難破 - How important is English in Japan?

Nowadays, everyone knows the importance of speaking more than one language. Ever since my early middle-school days I have been going to a British English school, and that is the case with most of the Brazilians. Also, in my school, for the final 2 years of middle-school, we had Spanish lessons instead of English (the school thought that Spanish would be more important for Brazil since we are surrounded by Spanish-speaking countries).

In recent times, everyone must know English

 and any other language. You can choose any, as long as you speak English! I had the funniest conversation about this topic with a couple of Japanese friends a few weeks ago.

I come back to the International House where I currently live from a dinner party with a few Japanese friends and I find the two Japanese Resident Assistants (Japanese students who spend a few days a week in the dorm to help the foreigners with any issues that may come up) having dinner at the lobby.

We start talking amenities and end up on the subject of Dating and Romance in Japan. At one point in the conversation, as a joke, I throw a line that I heard in some Hollywood Movie or TV Series, with a Barry White'ish' low-pitched voice, after which the two girls burst into laughter! After that, they ask me how come I have "such good English". After telling them that I studied English for over 14 years they explain that in Japan the standard "English study" time is also around 12 years, but very few Japanese manage to be proficient at the language. The following part is better illustrated by dialog, so I will repeat it here.

Japanese Girl 1 - "Do you know what is the best compliment that you can ever say to Japanese girl? "

Me - "Hum, I don't know. Something in the likes of 'You are beautiful' ?"

Japanese Girl 1 - "No"

Me - "Hum, something like 'I love your the perfume you are wearing today'?"

Japanese Girl 2 - "No"

Me - "Maybe something like 'Your hair looks nice today'?"

Japanese Girl 1 - "No. But if you really want her to feel special, you have to say 'Hey, how come your English is so PERFECT'?"

Me - "Ha? What about the usual 'You look beautiful today' or 'Your dress is nice' and that kind of shit'?"

Japanese Girl 1 - "Oh, those can also work, but are a distant second to 'Your English is perfect'!"

Looking at my watch, I realized it was already 2:00 AM, so I went to bed, wondering if, on a date, I would ever have the balls to try something like that without laughing my ass off!

I guess English has become really important these days...

はじめに

ほら！

Welcome! After 9 months in Japan, I finally decided to start a new blog. Thought that maybe I would have a few interesting stories about the country and the people!

As a start, I would like to try to explain the blog's title. Anyone who has been in Japan knows that it is one of the funniest countries for English speakers, because we find so many direct translation English mistakes walking around the country that you can be amused by just looking at those signs/posters(anyone who has visited www.engrish.com knows it).

So, instead of coming up with some incredibly creative, motivational, deep title for the blog, I decided to name it "Wesupportyoursockslife", because most of what is going to be published here will be of very low intellectual value, but I assure you that I will try to make it as funny as possible...

Anyways, feel free to drop me a line if you feel like it. Either way, I am sure very few people will memorize the blog's URL and even fewer will Bookmark it, permalink or subscribe to the RSS feeds (don't even know if it is possible....)

So, have a good one! And remember, there's always people who will support your socks life...