SOMEYA Yasumasa Aoyama Gakuin University someya@someya-net.com The State of Written Business Communication in English in the Japanese Workplace: A Questionnaire Survey Update (c) 2005 Someya Yasumasa Survey Period: July – October 2004 SOMEYA Yasumasa Aoyama Gakuin University someya@someya-net.com 　 I believe it’s no news at all to this audience that English is the lingua franca of international business today, and the ability to use it has become one of the basic prerequisites -- without which you are not even allowed to participate in the game. In countries like Japan where English is learned only as a school subject, people usually do not have a real motive to learn it -- other than, perhaps, to get a good grade on their school reports for whatever reasons. But once you graduated from school and started working for a company, you suddenly come to feel a pressing and immediate need for it -- because, as I said earlier, it is now one of the basic prerequisites to be a capable business person. Naturally, people are investing a lot of time and money to learn English for Business Purposes, or EBP. As a result, there is currently an abundance of EBP teaching/learning materials available everywhere on the market. The good news, perhaps, is that EBP seems to be undergoing a major change in many respects, due mainly to the recent, very rapid, technological advance in the media of interpersonal business communication. However, very little is in fact known about the effects of the current, on-going, technological revolution on actual communication process and the language used therein. The current survey has been conducted against this background, with the hope to find out -- First, about how EBP is perceived by the Japanese business people and, second, about what are actually happening in the Japanese workplace today with regard to business communication conducted in English. Now let me briefly discuss some of the major findings of the survey. First, the current survey is... Presented at the 5th Asia-Pacific Conference of the Association for Business Communication, Chuo University, May 28-29, 2005.

1.  Purpose of the Survey This survey is a follow-up of the previous survey conducted in 1998*, and its purpose is to collect basic data as to the current state of written business communication in English in the Japanese workplace, and thereby compare the results with those of 1998 to see if there are any significant development or changes in the past six years. --------------------- * Someya, Y (1999). "The State of Written Business Communication in the Japanese Workplace: A Questionnaire Survey." A paper presented at the 64th Convention of the Association for Business Communication, Los Angeles, November 5, 1999.  染谷泰正 (1999) 「ビジネス英語のニーズと実態に関するアンケート調査」 『ビジネス英語習得術』 (pp. 116-121) アルク First, the current survey is...

2. Survey Period and Data Collection The survey was conducted between July and October 2004 on the same sampling population as that of the 1998 survey, using the same questionnaire* as that used in the previous survey. A total of 300+ questionnaire forms were either sent by surface mail or directly distributed to the sampling population, and a final tally of 73 valid responses were obtained. --------------------- * See Page 5 for details of the questionnaire

3. Respondents (Sampling Population) a)  Participants of a business writing correspondence course offered by a Tokyo-based publisher. * b)  Participants of three one-day seminars on business writing conducted during the survey period by two Tokyo-based business consultants. Total number of questionnaire distributed: 300+ Total number of valid responses (a+b): 73 Percentage of valid responses: 24.3% --------------------- * Due to inappropriate handling of the questionnaire, only 23 valid responses were obtained from this group.

4. Survey Questions (See Questionnaire Form) Q1   Profile of the Respondents a) Age, b) Yrs of Service, c) Types of Business, d) Size of Business Q2   Is English necessary at your workplace? (How do you assess the need of English at your workplace?) Q3 Among the following five areas of English skills, choose three most important areas for you and indicate their relative priority. Q4   How do you define the type of English you use at your workplace? Q5   What are the estimated proportions of the recipients of your business messages being native (NS) and/or non-native (NNS) speakers of English? Q6   Choose three most frequently used means of sending business messages overseas from below, and indicate their relative priority. Cont’d...

4.  Survey Questions (2/2) Q7 Do you write English business messages all by yourself? Q8 How often do you write business messages in English? Q9 What are the approx. proportions of "in-house" and “out- going" documents written in English at your workplace? Q10 Does you company has an official manual for business writing? Q11 Have you ever received any formal training in business Q12 Do you find any noticeable changes in the business docu- ments you write or receive due to increased use of fax and e-mail? If yes, what are they? Q13 Mention three major problems you have in writing business messages in English. --------------------- * All the questions were given in Japanese in the original questionnaire.

Q1 Profile of the Respondents * 1-1)　Gender 1-2)　Age 2004 1-3)　Years of Service 1-4)　Type of Business 1-5)　Size of Business 1) The male-female proportion is about 45 to 44 on a percentage basis. Compared with the data from the previous survey, the female proportion has increased by about 4% (which is not statistically significant.) 2) This increase in the female samples has occured mainly in the age range of 20-29, which account for about 41% of the entire sample population as shown in Chart 1-2. 3) This increase in the younger population is also reflected in Chart 1-3, which shows the distribution of the samples based on their experience in terms of years of service. 4) Chart 1-3 shows the types of business our respondents are involved in. It shows that 48% come from the manufacturing sector and 30% from the service secter. The proportion of the service sector shows a decrease of about 10% from 1989, but this is largely accounted for by the increase in the NA category. 5) So, in summary, the sample population for the current survey is quite similar to that of the 1989 survey, although the size is about a half. --------------------- * See Handout (pp.4-5) for comparison of the data with those from the 1998 survey.

