New TOEIC Book

Right now we are in the final stages of a revised TOEIC book. This one is called Hajimete no TOEIC. It is published by 旺文社. Actually, the original version of the book has sold quite well, but the editors at 旺文社 felt that it was time to revise this book, since we had already revised our three TOEFL books earlier this year.

I am pleased to say that this book should be very helpful in presenting the TOEIC to those potential test-takers who are not so familiar with the test. I would like to say a big "thank you" to the team that helped to bring this project to fruition, especially to Ms. Kuratani who has been instrumental in putting this book together. I hope that this book will help people overcome the first "wall of fear" when it comes to TOEIC.

Robert

Changing People's Lives

Those of you who know me well realize that I am a kind of missionary. Not in a Christian meaning, but in the sense that it is important to help change people's lives for the better. Of course, being paid for my efforts is important so that I can support my family. But a very important motivation for me is to feel that I can "make a difference" in terms of helping Japanese people and Japanese companies compete more successfully in today's increasingly diverse, global business world.

I had a really positive, but tiring, experience yesterday. I won't say the name of the company, but it is a very, very traditional Japanese company that is 一所懸命 trying to globalize. They have a policy that all of their staff, including senior managers, must attain at least 600 on the TOEIC. There were 15 participants in the class, ranging in age from (my best guess) 45 to 58. In other words, these guys were really senior inside their company.

It was clear from the beginning that a high percentage of the participants had been forced to attend the session. Their body language was far from positive. For this particular seminar, I had already decided to experiment a bit. I asked a series of questions designed to find out precisely WHY they had not yet been successful at attaining their desired TOEIC score. To summarize, there were a few highly predictable patterns that arose:
1) They didn't like English. That part I expected. In fact, according to our data base, almost 75% of Japanese business people these days are either hostile toward English or have a neutral opinion of it.
2) They had not systematically studied for the test. Most of the members were in this category. So it was easy to respond to them "Well, what do you think?" "Ifyou don't study, your TOEIC score will not rise as much as you hope."
3) There were a few people, however, who had been seriously studying for TOEIC, but had seen their score rise despite their efforts.

This latter group was the most important. And those members become the focus of the day. In other words, people who were serious about improving their TOEIC score, but were unable to find a way to do so.

The last question in the series was, "How well do you understand the internal logic of the TOEIC?" Here's where we were able to solve some of the mysteries. Even though several people had tried several times to get their target TOEIC score, they seemed to be bumping up against a "wall" in terms of their score improvement. So I promised those people that a more measured, systematic approach to the TOEIC would be likely to bear fruit for them.

They key is to study systematically for the the actual test. Become familiar with the types of items you are likely to encounter. They you will be much more likely to achieve the target score you desire within your actual abilities.


Anyway, even though the initial reception I received from the group was frosty ("Why do I have to be here?!?!"), by the middle of the afternoon we had attained a highly forward-facing environment. I think I had convinced the members that they were intelligent, talented people. And English could be a way of helping them to express their actual abilities to the world.

Robert

Long Thermometer and Asking about Salary

Two things for today's post:

1. Long Thermometer
Do you know this expression in English? We use it to describe the situation where the high temperature during the day is significantly higher than the low temperature in the very early morning. My hometown of San Diego is famous for this phenomenon, especially in the winter season. Sometimes it can be as high as 30 degrees during the day , but fall to 3 or 4 degrees just before sunrise. According to what I heard on television two days ago, April is the month with the longest thermometer in Japan. It's easy to catch a cold during this Spring season, so please be careful to stay warm at night.

2. Asking about Salary
In our training, we often talk about what motivates Chinese managers working for Japanese companies in China to change jobs. Usually, most people automatically think that the reason is salary, i.e., they want more money. And for operator-level factory personnel, money is indeed a big motivator. If the neighboring factory pays a few hundred RMB more, people will often change jobs. And in any case, there are few secrets, because Chinese as a tendency feel comfortable talking openly about how much money they make. There are few secrets!

So, about two weeks ago I saw a very interesting program on Japanese TV where the interviewers were asking random people on the street precisely how much their salaries were. For most places in Japan, especially Tokyo, the question itself was very uncomfortable and people did their best to escape answering. But there was one particular city where Japanese behavior parallels the typical Chinese behavior. Can you guess? . . .

It's Osaka. People in Osaka did not hesitate to tell the interviewer in very concrete terms how much money they made. I guess, though, that this should not be shocking to me. I often say that I feel as if I need a passport when I go to Osaka. I love the city, the people, and the food. But, やっぱり it is different from other places in Japan! Being willing to talk openly about salary was just one more reason that I felt Osaka is special!

Robert {/hiyob_en/

Uneven numbers

So, we just got back from our Kyushu vacation. It was fantastic. I love southern Kyushu!!

Now I am in Tokyo for a business trip. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom. It's gorgeous.

However, one thing that was shocking to me was when I used my Suica to commute from my hotel to the training venue. When I got out of Shimbashi station, the charge on my Suica was \464. \464!! It seems that my coworkers also experienced a similar kind of shocking surprise. The universal opinion from our group: Why not just make it \470??

Anyway, I guess that many of us are going to need to take some time to get accustomed to the new 8% sales tax.

Robert