Japanese people work very hard at studying English. They start studying English at the age of 12. Most young Japanese people spend a lot of time and work hard at studying English, but Japanese people are not good at English. Here are the reasons: There are few people from English-speaking countries in Japan. They don't have enough chances to speak with them. Japan is an island country and they feel that other countries are far away. So they don't use English very often. And the Japanese feel that it is strange  to talk to each other in English. The Japanese education doesn't always follow the educational trends  in the world. It puts a lot of importance on grammar and vocabulary, and less on speaking, listening and reading skills. Many Japanese students' English becomes worse  after they go to university .They have to learn English again if they work in English-speaking countries. Sometimes the Japanese feel shy about speaking wrong or broken English. How is the university students' English in Japan?
Very good Worse than before Very bad As good as before