YouTube / iTunes / Spotify / Radio Public / Pocket Casts / Google Podcasts / Breaker / Overcast
Listen to ArtisanEnglish.jp posts & lesson intros here.
Idiom: Turn the tables
There are times in life when we have to cut our losses and accept defeat.
However, we should only do this after we have explored all of our options and tried every possible way to turn the tables.
When the tables have turned, you have moved from a position of weakness to a position of strength.
There are winners and losers in most games, negotiations, and life situations.
Yes, I realize everyone says they’d prefer a win-win outcome, but let’s be reasonable here; that’s a pipe dream.
Let’s look at one situation in which it’s possible to turn the tables with a little hard work and a lot of determination.
Wages in Japan have stagnated for a long time.
Few people are earning significantly more money than they did ten years ago.
Companies have much power.
Even though the government has asked businesses to increase salaries, they have been reluctant to do so.
At the moment, there’s very little workers can do about it.
They’re at a disadvantage.
If a person in Japan wanted to turn the tables and earn more money, how could they do that?
Well, increasing their English skills is one possible way.
Becoming bilingual is a great way to raise a person’s attractiveness to employers, give them more bargaining power and broaden their horizons.
The vast majority of people in this world are bilingual.
It may seem hard to believe, but the number of people worldwide who only speak one language is relatively small.
The used-to-be-common idea that Japanese can’t learn English is a relic of a bygone era.
Many Japanese can and do speak English very well.
Don’t look at English as something that you have to learn.
Look at it as something beneficial to you, something that will help you turn the tables.
Living and working overseas doesn’t seem so daunting if you can speak English.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least an 8th-grade education (age 13 – 14).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 69.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.