Language Policy in Japan

Language Policy in Japan PDF Author: Nanette Gottlieb
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139504797
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
Over the last thirty years, two social developments have occurred that have led to a need for change in language policy in Japan. One is the increase in the number of migrants needing opportunities to learn Japanese as a second language, the other is the influence of electronic technologies on the way Japanese is written. This book looks at the impact of these developments on linguistic behaviour and language management and policy, and at the role of language ideology in the way they have been addressed. Immigration-induced demographic changes confront long cherished notions of national monolingualism and technological advances in electronic text production have led to textual practices with ramifications for script use and for literacy in general. The book will be welcomed by researchers and professionals in language policy and management and by those working in Japanese Studies.

Language Policy in Japan

Language Policy in Japan PDF Author: Nanette Gottlieb
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139504797
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 223

Get Book

Book Description
Over the last thirty years, two social developments have occurred that have led to a need for change in language policy in Japan. One is the increase in the number of migrants needing opportunities to learn Japanese as a second language, the other is the influence of electronic technologies on the way Japanese is written. This book looks at the impact of these developments on linguistic behaviour and language management and policy, and at the role of language ideology in the way they have been addressed. Immigration-induced demographic changes confront long cherished notions of national monolingualism and technological advances in electronic text production have led to textual practices with ramifications for script use and for literacy in general. The book will be welcomed by researchers and professionals in language policy and management and by those working in Japanese Studies.

Language and Citizenship in Japan

Language and Citizenship in Japan PDF Author: Nanette Gottlieb
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113650317X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
The relationship between language and citizenship in Japan has traditionally been regarded as a fixed tripartite: ‘Japanese citizenship’ means ‘Japanese ethnicity,’ which in turn means ‘Japanese as one’s first language.’ Historically, most non-Japanese who have chosen to take out citizenship have been members of the ‘oldcomer’ Chinese and Korean communities, born and raised in Japan. But this is changing: the last three decades have seen an influx of ‘newcomer’ economic migrants from a wide range of countries, many of whom choose to stay. The likelihood that they will apply for citizenship, to access the benefits it confers, means that citizenship and ethnicity can no longer be assumed to be synonyms in Japan. This is an important change for national discourse on cohesive communities. This book’s chapters discuss discourses, educational practices, and local linguistic practices which call into question the accepted view of the language-citizenship nexus in lived contexts of both existing Japanese citizens and potential future citizens. Through an examination of key themes relating both to newcomers and to an older group of citizens whose language practices have been shaped by historical forces, these essays highlight the fluid relationship of language and citizenship in the Japanese context.

Language Planning and Language Change in Japan

Language Planning and Language Change in Japan PDF Author: Tessa Carroll
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780700713837
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
This text highlights the shift in language planning and language change in Japan against a background of significant socio-cultural, political and economic change, and places them in a comparative context.

Japanese Language and Soft Power in Asia

Japanese Language and Soft Power in Asia PDF Author: Kayoko Hashimoto
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9811050864
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
This cutting edge collection considers how the Japanese language functions as a key element of Japanese soft power in Asia. Within Japanese culture itself, the promotion of language has been an area of ambivalence. This interdisciplinary book looks across the fields of language policy, language teaching, socio-linguistics, cultural studies and history to identify the links between Japan’s language policies and broader social, economic and political processes. It examines the challenges that undermine Japan’s potential soft power by identifying a gap between the “official Japan” portrayed by the Japanese government and the “cultural Japan” that foreigners perceive. It also reveals historical continuity in the way Japanese language is perceived and promoted by policy makers and how the current practices of Japanese language teaching in Asian countries have been shaped within the framework of “international exchange”, which has been a key concept in Japanese foreign policies since the 1970s. It particularly considers the concept of ‘Cool Japan’ as a symbol of Japan’s interpretation of its cultural power and offers a thoughtful assessment of the future of Japanese as a form of soft power in Asia as the country prepares for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Foreign Language Education in Japan

