English Conversation Lessons with Native Speakers Are Poor Value for Money. Why I Still Want One Occasionally

I used to attend one-on-one English conversation classes.

My instructor was a native speaker, and we would speak in English for about an hour once a week.

But eventually, I quit.

The reason was simple: it was expensive.

I was paying a considerable amount of money just to speak with a native speaker for one hour a week. Over time, I began to wonder whether it was really worth the cost.

Do you need a native-speaking teacher to study English in the first place?

For listening practice, there is an endless supply of material on YouTube, television, and elsewhere. You can read books in English too.

These days, I speak online with a Filipino instructor for about 30 minutes every day. Each lesson costs around ¥400, or roughly $2.70.

If the goal is to maintain the habit of speaking English, I think this is enough.

Paying high tuition for a native-speaking teacher does not make your English improve in proportion to the price.

In that case, the cheaper option is better.

It is a brutally practical conclusion.

Learning English and Getting to Know Foreigners Are Different Things

And yet, when I look back on my old conversation classes, I realize that I had some unexpectedly interesting experiences there.

What made them interesting was not the English itself, but the chance to encounter the way the other person thought.

When I talk with Filipino teachers, they also teach me a great deal about Filipino culture and daily life.

But conversations with Americans, British people, and people from elsewhere in Europe reveal different worlds again.

You hear their honest opinions and the subtle ways they perceive things—things that never appear in textbooks.

Reaching that level of conversation, however, requires a certain command of English.

Standard phrases of the kind you use while traveling will not reveal another person’s values.

If you talk about the weather, move on to hobbies, and finish with “Japan is wonderful,” you learn nothing.

Considering that you have gone to the trouble of speaking with someone from another country, that feels like a bit of a waste.

What I Realized While Talking with a Polish Teacher

I once took lessons from an instructor from Poland.

One interesting topic that came up in our casual conversations was how Polish people view Western Europe and the countries around them.

From Japan, Europe tends to be lumped together as “the West.”

Britain, France, Germany, and Poland are all simply grouped together as Europe.

But for the people who live there, it is not that simple.

Their histories and cultures are different. Relations between countries also carry emotions that have accumulated over many years.

They may all look like Europeans to a Japanese person, but among themselves, there are subtle degrees of distance.

When you think about it, that is only natural.

Japanese, Chinese, and Korean people may all look like East Asians to people in Europe or North America.

But if someone told us, “You are all East Asian, so you are basically the same, right?” we would have to respond with an awkward smile.

No, we are not remotely the same.

Talking with my Polish teacher made me realize that Europe has its own version of these complicated relationships.

This is not the kind of subject that often appears in an English textbook.

They Do Not Even Need to Be a Native Speaker

Come to think of it, the other person does not need to be a native English speaker for you to have this kind of experience.

English is also a foreign language for Polish people.

The same is true for Filipinos, and there are countless people around the world who use English as a second language.

What matters is where the person comes from and what kind of experiences they have had.

English is merely a tool for talking with them.

There is, however, another problem here.

If you cannot chat freely in English, you cannot make the most of the opportunity.

Even if the other person tells an interesting story, the conversation ends if you cannot understand it.

And if you cannot ask thoughtful questions, the conversation will not go any deeper.

You need not only English ability but also the ability to make conversation in the first place.

That is a demanding combination.

Sometimes I Want to Talk with People from Other Countries Too

In the end, if I think only about learning English, I believe my current approach is enough.

I talk with a Filipino teacher every day for ¥400, or about $2.70. I also stay in contact with English by reading books and watching videos.

The value for money is not bad.

Still, every now and then, I would like to talk with an American, a British person, or someone from a country whose people I rarely encounter.

It is not so much that I want to improve my English. I want to know how those people see the world.

People in different countries can respond to the same news in different ways. Something considered obvious in Japan may make no sense at all elsewhere.

Discoveries like that are genuinely interesting.

Of course, I could pay a great deal of money to speak with someone from another country only to find that my English is not good enough and the conversation ends with, “Japanese sushi is delicious, isn’t it?”

When I think about that possibility, I decide that I should study English a little more first.

And I have been repeating that “a little more” for years.