Cross-cultural communication （39）　

39） Canadian Academy
The Canadian Academy (CA) is the oldest international school in the Kansai area. It was founded in 1913 and was originally located at the foot of Mt. Rokko, but it moved to its current location in the 1980s when Rokko Island was developed.

Herbert Norman was a Canadian who was seconded from the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work for GHQ when Japan was defeated in World War II and under American rule. He was also a historian, and is known for his research into the Edo-era thinker Ando Sho-eki, but his activities before becoming a diplomat were caught up in the “red hunting” of the then FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, and even after returning to Canada to become a diplomat, this continued to have an impact on him, and he ended up taking his own life. What is not well known is that Norman spent his childhood in Kobe as the son of a missionary. Yes, he was a graduate of CA..

Most of the students at CA today are long-term residents, mainly the children of English-speaking foreigners and Japanese returnees, and it seems that the majority of them hope to go on to university in an English-speaking country. Almost all of the students are bilingual in English and Japanese. I sometimes ride the Rokko Liner, an unmanned transportation system that connects the mainland with Rokko Island, and I sometimes find myself riding with CA students. I've noticed something interesting when I listen to their conversations. They use English and Japanese depending on the topic. For example, they use Japanese when talking about a crime that happened in their neighborhood or a Japanese celebrity, and English when talking about rock music or a crime that happened overseas. The way they switch between the two languages is also interesting. When someone starts speaking English to match the topic, everyone responds in English instantly. The reverse is also instantaneous. Although they speak Japanese, they are all from Kobe, so they speak in the Kansai dialect with a Kobe accent. .
When a line like “That guy's always late these days, isn't he?”in Japanese with Kobe accent suddenly comes out of the mouth of a Caucasian boy, it's a little surprising and funny..

Every country has its share of brash students. One time, I got on the Rokko Liner and found myself sitting next to three CA students. There were two male students and one female student. The girl was talking loudly and continuously. Her English was terrible. About once in every three words, she would use a four-letter word that can't be written in print and starts with the letter F. When I frowned, one of the boys noticed, gave the girl, who was still talking, a look, and turned to me and made an apologetic face. He probably thought that the loud voice was causing trouble. In order to clear up the misunderstanding, I said in English, “You shouldn't think that all Japanese people don't understand English. High school students shouldn't speak in such a crude way. In the English I have studied, I don't think her English is the kind of thing you should be speaking loudly in public transport.” The two boys apologized sincerely, but the girl was still frowning. However, after that, at least she was quiet.?

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