正文翻譯
原創翻譯：龍騰網 http://www.ltaaa.com 翻譯：大寫的字母 轉載請註明出處
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Scott Kerwin, lived in Japan (1992-1997)
There can be a variety of reasons.
原因可能有多種。
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.
這是個不需要相關技術資格認證，只要是英語母語者就可在日本工作和生活的工作。因此，只有小部分人是因為熱愛教學才做這份工作的。但是對其他人來說，這就是個不怎麼樣的工作而已，特別是若你志不在此時。
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.
除非他們是私下教學，否則老師們也沒法掌控其教學對象或教學內容。舉個栗子，不知怎的，我很會教中年人或老年人，但我必須得去教公司要求我教學的對象——即從學前班到高中年齡階段的孩子。
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.
課程內容變得很枯燥無味滿是死記硬背，且我每天要上的課太多，以至於我很難調動每堂課的積極性，特別是當時在我工作的英語會話教室，我一天要上8節課。
Nuke It From Orbit: 22 Years and 1 Bankruptcy Later It’s Still In the Same Kyoto Office Building (source: author)
[從軌道上發射核彈：22年了，還曾破產過的日本語言培訓學校駅前留學のNOVA（站前留學的NOVA）如今依然存在於同一京都辦公大樓中]
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.
老實說，除非你是真心想做個ESL（非母語英語課程）教師，否則我不建議你做這個工作。這樣既對你的學生不公平，而且你真的很快就會感到無聊——尤其是英語會話培訓公司那樣的教學模式。
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.
謝天謝地的是，日本開始擴大面向外籍僱工的就業崗位了，但這些崗位都要求應聘者具有良好的日語溝通能力。這挺公平的：你日語學會了，他們就給你不用教英語的工作崗位。英語的需求量如今也在下降，所以真正喜愛英語教學這份工作的那些少數人就能拿到現下越來越少的教師崗位了。
Everybody wins.
這樣人人皆贏。
Yep - On the Tokyo Subway, 10/31/2019 (author)
上圖拍攝於2019年10月31日，東京某地鐵上。
評論翻譯
原創翻譯：龍騰網 http://www.ltaaa.com 翻譯：大寫的字母 轉載請註明出處
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.
我想補充一下，一旦最初的興奮勁過後，來日本的人會有6-12個月的調整期。在此期間，人們會覺得日本的一切都是有問題的，自己國家的任何事物都比日本好。這期間是人們抱怨的高峰期，不管是做啥職業的。因為很多英語會話教師的僱傭期都是短期的，且他們在數量上主導語言培訓學校的“教學管理”，所以他們這一整體就給全公司定下了（什麼都不做只會抱怨）的調調。
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.
說到點上了！我在東京有20多年了。我工作（並不是在英語培訓學校任職）的一部分內容就是培訓那些初到日本的新僱工。他們通常在聘用期期間新鮮勁兒就過了，我遇到過很多在一年左右就離開日本的人。這種情況大多在3年左右會重現，特別是對那些找不到伴侶的女性來說。
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.
請恕我直言，英語會話培訓行業其實沒啥可期望的。事實上，有些英語會話培訓學校根本不指望學生能學會英語。他們對日本人的期望是敢跟非日本人近距離坐在一起，不會看到個外國人就大驚小怪的。若我的語句讓你感到不適了，請見諒，這並非我的本意。
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.
在英語會話培訓這個行業，被實踐進行的或許並不是語言教育，而是某些不值得稱道的事物。在這樣的環境之下，優秀的教師註定會離開。這樣的行業有未來嗎？沒有。所以你離開這樣的世界其實是件好事。
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.
你指出了英語會話培訓的一重要特質：即會與外國人接觸。日本人付錢與外國人接觸然後“上課”。我覺得吧，這跟工薪男付錢與女性聊天的女陪伴行業沒啥不同。在這一點上，讓我們認清事實吧，越會招待人越漂亮的才能在這個行業做下去且做得更好。你得看清這一本質。
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。我朋友總是很驚訝說，為什麼有那麼多人在坐了長達12個小時的飛機來到日本後，卻還期待這裡的一切事物都跟自個兒國家那邊一樣。
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.
你會聽到很多“為什麼他們這裡做事的方式不是我熟悉的那種？”，“為什麼他們這兒沒有我們國家那兒很普遍常見的東西？”等的抱怨。有很多抱怨屬於合情合理的，但就我的經驗來看，大多數直言不諱的抱怨者們抱怨的都是日本跟他們的國家哪哪不一樣啊、或日本跟他們想象中的啥啥不一樣啊。
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.
過去的這5年裡，我注意到越來越多來日本的人比起我12年前左右初次在日本生活時更瞭解、對日本流行文化和語言更感興趣，也一定是比我20年前第一次去日本時更瞭解更感興趣日本。12年前，來日的人更多是大學後的一場短期冒險，而20年前，便是這些來日的很多男人毀了教英語的外國人的形象留下了壞名聲。我覺得如今日本（以及亞洲的）流行文化比我年輕那會兒更加主流化了。
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。我就認識挺多因為距離產生美，沒切身體驗過但很喜愛日本文化而來日的人。 現實的打擊來得很快。因為在異國生活和已經都快像是我第二份還是第三份工作的，要在腦內思考轉換所見文字信息的大量腦力勞動，我只幾個月人就疲憊不堪筋疲力盡了。萬幸的是，我喜歡老師這個工作，所以我能堅持下去，很是艱難地熬過去了。調整適應期真是太艱苦了。我有過兩次這樣的經歷——一次是在日本，另一次是在中國。一旦‘蜜月期’結束，你要麼喜歡你的工作和所生活的地方，要麼討厭。如果你不喜歡的話，最好就趕快離開。
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.
我那會兒已經放棄解釋了。有個老師因為我告訴她“你好，你好嗎？我很好，謝謝。”這個對話並不對或很不自然時生氣了。她說，“我在加利佛尼亞生活了3年！！所以我知道這麼說沒錯！！”3年是嗎？丫我說英語都有37年了好伐。我想我更曉得這麼說自然與否好伐。我曾任職的一所小學讓我很是擔憂，因為當我問“這是什麼顏色？”時，學生的回答是，“素、素…嗨色的（是黑色的）！”“不對。”“啊啊啊？？？？！！”學生很快就明白過來，因為我是他們的英語老師，不是他們的日式英語老師。我所說的語言裡沒有‘外託（white）’和‘瑞多（red）’這樣的英語單詞。
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