Almost off topic : English speaking nurses are coming in Japan

Japan is getting down to earth and this is no small thing.

"Japan will provide English translations in a professional nursing exam to remove a language hurdle for foreign applicants after almost all of them failed the test this year, officials said Wednesday.
Hundreds of nurses and care-givers from Indonesia and the Philippines have been allowed to work temporarily in rapidly ageing Japan, but they have to pass the Japanese-language test if they hope to stay longer than a few years.
To respond to rising complaints that the tests are discriminatory, the health ministry has also decided to simplify the wording of some of the exam questions ahead of the next test in February, ministry officials said.
"We have decided to review the exams because they place an extra burden on foreign applicants," said Yoko Shimada of the ministry's nursing section.
"English translations will help foreign nurse applicants read and understand the national examinations well, and we consider it's appropriate."
Historically, Japan has imposed tight limits on immigration but has allowed several hundred certified nurses and caregivers from Indonesia and the Philippines into the country to help make up a shortage of health care workers.
Those who hope to stay longer than three years in the case of nurses, and four years in the case of caregivers, need to pass the exams, forcing them to quickly learn thousands of Japanese characters and medical terms.
This year only three people -- two Indonesian nurses and one from the Philippines -- passed the test, while the other 251 applicants failed."

So your next medical interpreter in 20 years time in Tokyo will be from the Philippines. But tongue in cheeks apart, infiltration of English will come through the best service providers (besides the delivery companies) I know about : nurses. When I was involved in medical interpretation over the phone, multiple visits to the bookshop at the rich medics floor was and still is awash with books. The manuals for nurse exam prep are numerous but none would even come with readings of kanji (Chinese caracters), which I found a little bit disturbing. I finally found a small book that dared put readings. It was not geared at non-Japanese speakers, but at your average beginner nurse that did not specialized in traditional literature. Literacy rate in this country is 98% or above, because it takes into account the number of people who go to school. It doesn't take national exam scoring into account.

As with everything negative that can't pertain to Japan, domestic violence, AIDS and what else, it takes time to come down to the reality that Japan is, well, just another country. The fallacy of near perfect literacy will fall down. It will take more time though than it took the exam to usher in non-Japanese speaking (yes they will speak faster the language than write the files) nurses onto the market. The more there will be, the less they will be exploited as expected. And the more Japanese nurses will benefit, that is, for English. The proud doctors will cringe but it doesn't matter. And if you were contemplating a "career" in health care interpretation in Japan, you might want to think twice, and maybe thrice.

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Lionel Dersot
Language Interpretation for Business and Technology in Tokyo
Japan Liaison Agency and Business Support Services
Mobile : +81 90 6858 1106
Fax: +1 815 572-8300
lionel.dersot@japan-interpreters.com
Skype : lionelskp
http://www.lioneldersot.com
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