It’s eight in the morning in a Tokyo office building, and a dozen middle-aged Japanese businessmen sit inside small booths, sweating as they try to talk English to the instructors in front of them。

“I hope my wife will understand my hobby,” one 40-something man says, opening his mouth widely around the English words。

He is one of legions of Japanese businessmen, or “salarymen,” struggling with a language they thought they had left behind them in school as fears mount that the growing push by Japanese companies into overseas business will mean a dark future for them without usable English。

This is especially true these days, with the strong yen and a lagging domestic market prompting more firms to look overseas for business opportunities essential for their bottom lines。

“I had a business trip to Amsterdam last year and that really was tough. My boss spoke no English, and I had to speak English for the first time in 10 years,” said Masahide Tachibana, a 39-year-old software developer。

Tachibana now gets up at 5:00 a.m. to take morning lessons at a central Tokyo branch of Gaba, an English language school。

“I’ve always wanted to brush up my English and that business trip ignited my aspirations,” said Tachibana, as around him other businessmen and women pack up and hurry to work after their 45-minute,

one-on-one lessons。

Japan, despite being the world’s third-largest economy and a major export powerhouse, is known for its poor English-speaking ability even though six years of study are required in middle and high school。

The country’s average score on the TOEFL iBT, a computer-based test of English as a foreign language, in 2010 ranked 27th among 30 Asian countries, below Mongolia and Turkmenistan。

Only 9 percent of 1,156 white-collar workers surveyed by Recruit Agent, a recruiting firm, claim to be able to communicate in English. Many respondents evaluated their speaking and listening aptitude as “Barely.”

But things are starting to change, prompted by a growing sense of urgency about employment。

As a result, Japan’s foreign language education market is growing, with learners more than willing to fork out plenty of money on lessons, DVDs or e-learning。

早晨8点，东京的一座写字楼里，12名中年日本商人坐在小隔间里，吃力地测验与对面的教师用英语攀谈。

一位四十岁支配的男人张大嘴巴说着英语：“我期望老婆了解我的喜爱。”

像他这样的许多职工，也称为“工薪族”早就把在校学习的英语课程忘掉了，所以正奋力重拾英语。因为他们忧虑，跟着日本公司拓荒海外商场的脚步加速，假定不能熟练运用英语，作业前景会一片昏暗。

这就是日本当今的真实描写。因为日元走势微弱，一起日本国内商场疲软，更多的公司转向海外商场寻找机缘，这对其获利很要害。

39岁的软件开发商立花正英说：“我上一年去阿姆斯特丹出了趟差，感触很困难。我的老板不会说英语，我也有10年没开口说过英文了。”

立花正英如今每天早晨5点起床，去参加Gaba英语培训学校东京中心分部的早间课程。

他说：“我一向想前进英语水平，那次出差激起了我的学习愿望。”在他周围，许多其他的商业职工在上完45分钟的一对一课程后，正拾掇东西赶去上班。

日本尽管是全球第三大经济体，也是首要的出口国，而且中学期间需肄业习6年英语，但国民英语水平之差却是尽人皆知。

日本2010年的新托福考试成果在30个亚洲国家中排名第27，还不及蒙古和土库曼斯坦。新托福考试选用机考方法，是关于非英语国家的英语水平查验。

根据招聘公司“招聘中介”的查询，在1156名日本白遵循访者中，仅有9%自称可以用英语交流。许多受访者认为自个的英文传闻才能“几乎为零”。

但因为作业需要的急迫性，这一情况已初步有所改观。

因而，日本的外语培训商场逐步昌盛，学习者非常愿意掏腰包就读英语学习课程，收购英语学习光碟，或付费参加网络课堂。