Teaching the engrish - 'Is it time to go back?"

[Taro Toporific]

[sublight]

A lot of his actual job suggestions (delivery driver, gas station, convenience store) are off-limits to most English teachers unless they're here on working holiday or spouse visas.

[kusai Jijii]

If his suggestions are "delivery driver, gas station, and convenience store", then it going home is sooooooo overdue it aint funny.

[james]

If his suggestions are "delivery driver, gas station, and convenience store", then it going home is sooooooo overdue it aint funny.

i'd say in the majority of cases that is very likely true, but i also tend to think a lot would depend on how rooted one is here (family, financial obligations etc) and what prospects would be elsewhere. going home isn't necessarily the answer. last i checked, other economies weren't doing so great either.

[kusai Jijii]

[Takechanpoo]

If you go back to the ex-penal colony a.k.a Australia, there are jobs other than digging hole of iron mountain and raising cow or sheep there? eh?

[james]

I'd say that if you have family, you've got serious responsibilities. I'd say that if you were looking at working as a delivery driver, gas station attendant, or convenience store clerk, then you ain't in a position to adequately meet those responsabilities.

true, but sometimes you just gotta do what ya gotta do until things get better.. everyone's situation is different.

[CrankyBastard]

This isn't the first time the 'unko' has hit the 'senpuki'

Batten down the hatches and wait it out.

[Samurai_Jerk]

the safety net back home

Sorry, I'm American.

Anyway, I might be one of these guys who has to make the jump back to teaching. Fucking sucks.

[Greji]

Fucking sucks.

No it doesn't. Teaching does thought

[Tengu Kid]

:lol:

Sorry, I'm American.

Anyway, I might be one of these guys who has to make the jump back to teaching. Fucking sucks.

How come? what were you doing after teaching, Samurai_Jerk?

[FG Lurker]

Anyway, I might be one of these guys who has to make the jump back to teaching.

I'm looking at it too... My export business has gone from $$$$$ per month profit to -$$$$ per month and there is only so long I can continue this way before cash runs out. If the yen was even at 95/dollar I could survive, at 100/dollar I would be fine. 90/dollar is just not workable for my business and right now we're at 89.

Worst case: I end up living on an island in Okayama and learning how to fish and garden.... Some days that looks mighty attractive I have to say.

[Visitor K]

I'd say that if you have family, you've got serious responsibilities. I'd say that if you were looking at working as a delivery driver, gas station attendant, or convenience store clerk, then you ain't in a position to adequately meet those responsabilities.

you do realize that people raise perfectly adjusted children while working as convenience store clerks and gas station attendants, right?

[Visitor K]

I might be one of these guys who has to make the jump back to teaching.

wait. the title of this thread is misleading, the article is saying "go back" as in going back home, not back to teaching.
it sounds like if you are using english teaching as a backup plan in japan, you might not be in the best position.. which kind of sucks because i was almost considering teaching there again.

[Behan]

I want to escape Engrish but with the economy the way it is now prospects aren't good.

[FG Lurker]

I want to escape Engrish but with the economy the way it is now prospects aren't good.

I'd just ride things out where you are. Neither good nor bad lasts forever, we will get through this.

[kusai Jijii]

you do realize that people raise perfectly adjusted children while working as convenience store clerks and gas station attendants, right?

Yes of course I realize that. You are missing the point. Do I have to draw you a map?

[Visitor K]

Yes of course I realize that. You are missing the point. Do I have to draw you a map?

well, you also have to realize that a lot of english teachers dont necessarily have the credentials to find much more glamorous work in their home countries and would be looking at convenient store work and such anyway. if they have to work a shit job somewhere, they shouldnt feel guilty about choosing to stay in japan.

[wuchan]

Pumping gas pays about the same here as it does in the US, but less income tax. If it came to that I would stay here, pay less tax and still file in the US to receive a small return for being poor. (done it before and it did work.)

[omae mona]

Slightly off topic, but I think new types of jobs have opened up to foreigners very recently. Off the top of my head, I've seen over the last 2 months:

• An English speaking waitress with a katakana name at a family restaurant (I believe she was Filipina)
• A waiter of middle eastern descent at a washoku chain restaurant
• A caucasian, English-speaking floor salesperson at Bic Camera.

I very rarely saw anything like this before 2008. So I think something is changing. Still, I hate to say it, but I have a hunch only a small percentage of English language teachers could get these jobs, or a convenience store, gas station, or truck driving job, due to their level of Japanese. But for teachers who are fluent enough to use Japanese in a work environment and avoid major miscommunications with colleagues and customers (and I think there are plenty), I think the number of options for alternative employment may be on the rise.

[kusai Jijii]

well, you also have to realize that a lot of english teachers dont necessarily have the credentials to find much more glamorous work in their home countries and would be looking at convenient store work and such anyway. if they have to work a shit job somewhere, they shouldnt feel guilty about choosing to stay in japan.

