GLOBALIZATION, CULTURE AND SOCIETY:WHAT ROLE DOES LANGUAGE PLAY? AN EXAMPLE FROM ENGLISH EDUCATION IN JAPAN    Cover Image
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GLOBALIZATION, CULTURE AND SOCIETY:WHAT ROLE DOES LANGUAGE PLAY? AN EXAMPLE FROM ENGLISH EDUCATION IN JAPAN
GLOBALIZATION, CULTURE AND SOCIETY:WHAT ROLE DOES LANGUAGE PLAY? AN EXAMPLE FROM ENGLISH EDUCATION IN JAPAN

Author(s): Kuniko Miyanaga
Subject(s): Philosophy
Published by: Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: culture; hierarchy of values; language; styles of reasoning; concrete; abstract

Summary/Abstract: The presentation is focused on the idea that culture promotes a hierarchy of values and language as its major part imposes a certain style of reasoning. For this reason, learning English is confrontational to the Japanese and even causes a kind of culture shock. Still, they need to learn English to maintain a leading position in the global economic community. What is most confrontational about English for the Japanese is its analytical reasoning. Firstly, English has two levels of articulation, concrete and abstract, which enables the analytical style of reasoning in a scientific sense. Abstraction in this sense is remote to most Japanese. Secondly, this style also presses the speaker to separate the external from the internal: This causes a psychological difficulty to the Japanese who ideologically hold that the external is a harmonious extension of the internal. The presentation is made in concrete examples taken from my original research on their difficulties and compromises. Possible solutions are suggested.

  • Issue Year: 2012
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 7-16
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: English