シャドーイング練習: Why does Japan work so hard? | CNBC Explains - 動画で英語スピーキングを学ぶ

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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.

このビデオでスピーキングを練習する理由

このビデオは、日本の働き方の文化やそれに伴う問題を掘り下げています。特に、長時間働くことが当たり前になっている日本では、労働者の健康や仕事の生産性が危機に瀕しています。このようなテーマに基づいたビデオを使って英語での会話を練習することは、現代の社会問題について議論する力を高めるための良い方法です。shadowspeaksを活用し、このビデオを通じて様々な状況でどうコミュニケーションを取るかを考えながら練習することができます。

文法と表現のコンテキスト

このビデオでは、以下のような重要な文法構造と表現が使われています。

  • 死亡を表す単語「karoshi」 - 「karoshi」は過労死を意味し、特定の文化的背景を反映します。このような特異な表現を理解することは、英語のスピーキング力を向上させる上で大変重要です。
  • 比較級に関する文 - 「日本はG7諸国の中で最低の生産性を持っている」という表現は、比較の仕方を学ぶ良い例です。
  • 未来形の使用 - 新しい政策が「来るべき未来に影響を及ぼす」といった具合に、将来の出来事を表すために未来形を使っています。

こうした構造を自分のスピーキングの中で使用することで、より流暢に英語を話せるようになります。特に、shadow speakを通じて、実際の会話の中でこれらの文法を自然に使う練習をしましょう。

一般的な発音の罠

ビデオ内で注意すべき発音のポイントもいくつかあります。例えば、「karoshi」の発音は英語話者にとって難しい場合があります。また、「economic miracle」というフレーズのリズムや強勢にも留意が必要です。

ビデオの内容を繰り返し聞き、英語の発音を良くすることに焦点を当てながら練習することが大切です。shadow speechを試みることで、ネイティブスピーカーに近い発音が実現できるでしょう。このような方法により、自信を持って話す力を養えます。ぜひ、shadowing siteを参考にして、自身のスピーキングスキルを一層磨いてください。

シャドーイングとは？英語上達に効果的な理由

シャドーイング（Shadowing）は、もともとプロの通訳者養成プログラムで開発された言語学習法で、多言語習得者として知られるDr. Alexander Arguelles によって広く普及されました。方法はシンプルですが非常に効果的：ネイティブスピーカーの英語を聞きながら、1〜2秒の遅延で声に出してすぐに繰り返す——まるで「影（shadow）」のように話者を追いかけます。文法ドリルや受動的なリスニングと異なり、シャドーイングは脳と口の筋肉が同時にリアルタイムで英語を処理・再現することを強制します。研究により、発音精度、抑揚、リズム、連音、リスニング力、そして会話の流暢さが大幅に向上することが確認されています。IELTSスピーキング対策や自然な英語コミュニケーションを目指す方に特におすすめです。