Japanese Use Obama's Speeches To Learn English

TOKYO — Aspiring English speakers in Japan have made President Barack Obama's book of speeches and accompanying CD a national best-seller.

In Aichi, central Japan, a Buddhist monk has reportedly been playing the president's speeches during his temple service. And dozens of students in an English-language class in Tokyo have been memorizing his 2004 Democratic Convention speech to improve their understanding and pronunciation.

"Tonight is a particular honor for me because, let's face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely," the students at Kaplan Japan school recited together Friday.

"The Speeches of Barack Obama" has sold 420,000 copies since its release on Nov. 20 _ an "unprecedented huge hit" for an English-language text, according to publisher Asahi Press.

Any book that sells more than 100,000 copies in Japan, which has a population of 128 million, is considered a success, and foreign-language publication sales rarely exceed 20,000, the publisher said.

Obama's book of speeches surged to No. 2 in Japan's main best-seller list this week, according to Hiroki Tomatsu, an official of Japan's largest book distributor Tohan Co. that publishes the ranking.

The 95-page book compiles Obama's speeches including the one at the 2004 convention, many from the party primaries, and his victory speech after he beat Hillary Rodham Clinton to secure the Democratic nomination. Each English-language transcript comes with a Japanese translation.

Although the simplicity of campaign speeches makes them an obvious choice as a language-learning tool, other American presidents have rarely been so feted.

"We don't publish every single president's speeches," Asahi Press official Yuzo Yamamoto said. "Would you buy the text of former President George W. Bush's speeches?"

Comments

[munki]

This is what I saw in Tokyo bookstores...
I heard Obama... turn around and saw tape being played with script with redlining with translations...
It was really inspiring...

[USA2Sense]

Well - they sure as hell couldn't use any speeches by George W. Bush!

[NoSillyName]

The Japanese have chosen an excellent example to follow.

President Obama has a wonderful command of the English language.

We should all be proud and grateful to have an intelligent leader.

[zul59]

Reminds me of a joke i read a long time ago. It went something like this:
The American call a press conference to announce a new product invention. The Russian then called their own press conference to announce that they had invented the same thing 20 years ago. The next day the Japanese put the product on the market and make tons of money.

Go Obama.

[davism97]

I'm always shamed to read about other countries learning English, because our country doesn't bother to even require teaching Spanish in schools like it should.

[shyamg22]

why specifically spanish? while i agree that there should be more structured and stricter foreign language requirements at schools from elementary school onward, it shouldn't be only for spanish instruction. I went to private school in CT for 1st grade and we had the option of taking french, german, or spanish. then we moved after a year to PA public schools, were languages weren't offered until 8th grade. the younger you start learning a language the easier it is.

Anyways, spanish isn't the be all end all of key foreign languages.

[NoSillyName]

Hey, I took French back in the '60s when it was supposedly the international language of commerce.

Now all I remember are bits of the dialogs we listened to through headphones:
"Where is the library?", "Is that your Vespa?" I can ask those important questions in French.

Wish the heck I'd taken Spanish. Especially now that I'm living in NM.

It is embarrassing to hear people around the world speaking English while here in the U.S. so many people are barely literate in the native tongue.

[Cannongrape]

It's happening in other countries, as well.
My brother was in Paris on the day of the inauguration.
He said that English teachers in France are also using Obama's speeches for instruction.

[Ray46]

Thank God they are not using Bush's speeches!

[NoSillyName]

They wouldn't dare!

[eva belle]

Many of you are working too hard to put food on your family..

[truelie]

"...that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope." Hope is good. I'm not surprised many Asians admire Obama. If you've listened to his words closely, you'd see that it has a lot of Zen quality. Just recently, he told the folks at the Youth Ball to bring hope to the places that despair, to bring food to the hunger, and love where there's hate and hostility. A yet even more Zen-like quality is Obama doesn't see things in dichotomy, which is false. "There's no liberal America or conservative America. There is the United States of America". Things follow and complement each other like day and night. There is no use in trying to separate them, small government vs. big government, security vs. civil liberty etc... He certainly doesn't see the dichotomy as necessary or required, but divisive and counter-productive. Barack is capable of tremendous greatness. I'm glad it's in my life time. Enjoy him Japan. We certainly do.