Are you for real?
I can quite understand why non-native English speaking FG work in certain industries (Iranians in construction, filipinos in bars, Brazilians in factories etc). All the power to them.
But I can not for the life of me understand why ANYONE would think that the advice posted at the start of this thread (i.e. for native English speakers in Japan is to consider working as convenience store clerks or gas station attendants) is sound advice. I wonder if the person who posted that on that wackjob Dabito's website wasn't high on crack cocaine. But then again, most FG who log onto Debito's site suffer from a 'victim complex' and are under the illusion that Japan owes them a living and that Japan is the only country in the world where they can survive. But then again, maybe for many of these tragics, it is.
I feel genuinely for people who lose their jobs. We can all fall on hard times, and sometimes we just have to do what we have to do to survive. But come on, do you REALLY think working as a FG gas station attendant is the best option available under the circumstances?... I mean, fuck me senseless...

[Visitor K]

Are you for real?

i dont see what is so difficult to understand.
some people hold useless degrees and dont have many options in their home country, so it doesnt seem so crazy or irresponsible of an idea for somebody with a family (and we are talking mostly about people on spousal visas here.. as a teaching visa wouldnt cut it) to choose to work a menial job in japan rather than move his/her family across the world and work the same job in their home country.

[kurohinge1]

you do realize that people raise perfectly adjusted children while working as convenience store clerks and gas station attendants, right?

Nah. I think that theory was debunked in MythBusters", series 12, episode 9.

Just kidding - if anything, their kids would probably be better adjusted than those born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

[Catoneinutica]

Are you for real?
I can quite understand why non-native English speaking FG work in certain industries (Iranians in construction, filipinos in bars, Brazilians in factories etc). All the power to them.
But I can not for the life of me understand why ANYONE would think that the advice posted at the start of this thread (i.e. for native English speakers in Japan is to consider working as convenience store clerks or gas station attendants) is sound advice. I wonder if the person who posted that on that wackjob Dabito's website wasn't high on crack cocaine. But then again, most FG who log onto Debito's site suffer from a 'victim complex' and are under the illusion that Japan owes them a living and that Japan is the only country in the world where they can survive. But then again, maybe for many of these tragics, it is.
I feel genuinely for people who lose their jobs. We can all fall on hard times, and sometimes we just have to do what we have to do to survive. But come on, do you REALLY think working as a FG gas station attendant is the best option available under the circumstances?... I mean, fuck me senseless...

Back when Nova was in its protracted, Generalissimo Franco-style death throes, a message was posted on one of the message boards by a temp company agent offering factory work. It had a sinister quality, like a galley-slave master pasting a smile on his face and offering the naive souls topside a secure, stable position below deck as a rower. Spooky.

I just can't imagine a native-speaking Westerner not being able to make a go of being an engrish teacher here. It might be necessary to lower your lesson fees, but the demand is certainly still there.

[wuchan]

Slightly off topic, but I think new types of jobs have opened up to foreigners very recently. Off the top of my head, I've seen over the last 2 months:

• An English speaking waitress with a katakana name at a family restaurant (I believe she was Filipina)
• A waiter of middle eastern descent at a washoku chain restaurant
• A caucasian, English-speaking floor salesperson at Bic Camera.

I very rarely saw anything like this before 2008. So I think something is changing. Still, I hate to say it, but I have a hunch only a small percentage of English language teachers could get these jobs, or a convenience store, gas station, or truck driving job, due to their level of Japanese. But for teachers who are fluent enough to use Japanese in a work environment and avoid major miscommunications with colleagues and customers (and I think there are plenty), I think the number of options for alternative employment may be on the rise.

A while ago I saw a nigerian working at an AMPM in ebuisu. I don't think he spoke very much japanese, I had to explain to him what chu-hi was.

[Mike Oxlong]

Like OM said, there are other Western born & bred people working in other fields recently. Saw a honky working at the Apple Store recently, and also at Maruzen. Naturally, they both had language skillz that must have been a factor in being hired. Not the "10 years in Japan and I know 10 words of Japanese and proud of it!" sorts...

[Behan]

A while ago I saw a nigerian working at an AMPM in ebuisu. I don't think he spoke very much japanese, I had to explain to him what chu-hi was.

I have seen Chinese waitresses at a couple of restuarants in Chiba. Maybe some restaurant chains are recruiting them. (?)

[Samurai_Jerk]

A lot of the non Japanese you see working at convenience stores, bars, and restaurants in Tokyo are students doing baito. Most of the rest are probably on spouses visas.

KJ, for Americans who have a shitty safety net and no health insurance back home, staying in Japan and working at 7-11 may indeed be the better option. This American would probably rather go home than do that though.

[CrankyBastard]

If you're in an English teaching job, or most any other kind of job here in Japan, a gift of the gab and a good line of patter will see you through the hard times to come.

[wuchan]

..... Americans who have a shitty safety net and no health insurance back home, staying in Japan and working at 7-11 may indeed be the better option. This American would probably rather go home than do that though.

The medical care is about 15 years behind the care I received back home. When the doctors here see my surgery scars they call a fuckin conference...... the topic is usually about how clean my scars are and how well my reconstructive surgery worked. They are totally in awe. It scares me. In most cases I demand what drugs I want and threaten to take my business to another clinic and then get what ever drugs I want. "My Dr back home have me........ and it worked!" !!!!! The mediacal professionals here know that they are light years behind the US, if you can prove that you know that, you get top treatment.