Is Native actually a requirement to be an ALT in Japan?

22 comments

1. The market has been in decline and more and more “non-native” workers are able to work at these jobs.

2. 1. They will work for less money.
   2. They do as they are told without complaining because they are grateful to be in Japan.

3. The minimum requirement is a pulse.

4. Being a native speaker is a employer requirement and not a visa requirement. The visa requirement for instructor visa is 12 years of education taught in English. Philippines is one of the few non western countries that does all their schooling in English.

5. Chances are they don’t need a work visa (marriage to Japanese for example) and willing to work for low wages.

6. There is no requirement to be a native speaker.

7. [deleted]

8. Just a heartbeat is enough

9. they are bilinguals, and their schooling is primarily in English.

10. Philippine people are immensely talented and usually at least tri-lingual in Japan. Filipino/English/Japanese sometimes Malay. I think the cultural insight from anywhere English is learned is important.

11. Being a native speaker isn’t a prerequisite for teaching ESL. I find it likely that at least some of the ALTs you mention have some kind of teaching qualification.

    I’d also like to know how you are able to judge their competency without having seen their classes. I often have to remind people that much of the research done in the feild has been by non-native speakers.

12. Not hating or judging but I’m just genuinely surprised to hear about there being ALTs from Vietnam.

13. I think you’ll find that native speakers can’t afford to come and work in Japan anymore and with China taking the lions share of native speakers, future ALTs with either be source from The Philippines or India.

14. In the case of the Philippines, English IS actually listed as an official language of the country. So technically they are “native”. Though from my experience it very much is dependent on where they grew up or education on how hit or miss the English ability of the person is.

    I’ve heard both perfect English and…. Not so great in the farthest extremes possible.

    In many cases for alt dispatch work, it is just a pulse needed to snatch that contract money for the company.

15. They’re not…. But they are likely better than the Japanese “English teacher” Soooo…..Yeah.

16. You can just say the name. We all know that it’s heart, lol.

17. To be an alt or work at an eikaiwa, you just need a work Visa. It’s up to the employer if they want their standards to be native English speakers or anything else.

    That being said, getting employees from the Philippines is very difficult (legitimately). There have been visa abuse cases in the past so the Philippines is a bit reluctant to approve visas to Japan for work. So a lot of the less reputable companies get them in through marriage, student, or vacation visas instead.

18. re: Phillipines, correct me if I’m wrong, but if the majority of your education was in English, that qualifies you but doesn’t necessarily make you a native speaker in the way normal people think of it?

19. You don’t have to be a native speaker to receive the instructor visa. You just need to be from an English speaking country or prove that you have 12 years of education taught in English. So people from non-English speaking countries can get the instructor visa. The Philippines is considered an English speaking country and therefore Filipinos don’t need to prove education in English.

    Also this requirement is unnecessary if the person already has a visa that allows them to work, such as a spousal visa or permanent residency.

20. I have seen that far back as….and was the beginning of what you see as probably the new norm. But, rather than pointing at those people with questionable English, I think the core issue comes down to the “YEN” (Pay less for more or the same work).

    Also, hiring those who are from English-speaking countries is too expensive. The cost of living in those countries has changed.

21. They work harder and get paid less

22. Japanese people like calling foreign people who can speak even just a touch of basic English, “native speakers”.

    Oh, and I might be one of those Vietnamese or Filipinos with questionable English abilities.

    Why do I work as an ALT? More free time. I’m not held back by the company as I have an independent visa.

    I could be earning triple with another job, but I’m working 5x less.