A few years ago one of my Junior High school students told me about 4-character Japanese idioms (四字熟語 ). I thought it was interesting so I asked her to give me an example.
She said 優柔不断。Which is pronounced YUU JU FUDAN and translates roughly as “procrastination” or “indecision”.
Hmm……? That seems to describe the state of thought that most Japanese young people are in from the beginning of high school to the end of college when it comes to taking action to really try to master English communication during those years when they actually have time to do it. Luckily some of them (very few unfortunately) decide to do it. But good for them! I can only help those who have decided that they need help.
No need to “put it off” until you start working. “The early bird gets the worm”. And I am happy to help those who want better “worm-getting” techniques. English can really help a person to stand out as a better job prospect and it will allow him/her to travel and enjoy communicating directly with a lot of people around the world (about 10x as many as speaking Japanese alone can do). It is really worth the effort. As an example I am really glad that I made the effort to learn Japanese when I was a university student.
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