<div dir="ltr"><h1>Policy at odds with its purpose</h1>
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<p>Chris Clancy’s Aug. 1 letter, “<a title="Language policy hurts children" href="http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2013/07/31/reader-mail/language-policy-hurts-children/">Language policy hurts children,</a>”
makes for an interesting debate as a followup to the July 14 editorial
“More people studying Japanese.” I can understand that children must be
the ones who are affected the most.</p>
<p>When you think of the sheer numbers of people studying Japanese, it
seems like a big increase. But is not a lot of the interest in manga,
animation and the like?</p>
<p>That is what’s being promoted overseas by several education agencies
as well. That’s a good thing, but I wonder how many Japanese companies
would be interested in hiring people who are largely influenced by anime
culture and that kind of Japanese.</p>
<p>There seems to be a dissonance between purpose and policy. Many
foreigners have to be taught Japanese manners, a polite way of speaking
and so forth once they join a company — even after they’ve studied at
Japanese universities. They should be taught these things at university
rather than in the workplace.</p>
<p>Also, one must note that most Japanese learners tend to be from
particular countries. More could be done to increase the number of
students from other countries.</p>
<p>As I was reading this news, I found out that my Japanese friend, who
works as a Japanese-language teacher, is being moved within the company
from teaching Japanese to working as a tourist adviser from next year —
this after having left a job and studying for years to become a teacher.
How ironic.</p><p><a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2013/08/10/reader-mail/policy-at-odds-with-its-purpose/#.UggtLKxhuSo">http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2013/08/10/reader-mail/policy-at-odds-with-its-purpose/#.UggtLKxhuSo</a><br>
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