By Kwan Weng Kin, Japan Correspondent

TOKYO: The Japanese government has set an ambitious goal of making the Japanese fluent in English, by recommending that all English classes for those aged 16 to 18 are taught mainly in that language from 2013.

The inability of most Japanese to speak English, despite compulsory classes from the age of 13, is well known and a source of embarrassment for Japan.

In Stockholm last month, Professor Toshihide Masukawa, a co-winner of this year's Nobel Prize in physics, insisted on delivering his lecture in Japanese.

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