Stirk 先生のインタビュースクリプト（その３）Interviewer:
Do you find any change in attitude or general atmosphere of students?
Stirk:
Yes, things have change a lot. When I first came, the students were extremely quiet. Unless they thought
they knew a perfect answer to some question, they would prefer to stay completely silent. I think when I
asked a questions in class, then heads would go down and I couldn’t catch anybody’s eye for an answer.
But, yes, in maybe the last ten to fifteen years they’ve become much less shy of. . . of getting on to thenative English speaker and so on. So that hasn’t been a problem at all in last ten years, and the students
are talkative, talkative enough. And even in the last few years, they’re quite, quite cheeky which makes a,makes a pleasant change when they answer back or criticize in class. So that’s. . . yes, I found, rather
more, rather easier to cope with than silence. So, yes, in fact, I’ve enjoyed teaching much more the lastten years than I, I had done before that.
Interviewer:
So you are a very distinguished teacher. I’d like you to give some advice to students, um, English learners.
And because you have studied many foreign languages so far, so some useful advice is muchappreciated.
Stirk:I see. Well, something that has been striking me in the last few years. . . I’ve been trying to work it out isthat, eh, how can I express it. . . I think, what you need to do is. . . . I think, learning grammar fromgrammar books is maybe not really very helpful especially for adults. And I think what you really need to
do is to, well, if you can’t manage to speak so much, then reading, reading is always a good idea. And I
think rather than trying to learn grammar then, well, something that a French teacher at school, years ago,
told me was just to get some French novels that amuse you, I mean, I was really keen on science-fictionin those days, so I got some French novels on science fiction and just read them, and his advice was justcarry on reading, and as long as you can follow the story, so then that’s okay, you’re getting enough out ofthe, out of the novel. And parts of things you don’t understand, I mean, the descriptions and so on, thenjust don’t bother and you know, instead of looking up every word, which is, really, really awfully dispiriting.
Then, if you just read through a novel, and, as long as you’re enjoying the story and following it, thenthat’s okay. And then when you finish that, you read another novel, and gradually, gradually things will
work their way into your mind and you’ll remember them. And maybe I’d like to add to that, that when you,sometimes when you’re reading a novel or hearing, hearing something spoken in some language or you
read some poem or something, then maybe some, some sentence or phrase will attract you, or you learnsome new word in it. And it seems to be an interesting phrase. So then I think a good idea is just to repeat

it to yourself and maybe a dozen times, and let it come into your mind from time to time. And gradually
you’ll learn bits of phrases and so on, and I think that helps grammar as well as vocabulary in the end.
And so you gradually learn to compose new sentences according to what you’ve half-remembered. I thinkthat’s the. . . well, that would be my advice these days, yes.
Interviewer:I see.
Stirk:
Well, and thinking about people’s customs, and their different customs and habits in. . . from countries, it
suddenly struck me the other day about how a lot of our, a lot of our sort of social and cultural awarenessis rather unconscious. I mean because, thinking of the cats again and those amusing incidents. . . someyears ago, when. . . no, I usually, well, always call my wife by her name and she calls me by my name. But
when we first got the cats, then I used to say to the cats, you know, “Come along darlings” and “How are
you today sweetheart”, and so on. My wife suddenly said “Why don’t you ever use words like ‘darling’ and‘sweetheart’ to me?” and I was really puzzled, but I knew I never would. And then gradually I realized thatin the, in the community where I was brought up, then, you don’t use words like darling or sweetheart tosomeone you’d regard as an equal. You’d only use them to someone you regarded as inferior, well, notinferior, but not at the same level, like a child or a pet, for instance. And of course I was just following,following that custom automatically, and instinctively. So I would never call my wife “darling”, because I
would think that’s insulting to her. Of course with the cat, it’s okay isn’t it? And that’s where I think British
people are more like Japanese, I think. So when we hear Americans, I mean, we sort of think of them asrather being too effusive in saying, “I love you so much”, and it’s. . . that makes us feel a little bit sort ofuncomfortable or different, anyway.
Interviewer:
So it is often said that Japanese people say “I’m sorry” or “Excuse me” so easily. And but. . . I just visited
London last. . . this February, uh, March. So, then I noticed that people in London say “I’m sorry”, youknow, very much, So it was rather natural to me because I’m also from a culture in which people say “I’msorry” or “Excuse me”.
Stirk:
Yes, I think that’s certainly one similarity, culturally. And I think British people are famous in Europe for this,for saying “I’m sorry” all the time. So if someone treads on your foot, then you say “I’m sorry” to themrather than the other way around.