正文翻译
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.com 翻译：大写的字母 转载请注明出处
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Scott Kerwin, lived in Japan (1992-1997)
There can be a variety of reasons.
原因可能有多种。
It’s a job that allows a native speaker without technical qualifications to work and live in Japan. Consequently only a small minority is doing it because they enjoy teaching. For the rest it’s a job, and not particularly a good one - especially if your heart is not in it.
这是个不需要相关技术资格认证，只要是英语母语者就可在日本工作和生活的工作。因此，只有小部分人是因为热爱教学才做这份工作的。但是对其他人来说，这就是个不怎么样的工作而已，特别是若你志不在此时。
Unless they teach privately, teachers also have little control over who or what they teach. For example, for some reason I connected and excelled working with middle-aged and older people, but I had to teach everyone my company told me to - which meant children from pre-K through high school.
除非他们是私下教学，否则老师们也没法掌控其教学对象或教学内容。举个栗子，不知怎的，我很会教中年人或老年人，但我必须得去教公司要求我教学的对象——即从学前班到高中年龄阶段的孩子。
The lessons became so rote and boring, and the number of lessons I had to teach daily was so high, that it was difficult to bring excitement into a class - especially when you had 8 classes a day at the eikaiwa I worked at.
课程内容变得很枯燥无味满是死记硬背，且我每天要上的课太多，以至于我很难调动每堂课的积极性，特别是当时在我工作的英语会话教室，我一天要上8节课。
Nuke It From Orbit: 22 Years and 1 Bankruptcy Later It’s Still In the Same Kyoto Office Building (source: author)
[从轨道上发射核弹：22年了，还曾破产过的日本语言培训学校駅前留学のNOVA（站前留学的NOVA）如今依然存在于同一京都办公大楼中]
Honestly, unless you are at heart an ESL teacher, I don’t recommend the job. It’s not fair to your students, and it gets boring quite quickly - especially the way it is taught at the eikaiwa companies.
老实说，除非你是真心想做个ESL（非母语英语课程）教师，否则我不建议你做这个工作。这样既对你的学生不公平，而且你真的很快就会感到无聊——尤其是英语会话培训公司那样的教学模式。
Thankfully it looks like Japan is expanding the offerings to foreign workers, but the jobs require Japanese skills. It’s a fair trade: you learn Japanese and they’ll let you do jobs that don’t involve teaching English. The demand for English is also down, so the fewer jobs can be snapped up by the minority that enjoys the job.
谢天谢地的是，日本开始扩大面向外籍雇工的就业岗位了，但这些岗位都要求应聘者具有良好的日语沟通能力。这挺公平的：你日语学会了，他们就给你不用教英语的工作岗位。英语的需求量如今也在下降，所以真正喜爱英语教学这份工作的那些少数人就能拿到现下越来越少的教师岗位了。
Everybody wins.
这样人人皆赢。
Yep - On the Tokyo Subway, 10/31/2019 (author)
上图拍摄于2019年10月31日，东京某地铁上。
评论翻译
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.com 翻译：大写的字母 转载请注明出处
1. David W. Rudlin
I would add that everybody who comes here goes through a 6–12 month adjustment period once the initial excitement wears off. During that stage, everything about Japan is wrong, and everything about the home country better. This is high season for moaning, regardless of profession. Since many eikawa teachers tend to be short-term, and numerically they dominate the “management” of language schools, they set the tone for the company as a whole.
我想补充一下，一旦最初的兴奋劲过后，来日本的人会有6-12个月的调整期。在此期间，人们会觉得日本的一切都是有问题的，自己国家的任何事物都比日本好。这期间是人们抱怨的高峰期，不管是做啥职业的。因为很多英语会话教师的雇佣期都是短期的，且他们在数量上主导语言培训学校的“教学管理”，所以他们这一整体就给全公司定下了（什么都不做只会抱怨）的调调。
William Stonerock
Spot on! I''ve been in Tokyo for over 20 years. Part of my job (not an English school) is training new employees who tend to be new to Japan. The honeymoon is usually over by the time we hire them and I''ve had plenty leave around the 1 year mark. It tends to happen again around the 3 year mark, especially for women who can''t find a relationship.
说到点上了！我在东京有20多年了。我工作（并不是在英语培训学校任职）的一部分内容就是培训那些初到日本的新雇工。他们通常在聘用期期间新鲜劲儿就过了，我遇到过很多在一年左右就离开日本的人。这种情况大多在3年左右会重现，特别是对那些找不到伴侣的女性来说。
If I may be honest, not much is expected in the eikaiwa industry. In fact, some eikawa schools do not expect students to learn English. Their expectations are for Japanese persons to sit down with non Japanese persons in a close distance so the Japanese people will not be shocked to see foreigners. I do not know if this descxtion has upset you. I do not mean it.
请恕我直言，英语会话培训行业其实没啥可期望的。事实上，有些英语会话培训学校根本不指望学生能学会英语。他们对日本人的期望是敢跟非日本人近距离坐在一起，不会看到个外国人就大惊小怪的。若我的语句让你感到不适了，请见谅，这并非我的本意。
In the eikawa industry, what is practiced is perhaps not language education but something less than commendable. In an environment like this, good teachers are to be expelled.
Is there any future in an industry like this? No.
It is good that you have left the world like that.