[NoSillyName]

I agree. Watching him during the Inauguration was like watching a Zen Master. BHO is in the zone!

[Doorsabiertos]

I am an English teacher here in Japan and have taught several lessons using Obama's speech. Before we did that though, we examined the historical significance of the election. Many students were interested and inspired by his words. Where I live the people are not known for their English language skills, but everybody knew how to say "Yes, we can"! It has been amazing to see the enthusiasm Obama has generated all over Japan and the world. Japan usually tends to lean more towards republicans, but not this year!

[tel8034]

IT'S NOW COOL TO BE SMART. ..........­.......... WAY TO GO OBAMA

[davism97]

lol amen to that

[lynnn]

If they learn English from his speeches, then they will write/speak a very lyrical form of English (which is kind of cool).

[realpolitic]

Could you imagine the Japanese using a speech by George W. Bush to learn his mangled English? They would only learn a few words of Texan!

[lynnn]

"Is are children learning" ahhahahahahhhaha

[xmw]

hahahahahaha!!!

[BenderBot]

Fool me once....Ah­hhmmm...Fo­ol me twice....h­mmmm....Yo­u know the rest.

[larry278]

W didn't speak English; he sodomized it. W's words were a mix of word salad & scrambled syntax. W made Ike's words look like oratory & good rhetoric. W's rendering of the English language are the reason that many Anglo Tejanos learn Spanish & Spanish speaking Tejanons prefer to use Spanish. English can be elegant, forceful, dynamic & beautiful; note, I'm not speaking of W's version of English.

[biabouman41]

How about: "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, you can't fool a fool twice". You try saying that in a foreign language.

[orangepetal]

Japan's interest in Obama is interesting. I would love to see cultural relations with countries like Japan expanded.

[xmw]

Yes it is interesting alright considering Japanese here were not Obama supporters. Japanese have long felt and been taught that blacks are so inferior. Michio Watanabe, a senior strategist in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party said blacks were irresponsible, Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone suggested that black and Hispanic Americans were lowering U.S. literacy and intelligence rates. Most recently Japans decense for having such a lop sided trade with the U.S. was because blacks produce inferior products.

I worked for a Japanese company in Atlanta back in late eighties. JOB FROM HELL.

[jdj81]

20 years is an eternity in Japanese culture. Watanabe and Nakasone were both politicians of the 80s, so it's a little disingenuous for you to claim their opinions as bearing current. I worked for a Japanese company IN JAPAN from 2004 to 2006 and was treated with nothing but respect (I'm white).

Yes, Japanese people have a long way to go. But I think we can cut them some slack for now.

[Highwind]

He got criticized for it, too, because he really had no experience with blacks to make that kind of statement. Some Japanese do not like foreigners (gaijin) of any kind in their country. You can got to inakas (rural Japan) and sometimes find Japanese only signs and sometimes they will not rent apartments to foreigners, even in the big cities. There is a district in Tokyo called Roppongi where some of black African immigrants live and work. It's an expat neighborhood, for the most part. There's a young black woman who has a blog online who writes about her time in Japan. http://sistaintokyo.blogs.com/sista_in_tokyo/ She seems to like it and she works and live there, too, with her husband. Just like in America, Japan's younger generation is not so caught up about racial things.

[biabouman41]

It is not surprising to hear that Japanese generally have an anti-African point of view. I have noticed over many years that Asians and particularly darker skin Europeans are anti-black. Greeks, Italians are anti-black (generally) compared to say Swedish or Danish. My feeling is this is a "protective" response. They are afraid of being perceived as being of recent African decent and by being anti-African they are using short hand to dissociate themselves from peoples of African or very recent African decent. (Geneticalyy, we are ALL of African decent)

[Myshkin57]

What a difference, eh? We go from a president that could barely speak English to one who is the exemplar of English-speaking for the rest of the world.