Japanese students learn English … for quite long time from Junior-High school (recently some from elementary school). But still there are lots of people who have difficulties to communicate with English speaking people.

There are lots of reasons for this….. I cannot name them all, but one big thing is ‘Pronunciation’ …., and it is fatal.

When Pronunciation is improper, it is difficult to ‘Listen’ (to understand the words) and ‘Express’ (to convey the words clearly enough in order to be understood by listeners).

When working as a cabin attendant, I was asked for help by a Dutch colleague who was working in the other aisle. My colleague told me that she did not understand what the Japanese passenger wished to drink….. I imagined a complicated request (like a warm water for medicine or a specific brand of beer..…..etc.), so then I asked the passenger the question in Japanese. ….. and the replay was…..! ‘Coffee’.

What part of the word ‘coffee’ cannot be understood? How it can be difficult? But this reality happen. Even a simple word like ‘Coffee’ is not understood as ‘Coffee’. It is simply difficult for both, simple words and complicated words.

In business situations, when people do not understand what you are saying, they just pass over you unless you have important information for them (in which case people pay special attention to you and patiently listen. …..like the time when Japan used to be the No.1 Economy in the world). It seems that people find our poor pronunciation of English more difficult than we expect – “almost incomprehensible” –(so say my English speaking friends).

In other words, if one’s pronunciation is improved, I would say, communication skills in English will make tremendous progress. I would recommend the Japanese students who study English and want to improve their communication skills make efforts to brush up their pronunciation.