Across the Divide / Humiliation spurred student
It was a humiliating experience as a homestay visitor in Sydney when he was 20 that first made Yuichiro Sumiyoshi study English hard.
Sumiyoshi, who runs Step English Institute in Fukuoka, couldn't speak a word of English when he first visited Australia on a three-month tourist visa.
As Japanese friends who were studying in the country at the time advised him to make friends with the local people, he participated in a barbecue hosted by Australians. "An Australian guy spoke to me, saying, 'How are you?' but all I could say was, 'I'm sorry,'" Sumiyoshi said. Naturally, the man asked, "Why are you sorry?" but he couldn't answer and fled the party.
This was an embarrassing experience, but not the humiliating one, which involved the host mother at his homestay. "The host mother was an elderly woman who lived alone in the house. She prepared breakfast and dinner for me," he said.
There was hardly any communication with her as Sumiyoshi could not speak English. He just stayed in his room every day. one day when he returned, a frozen steak was put on the table for his dinner. At a loss to know what it meant, or what to do, he ended up putting the steak back in the refrigerator. Later he learned that the host mother intentionally served the frozen steak to express her anger at Sumiyoshi's refusal to speak any English at home. He left the house and stayed at his friend's place for a while. Eventually, he returned to Japan depressed, and with a very negative impression of Australia.
At high school, English had not been his favorite subject, although he liked English sounds and rhythms as a child.
"I was looking forward to studying English when I entered middle school, as I liked English sounds that I had heard when listening to tapes that my father had bought for me," he said. "But I was disappointed to hear the pronunciation of my English teacher. The middle-aged female teacher's pronunciation was typical Japanese English."
He lost interest in English lessons that mainly featured grammar, and decided not to study English when he was a middle school and high school student. Naturally, his scores on English tests were awful.
It was only after his humiliation in Sydney that he realized--much though he disliked it--that he would have to come to grips with grammar. Sumiyoshi, who didn't even know the difference between basic parts of speech, started to study grammar by himself using grammar books purchased from bookstores.
Deciding that he wanted to attend an Australian university, his studying was motivated by a firm determination that he wanted to win arguments with Australians in English. "I think my inferiority complex and rebel spirit supported my motivation to study in Australia," he said.
To compensate for a lack of opportunities to talk to native speakers, he took to talking to himself in English. During the 25 minutes it took to cycle from his house to the restaurant where he worked, he would have a dialogue with himself in English.
Thanks to this hard work, he managed to pass the International English Language Testing System exam--a qualification required for entry into an Australian university. He then entered Macquarie University in Sydney and studied political science, at first finding it quite difficult to keep up with his Australian classmates.
Sumiyoshi studied hard in his room and in the university's library and was often the last student to leave the library at its 10 p.m. closing time. He eventually graduated from the university with a degree in political science.
Sumiyoshi's struggle to master English seems to have left its mark on the programs offered at his school. Based on his belief that one cannot speak English unless one gets a chance to hear it, he offers a variety of classes, including order-made lessons to suit the needs of each student.
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This column focuses on areas of specialization for translators and interpreters through interviews with experts in such fields.