Cebu Island Stay: "English That Gets Through" and "English That Doesn't"

One of the sites I visit frequently via mailing list is "Nikkan Eigo Life" (Daily English Life). For me, it's at just the right level: "I understand it immediately when I read it, but I can't use it in spoken language."

The following content caught my eye, and since it perfectly matched my own experience, I'm writing about it on Note today.

According to this article, accent is important. That is certainly true!

At the English conversation school on Cebu Island, when Japanese friends and Filipinos are involved in a conversation, the language is naturally English. Since I am Japanese, I can understand almost all the English spoken by Japanese people.

That is not because of my English ability, but because the students attending the English conversation school speak very slowly and carefully. Also, there is the background of being able to imagine and interpret the content of the imperfect English unique to Japanese speakers.

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I read about Hawaii not being understood in the citation above. I was at an English conversation school on Cebu Island in the Philippines. Without a doubt, "Cebu" is a word used every day. When students coming to the English conversation school pronounce it as "Cebu," it is almost never understood.

"Se" bu, with the accent at the front in Japanese
Ce "bu" with the accent at the back in English

Just that.
Just that is enough for it not to be understood.

Since the teachers at the English conversation school are dealing with Japanese students, they understand all the incorrect accents. However, as soon as you go out into the city, to coffee shops or restaurants, the accent is completely misunderstood.

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Have you ever had the experience where your English is understood very well by your online English teacher, but your intentions are not grasped at work?

Foreign English teachers dealing with Japanese people will:
Even if the accent is different,
Even if the intonation is different,
Even if you mix up R and L,
Even if you mix up s and th,
Even if you mix up b and v,

They will understand everything.

If you pronounce "curry rice" like the Japanese reading:
Curry lice → It is understood as "flea curry."
(Correctly, it is "curry rice")

The fact that they smile slightly and the conversation continues without interruption or correction is because they know well in their heads that Japanese people cannot pronounce R.

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During my stay in Cebu, I spent a lot of time interacting with Filipinos who were not English teachers, so there were many times when I thought, "Huh, that didn't get through." Especially with children, since their English proficiency is low to begin with, it really won't be understood unless you pronounce it correctly. It was great training.

If you are attending an English conversation school abroad, don't just be satisfied with English teachers who have high listening skills and can understand broken Katakana English; try going out into the city and enjoying conversations with regular people!