実践ビジネス英語 Friday, August 31
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Drawn to China (6)
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1[S]: Now, in our current vignette, Goto Yoko returns to the United States from China, and tells some of the H&B staff about the wonderful experiences she has had in that country. Now, when did you first know that you wanted to live and work in Japan, Heather?
2[H]: In high school, actually. That was when I first started studying Japanese. I was lucky enough to go to a school that offered an unusually wide variety of foreign languages including things like Arabic, Chinese and Latin.
In fact, it was Latin that I initially wanted to study. It was my mother who got me involved in Japanese. I was in high school during the mid to late 1980s. And Japan seemed to be in the news almost constantly in those days. So my mother thought if Heather can speak and read Japanese, she will have a very valuable skill, she will have all sorts of fascinating opportunities.
However, I had utterly no interest in Japanese at the time. So we ended up making a deal that I would study Japanese for one year. If I absolutely hated it, I could give it up and do something else, but I had to stick it out for a year.
3[S]: I see. So I assume that you didn't hate it after all.
4[H]: On the contrary, I was almost immediately hooked. I think it was because we started by learning hiragana. I was fascinated by how completely different it was from English alphabet. And this made me want to learn more and more about the language and the culture that had developed such a different system. That was 27 years ago and I have been studying Japanese ever since.
So my conscious desire to go to Japan began in high school, but my mother actually began laying the groundwork for me to live overseas even earlier. I had a very diverse, global collection of childhood storybooks. One was the tale of a mysterious young woman who came to live with an elderly couple and wove beautiful fabric for them to sell. The only condition was they couldn't look at her while she was weaving.
5[S]: And would you definitely recommend living overseas to other people?
6[H]: I think living overseas is one of the most variable things anyone can ever do in their life. If I had my way, everyone would spend at least a year studying or working in a foreign country. It's a cliche but it's true. It broadens our horizons beyond anything we could have imagined.
We learn there are vastly different ways of looking at the world in daily life. We encounter all sorts of new alternatives and inspiration. And at the same time, I think we gain a deeper appreciation of the good things in our own cultures. There is so much we take for granted when it's always been part of our lives. But living in another country can open our eyes to how lucky we've been in many respects.
7[S]: We often hear how fewer and fewer Japanese students are going to overseas universities these days.
8[H]: Yes, I've been very sad to hear that. One reason often given is that they are concerned it would harm their job prospects. But I read a Japanese newspaper article last year about how many companies actually want new graduates who studied abroad. They want to draw on the language abilities and international perspective those people acquired overseas to keep pace
with the globalization of business.
So according to the article, more and more companies are helping such students by conducting recruitment exams in summer and autumn or even year-round. Also some companies are allowing new employees to join them in the fall or any time in the year.
