All you long term gaijins in Japan might have to dig out that old Japanese lesson book and put it to use.
According to Mainichi Daily News the government is going to “consider Japanese language ability as requirement for long-stay foreigners.”
The aim of the measures is to make it easier for the increasing number of non-Japanese in Japan to blend into the community, and provide an increased incentive for foreigners coming to Japan to learn Japanese.
I’m sort of 50/50 on this. One one hand, it sucks to have to be pushed to learn a language if you want to stay there. I mean, hey, if you want to run around like a headless chicken then go for it.
But on the other hand, it makes sense. If you’re going to stay in Japan(or any country) for long term, you should learn the language. If you’re going to have a job, buy things, and interact with the people there then you should have to learn to understand them. They shouldn’t have to speak English/Korean/whatever to understand you. It’s their country.
It’s a lot easier if everyone speaks the same language.
But being forced to learn a language might be kind of annoying, so I don’t know.
Think it will pass? Thoughts?
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