竹下登首相在1951年从政前曾是一位英语教师。但当他1988年1月访问华盛顿,打算用英语作一番简短的致词时,马上发现他的发音太糟,不得不请人为他讲演的其余部分作翻译。他对此打趣道:“我那些可怜的学生太不幸了,上我的课无从提高他们的交流能力。”竹下登首相的例子在日本并不罕见,而是通病。许多日本人热切期望使用这门世界上最常用的语言,然而即使他们象竹下那样受过高等教育,有决心,又勤奋苦练,仍对掌握这门语言无可奈 Prime Minister Takesayuki Takeshita was an English teacher before his administration in 1951. However, when he visited Washington in January 1988 and intended to make a brief speech in English, he immediately realized that his pronunciation was so bad that he had to invite someone to translate the rest of his speech. He joked: “My poor students are so unfortunate that my class did not improve their ability to communicate.” The prime example of Prime Minister Takeshita was not uncommon in Japan, but a common problem. Many Japanese are eager to use the world’s most commonly used language, but even if they are as highly educated, determined and hard-working as Takeshita, they still have no alternative but to master this language