Shadowing Practice: Why does Japan work so hard? | CNBC Explains - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Working long hours is a way of life in Japan.
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So much so that some occasionally die from it.
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Kuroshi is a term that means death by overwork.
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So why are people working so hard and can it be fixed?
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Japan has some of the longest working hours in the world.
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Nearly a quarter of Japanese companies have their employees work more than 80 hours of overtime per month.
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Those extra hours are often unpaid.
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Today, Japan's corporate culture is driven by the so-called salaryman.
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The salaryman is defined by his loyalty to his company and expected to spend his entire career working for the same firm.
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Not only does he work long hours in the office, but it's also assumed he'll participate in after-work activities too, like drinking with colleagues.
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And they're not taking enough time off.
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In 2017, one survey found that despite being entitled to 20 days off per year, Japanese workers left 10 of those days unused,
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used, topping every other country in the survey.
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You don't have to be in the confines of corporate walls to feel the impact of its work culture.
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It's 3 a.m.
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Thursday morning right now in Tokyo.
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I'm in the area of Ginza.
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Every few minutes I see a man wearing a suit holding a briefcase.
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The nation's work ethic dates back to what's referred to as Japan's economic miracle, which was its dramatic economic growth beginning in the 1950s,
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which propelled it to become the world's second largest economy.
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Inside Japan's corporations, the culture emphasizes the success of a company as a whole to be more important than any single individual,
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which might explain why one study found that 63% of Japanese felt guilty for taking paid leave.
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But perhaps more concerning is this.
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Long work hours don't necessarily mean high productivity.
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In fact, Japan has the lowest productivity amongst the G7 nations.
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Earlier I mentioned the term karoshi.
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It means death by overwork.
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It's legally recognized by the government and usually is marked by a heart attack, stroke, or suicide due to stress.
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There's hundreds of cases of karoshi reported annually, although some argue these cases are underreported and that the real number could exceed that by up to 10 times.
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An employee of the advertising firm, Dentsu, jumped to her death in 2015.
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The cause was said to have been depression caused by overwork.
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The case generated widespread attention and renewed calls to change the long working hours and illegal unpaid overtime, highly common in Japan.
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The firm was fined for violating labor standards
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because she was reportedly forced to work more than 100 hours of overtime per month.
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The company's CEO even resigned over the controversy.
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After the death, Dentsu made some changes within the company.
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One of them, the lights in the office now turn off at 10pm every night in an effort to force employees to leave.
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Both the government and companies are now actively trying to reduce the number of working hours here.
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And there are some early signs of hope.
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Japan's government has considered several initiatives to curb the number of hours spent at the office, including making it mandatory to take at least five vacation days a year
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and requiring a rest period between the end of one day and the start of another.
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In 2016, a new holiday, Mountain Day, was started, bringing Japan's number of annual public holidays to 16.
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And in 2017, the government launched an initiative called Premium Fridays,
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in which it encouraged companies to allow their employees to leave at 3 p.m on the last Friday of the month, promoting consumer spending and less time in the office.
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But one study found that less than 4% of employees in Japan actually left early on the first Premium Friday.
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Which is why, despite these initiatives, a cultural challenge still looms.
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Since Japan's culture emphasizes the group over the individual, well, no one wants to be the first one to leave the office.
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And there's another reason that there's pressure on people to work hard.
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Japan's economy is in danger, and in order to maintain its massive size, Japan needs to put in the hours.
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Japan lost its spot as the world's second largest economy to China in 2011, a title that it had previously held for 42 years.
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Japan is dealing with a labor crisis.
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Its population is aging fast, and its birth rate is in decline.
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That means its total population is going down.
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And in the next 50 years, it's projected to shrink by nearly a third.
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The population is expected to go from 127 million in 2015 to just 88 million by 2065.
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There's two likely ways that a nation can compensate for the labor shortage, immigrants or robots.
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Japan has always been less inclined to accept immigrants.
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In fact, its percentage of foreign workers is tiny compared to other nations of large economies.
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So without more immigrants, it's looking to robotics to fill in the gap.
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Its robotics industry has spanned from hospitality to manufacturing, and now even reaching farms by creating robots that melt cows.
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But whether technology could open the door for a better work-life balance for Japan's workforce still remains to be seen.
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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección
Esta lección de conversación de nivel B2 se basa en el vídeo “Why does Japan work so hard?”. Las palabras que más se repiten: Japan, employee, culture, overwork, overtime. Este vídeo tiene 61 frases y 857 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 4:55. El hablante habla a un ritmo natural de unas 174 palabras por minuto, cercano a una conversación cotidiana. El 86 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés; conviene repasar el resto antes de empezar.
Vocabulario clave de este vídeo
Las 15 palabras más avanzadas del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:
| Palabra | Pronunciación | Significado |
|---|---|---|
| overwork sustantivo | /ˈəʊvəˌwɜːk/ | sobretrabajo |
| overtime sustantivo | /ˈoʊ.vɚˌtaɪm/ | horas extras, tiempo de más |
| immigrant sustantivo | /ˈɪmɪɡɹənt/ | inmigrante |
| robotics sustantivo | /ɹoʊˈbɑ.tɪks/ | robótica |
| emphasize verbo | /ˈɛm.fə.saɪz/ | enfatizar, hacer hincapié |
| unpaid adjetivo | /ʌnˈpeɪd/ | no remunerado |
| productivity sustantivo | /ˌpɹɒdʌkˈtɪvəti/ | productividad |
| briefcase sustantivo | /ˈbɹiːfˌkeɪs/ | maletín |
| confine verbo | /ˈkɑnfaɪn/ | confinar, encorsetar |
| propel verbo | /pɹəˈpɛl/ | propeler |
| unused adjetivo | /ʌnˈjuzd/ | inusitado, inusado |
| renew verbo | /ɹɪˈnjuː/ | reanudar, renovar |
| violate verbo | /ˈvaɪəˌleɪt/ | violar, vulnerar |
| compensate verbo | /ˈkɑm.pənˌseɪt/ | compensar |
| curb sustantivo | /kɝb/ | bordillo, sardinel |
Gramática en este vídeo
Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:
| Estructura | En el vídeo |
|---|---|
| Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace | be fixed · is driven · is defined |
| Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora | has considered · has always been · has spanned |
Pronunciación a tener en cuenta
El hablante usa 5 contracciones y formas reducidas, como don't, he'll, I'm. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.
- Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: karoshi /kəˈɹəʊʃi/, shortage /ˈʃɔː(ɹ)tɪd͡ʒ/
- Palabras largas — cuida el acento: salaryman /ˈsæl.əɹ.i.mæn/, productivity /ˌpɹɒdʌkˈtɪvəti/, hospitality /ˌhɑ.spɪˈtæl.ə.ti/, reportedly /ɹɪˈpɔːtɪdli/, mandatory /ˈmæn.dəˌtɔɹ.i/
Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:
- /v/ — no es /b/: los dientes tocan el labio inferior: overwork /ˈəʊvəˌwɜːk/, overtime /ˈoʊ.vɚˌtaɪm/, productivity /ˌpɹɒdʌkˈtɪvəti/, violate /ˈvaɪəˌleɪt/
- /z/ — sonora, no /s/: emphasize /ˈɛm.fə.saɪz/, unused /ʌnˈjuzd/, resign /ɹɪˈzaɪn/
Cómo practicar con este vídeo
- Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
- Empieza a velocidad 0,75×, haz shadowing frase por frase y vuelve a la velocidad normal cuando te resulte fácil.
- Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como overwork, overtime, immigrant.
¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?
Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.