News Duolingo survey: just 10% of Japanese confident in their English

[thomas]

At the beginning of December, Duolingo released the results of a survey, which targeted 4,700 people aged between 15 and 59 whose mother tongue is Japanese: only 10.7% of Japanese people said they were confident in their English skills, highlighting Japanese people's phobia for the language, although they had studied it for years at school.

• Tokyo had the highest percentage of people who were confident about their English, totalling 20%, followed by Kanagawa Prefecture at 19%, Kyoto and Osaka prefectures each at 15%, with Fukushima, Tochigi and Kagoshima prefectures at 14%.
• 15.6% of people said they were learning a language voluntarily, excluding those studying in the compulsory education system. Broken down by age groups, 15- to 19-year-olds made up the highest number at 38.6%, followed by those in their 20s at 23.0%, showing youths' eagerness to learn another language.
• When asked which language they were studying, with multiple answers permitted, 84.1% named English, 25.0% said Korean and 12.5% said Chinese. In all age groups, more than 80% of respondents who said they were learning a foreign language picked English.
• While 10-15% of respondents in their 30s to 50s answered that they were learning Korean, the figure was higher among young people, with 37.0% of 15- to 19-year-olds and 26.0% of those in their 20s saying they were studying Korean, likely influenced by popular K-pop and Korean drama series.

Only 10% of Japanese confident in their English: Duolingo survey - The Mainichi

TOKYO -- Only 10.7% of Japanese people said in a recent survey that they were confident in their English skills, highlighting Japanese people's phobia

mainichi.jp

 

[Maciamo]

The results are not surprising if the respondents were learning English on Duolingo. I've completed the course in several languages on Duolingo but it only goes as far as upper beginner or lower intermediate, depending on the language. It's a good way to start learning a new language or to brush up on a language one hasn't used for many years, but it's not going to make people speak a language with confidence, especially since it's all written. So people who study on Duolingo are exactly those whose level of English is already too low to be confident in their abilities.

 

[mdchachi]

Tokyo had the highest percentage of people who were confident about their English, totalling 20%, followed by Kanagawa Prefecture at 19%, Kyoto and Osaka prefectures each at 15%, with Fukushima , Tochigi and Kagoshima prefectures at 14%.

This seems high to me. I guess they only surveyed people who were already engaged with learning English. Or maybe it included non-Japanese.
I'd be surprised if the percentage exceeded 1% in a random sample of Japanese nationals.

 

[thomas]

I think they were only surveying Duolingo users.