a lingering fetish at everything

that is Western, leading one to prefer the language and lifestyle of the colonizers. Colonization is

indeed a process of identity displacement, since it has effectively rendered our former selves as

our new “other,” even as our colonial “other” becomes now part of our post-colonial selves. 

PARAPHRASED

In this context, English is no longer seen as the language of the colonial “other.” In fact,

to many, it is speaking Filipino that is now the unfamiliar “other.”

Contreras (2014) stated in his article that colonized societies like that of the Philippines

are always attracted to all things that come from the western part of the map which make people

show favor to the cultures of the colonizers. Colonization, as Contreras also mentioned, changes

the identities of those affected and makes them adapt to the colonizers’ cultures which is evident

in how speaking English has now become more typical than speaking Filipino.