在英语会话培训这个行业，被实践进行的或许并不是语言教育，而是某些不值得称道的事物。在这样的环境之下，优秀的教师注定会离开。这样的行业有未来吗？没有。所以你离开这样的世界其实是件好事。
Scott Kerwin Original Author
You point out an important feature of eikaiwa: exposure to foreigners. There’s nothing wrong with Japanese paying to meet foreigners and have “lessons.” I suppose it’s not much different than the hostess industry where women are paid to converse with salarymen.
In that regard the more entertaining and, let’s face it, prettier one is the better one will do in the field. You have to see it for what it is.
你指出了英语会话培训的一重要特质：即会与外国人接触。日本人付钱与外国人接触然后“上课”。我觉得吧，这跟工薪男付钱与女性聊天的女陪伴行业没啥不同。在这一点上，让我们认清事实吧，越会招待人越漂亮的才能在这个行业做下去且做得更好。你得看清这一本质。
Sean Gerow
I’ve lived in Japan about 12 years now. My friend always said he was amazed how many people spend 12 hours in an airplane then seem to expect everything to be just like home when they arrive.
我在日本大概有12年了。我朋友总是很惊讶说，为什么有那么多人在坐了长达12个小时的飞机来到日本后，却还期待这里的一切事物都跟自个儿国家那边一样。
You get a lot of “Why do they do this thing, here that I’m not used to?” “Why don’t they have this thing that’s common in my country?”
There are a lot of legitimate complaints to be had, but most of he really vocal complainers, in my experience, are complaining that Japan isn’t exactly like their country or about fairly imaginary things.
你会听到很多“为什么他们这里做事的方式不是我熟悉的那种？”，“为什么他们这儿没有我们国家那儿很普遍常见的东西？”等的抱怨。有很多抱怨属于合情合理的，但就我的经验来看，大多数直言不讳的抱怨者们抱怨的都是日本跟他们的国家哪哪不一样啊、或日本跟他们想象中的啥啥不一样啊。
In the past five years I’ve noticed more people showing up with more knowledge and interest in Japanese pop culture and language then when I first arrived 12ish years ago and certainly when I was here the first time 20 years ago. 12 years ago it was more people on a short term adventure post-university and 20 years ago it was that and a lot of the guys who gave foreigners teaching English a bad name.
Japanese (and Asian in general) pop culture is much more mainstream then it was when I was young, I guess.
过去的这5年里，我注意到越来越多来日本的人比起我12年前左右初次在日本生活时更了解、对日本流行文化和语言更感兴趣，也一定是比我20年前第一次去日本时更了解更感兴趣日本。12年前，来日的人更多是大学后的一场短期冒险，而20年前，便是这些来日的很多男人毁了教英语的外国人的形象留下了坏名声。我觉得如今日本（以及亚洲的）流行文化比我年轻那会儿更加主流化了。
3. Katherine Heasley
Agreed. I’ve also known quite a few who came to Japan because they’re Japanophiles—from a distance. The reality sets in quickly. I spent a few months exhausted all the time because the added mental labor of living in a foreign country and being functionally illiterate was like a second job. Maybe a third. Fortunately, I liked being a teacher, so I was able to slog my way through it. The adjustment period is tough. I’ve done it twice—once in Japan, and once in China. Once the honeymoon’s over, you either like your job and the place you live or you don’t. If you don’t, it’s best to get out as soon as you can.
完全同意啊。我就认识挺多因为距离产生美，没切身体验过但很喜爱日本文化而来日的人。 现实的打击来得很快。因为在异国生活和已经都快像是我第二份还是第三份工作的，要在脑内思考转换所见文字信息的大量脑力劳动，我只几个月人就疲惫不堪筋疲力尽了。万幸的是，我喜欢老师这个工作，所以我能坚持下去，很是艰难地熬过去了。调整适应期真是太艰苦了。我有过两次这样的经历——一次是在日本，另一次是在中国。一旦‘蜜月期’结束，你要么喜欢你的工作和所生活的地方，要么讨厌。如果你不喜欢的话，最好就赶快离开。
At that point I had given up trying to explain to them. One teacher got mad when I told her that “ hello how are you? I''m fine thank you” isnt right or natural. I LIVED IN CALIFORNIA FOR 3 YEARS!! I KNOW IT''S RIGHT!! 3 whole years, huh? Well I''ve been speaking the language for 37. I think i have a slightly better handle on what is or isn''t natural. One Elementary school I worked in expressed concern because if I asked “what color is it?” and the student answered “EETSU… BURAKKU!” Nope. That''s wrong. EEEEEEEHHHHHHHH??!! They figured out quickly that I was their ENGLISH teacher not their Japanglish teacher. Waito and red-do aren''t words in my language.
我那会儿已经放弃解释了。有个老师因为我告诉她“你好，你好吗？我很好，谢谢。”这个对话并不对或很不自然时生气了。她说，“我在加利佛尼亚生活了3年！！所以我知道这么说没错！！”3年是吗？丫我说英语都有37年了好伐。我想我更晓得这么说自然与否好伐。我曾任职的一所小学让我很是担忧，因为当我问“这是什么颜色？”时，学生的回答是，“素、素…嗨色的（是黑色的）！”“不对。”“啊啊啊？？？？！！”学生很快就明白过来，因为我是他们的英语老师，不是他们的日式英语老师。我所说的语言里没有‘外托（white）’和‘瑞多（red）’这样的英语单词。
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