Foreign Language Education in Japan PDF Author: Sachiko Horiguchi
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9463003258
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Language education is a highly contested arena within any nation and one that arouses an array of sentiments and identity conflicts. What languages, or what varieties of a language, are to be taught and learned, and how? By whom, for whom, for what purposes and in what contexts? Such questions concern not only policy makers but also teachers, parents, students, as well as businesspeople, politicians, and other social actors. For Japan, a nation state with ideologies of national identity strongly tied to language, these issues have long been of particular concern. This volume presents the cacophony of voices in the field of language education in contemporary Japan, with its focus on English language education. It explores the complex and intricate relationships between the “local” and the “global,” and more specifically the links between the levels of policy, educational institutions, classrooms, and the individual. In the much-contested field of foreign language teaching in Japan, this book takes the reader directly to the places that really matter. With the help of expert guides in the fields of anthropology, sociology and linguistics, we are invited to join a vital discussion about the potentially revolutionary implications of the Japanese government’s policy of teaching Japanese citizens to not only passively engage with written English texts but to actually use English as a means of global communication.” – Robert Aspinall, PhD (Oxford), Professor, Faculty of Economics, Department of Social Systems, Shiga University, Japan This insightful book about language education involves different disciplines using ethnographic methods. Both ‘native’ and ‘non-native’ speakers of Japanese (or English) collaboratively examine two different types of qualitative approaches in Japan – the positivistic and the processual. This is a must-have book for researchers and educators of language who are interested in not only Japan but also language education generally.” – Shinji Sato, PhD (Columbia), Director of the Japanese Language Program, Department of East Asian Studies, Princeton University, USA.

The Making of Monolingual Japan

The Making of Monolingual Japan PDF Author: Patrick Heinrich
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
ISBN: 1847696562
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
Japan is regarded as a model case of successful language modernization. It is also often erroneously believed to be linguistically homogenous. This book explores the debates relating to language modernization from a language ideology perspective, and in doing so reveals the mechanisms by which language ideology undermines linguistic diversity.

Kanji Politics

Kanji Politics PDF Author: Nanette Gottlieb
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136882979
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
First Published in 1995. The nature of the Japanese script has been a matter of contention since the early Meiji period. It was not until 1902, however, that the government was convinced of the need to simplify the written language. The modernised system of kana usage and the guidelines on the use, shape and readings are thoroughly discussed in this book alongside the political nature of Japan's multiple written languages. This title has involved interviews with many of the key players in the post-war period as well as research on the vast amount of primary source material on the topic.

Language Life in Japan

Language Life in Japan PDF Author: Patrick Heinrich
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136935940
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
Analyses how linguistic diversity in Japan, and indeed recognition of this phenomenon, presents a wide range of sociolinguistic challenges and opportunities in fundamental institutions such as schools, in cultural patterns and in social behaviours and attitudes.

English in Japan. Language policies in Education

English in Japan. Language policies in Education PDF Author: Elena Agathokleous
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 334636674X
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 9

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Book Description
Essay from the year 2019 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: A, , language: English, abstract: The paper deals with the English language in Japan, specifically language policies in education. English has become the language through which the citizens of the globalized community of our world communicate and collaborate. The ability for a person to be able to use the English language to communicate with others is now more important than ever even in countries like Japan which in the past had no significant amount of tourists or immigrants and a rather local mentality of businesses so there was no great need for these people to be proficient in English.

The Ideology of Kokugo

The Ideology of Kokugo PDF Author: Yeounsuk Lee
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824837614
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Available for the first time in English, The Ideology of Kokugo: Nationalizing Language in Modern Japan (1996) is Lee Yeounsuk’s award-winning look at the history and ideology behind the construction of kokugo (national language). Prior to the Meiji Period (1868–1912), the idea of a single, unified Japanese language did not exist. Only as Japan was establishing itself as a modern nation-state and an empire with expanding colonies did there arise the need for a national language to construct and sustain its national identity. Re-examining debates and controversies over genbun itchi (unification of written and spoken languages) and other language reform movements, Lee discusses the contributions of Ueda Kazutoshi (1867–1937) and Hoshina Koichi (1872–1955) in the creation of kokugo and moves us one step closer to understanding how the ideology of kokugo cast a spell over linguistic identity in modern Japan. She examines the notion of the unshakable homogeneity of the Japanese language—a belief born of the political climate of early-twentieth-century Japan and its colonization of other East Asian countries—urging us to pay attention to the linguistic consciousness that underlies "scientific" scholarship and language policies. Her critical discussion of the construction of kokugo uncovers a strain of cultural nationalism that has been long nurtured in Japan’s education system and academic traditions. The ideology of kokugo, argues Lee, must be recognized both as an academic apparatus and a political concept. The Ideology of Kokugo was the first work to explore Japan’s linguistic consciousness at the dawn of its modernization. It will therefore be of interest to not only linguists, but also historians, anthropologists, political scientists, and scholars in the fields of education and cultural studies.