Ringing in 2014, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has a dream: One nation that will actively re-engage with the global marketplace.
To realize this dream by 2020, it¡¯s commonly accepted that the Japanese need to improve their English. So, what¡¯s the problem? Unfortunately there are a few.
Though English has been a part of the official national syllabus since 1947 and many subsequent education policies have addressed curriculum reform ¡ª most recently the 2008 ¡°Revisions of the Courses of Study for the Elementary and Secondary Schools¡± ¡ª there is widespread concern that few Japanese can actually speak fluent English.
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