Educational Level, Length of Residency, and Japanese Language Use of Spanish-Speaking Unskilled Workers in Japan

Abstract

Since 1990, a number of Spanish-speaking migrants arrived in Japan to work on manufacturing jobs without any official support for improving their Japanese language abilities and social adjustment to Japanese society. This paper reports the initial results of a questionnaire to Spanish-speaking adults living in Japan, which focused on their Japanese language abilities and their use of Japanese in the private and social domains, in relation to their educational levels in their home countries. After more than twenty-five years living in Japan, this is a marginalized minority with a precarious, lack of social integration and unstable employment status, along with limited Japanese language ability in all social domains.