Q2 Is English necessary at your workplace? Asked about the need for English at their workplace, an overwhelming majority of the respondents (82%) replied that English is absolutely necessary. (No one replied that English is NOT necessary.) This result confirms our initial assumption that English has now become one of the basic prerequisites for most business people today. Data from the1998 Survey 2004

Q3 Three most important English skills at the workplace “Reading” was mentioned by 23 votes out of 198 as the most important skill, followed by “Oral Com.” (N=20) and “Writing” (N=17) in this order. In terms of TOTAL points, however, it is clear that most respondents consider “writing” a very, if not the most, important area in their job, although there is no indication that it has become more important than it was six years ago. 2004 Data from the1998 Survey 1st Priority = Reading (40%), Writing (31%), Oral Com. (28%) Total Point = Writing (102=32%), Oral Com. (80=24.9%), Reading (79=24.6%)

Q4 How do you define the type of English you use at your workplace? Louhiala-Salminen (1996) reports that 27% of Finnish business people surveyed think that their English is British, followed by American (24%), ”Euro-English” (44%), and Others (5%). This result is interpreted as to represent the trend that “the professional English used in business is increasingly seen as a combination of different elements, and even as a language of its own right.” What about in Japan? 1) English has now become an contested business “Lingua Franca,” but the spread of English necessarily accompanies its transformation and in many parts of the world, we now have a number of varieties of English. 2) Louhiala-Salminen (1996) reports that 27% of Finnish business people surveyed think that their English is British. followed by American (24%), ”Euro-English” (44%), and Others (5%). 3) Louhiala-Salminen interprets this result as to represent the wide-spead trend that “the professional English used in business is increasingly seen as a combination of different elements, and even as a language of its own right,” and goes to to say that, in Europe, the so-called “Euro-English” is being widely recognized as an authetic, and culture-neutral variety of English. 4) In the 1989 survey conducted in Japan (Someya 1999), 50% of the respondents replied that they use American English, 32% =Japanese English, 12% =British, and 4.5% =Others. 5) In the current survey conducted in 2004, the propotion was: 52%=Japanese English, 36%=American, 6.6%=British, and 5.5%=Others. 6) Although the American influence continues to be very strong, the most obvious change in the past six years is the large increase in the number of respondents who replied that they use “Japanese English.” 7) It’s not clear in this survey just what was meant by “Japanese English,” but from the comments given Q13 (which asked about the problems they have in writing business documents in English) many respondets seem to interprete it to mean “Incomplete English” or “Learner (or Interlanguage) English,” rather than defining it in a more positve manner as is often the case with the notion of “Euro English.” Data from the1998 Survey American English = 50% Japanese English = 32% British English = 12% Others =4.5%. 2004

Q5 NS-NNS proportions of the recipients of business messages According to Louhiala-Salminen (1996), 62% of all the international business communication in Finland was made between Finnish business people and their foreign counterparts whose first language is other than English. In Japan... 1998 2004 1) The notion of “communication with native speakers” has long been an implicit assumption in the English education in Japan. But we all know that this assumption is quite inappropriate as far as international business communication is concerned. The problem is that this assumption is so deeply rooted among many, if not most, instructors of business English in Japan that our BE curriculum as a whole does not necessarily reflect the reality of international business today. 2) According to Louhiala-Salminen (1996), 62% of all the international business communication in Finland was made between Finnish business people and their foreign counterparts whose first language is other than English. 3) In the 1998 survey conducted in Japan (Someya 1999), about 53% of the respondents (N= 137) replied that 50% or more of their communication partners were NNS. 4) This finding was replicated in the current survey where about 52% replied that the business documents they write are directed to NNS. 5) The most obvious change can be seen in the NNS100% catetgory. In 1998, the percentage of this category was only 2.2%, whereas it increased to 13.7% in 2004. 6) Althoug this should not be over-emphasized because of the rather small data size, we can safely conclude that, in today’s international business, more than a half of our communication partners are NNS, and this is more likely to be so in the future. 7) Pedagogical implications of this finding and will be discussed later in this presentation.

Q6 Most frequently used means of sending msges overseas Louhiala-Salminen (1996) reports that, in Finland, about 54% of international business messages were sent by Fax, followed by Normal Mail (27%), E-mail (9%), Telex (2%), and Courier service (2%). * The use of fax (and e-mail*) as the major means of communication has its own con- sequences, and one of them is that the language of business msges is becoming “less formal, more to the point, and more speech-like (than it used to be).” (p.50) In Japan... 1998 2004 --------------------- * This survey was conducted in 1992, and the author estimates that, as of 1996, “about 50% of the employees in large and medium-sized companies have access to e-mail, and about a third use it actively.” (p.46)

Q7 Do you write English business messages all by yourself? * In 1998, about 41% of the respondents said that “all” of the English business messages they sent were written by themselves. In 2004, the figure increased by 20% to 61%, and over 93% said that “all” or “most” of the English business messages were written by themselves. This increase is largely accounted for by the increased use of e-mail. 1998 2004 --------------------- * This question may sound a bit odd, but in Japan where English is a foreign language, it is not unusual (and has often been the case until very recently) that someone else write business messages in English for you.

Q8 How often do you write business messages in English? Louhiala-Salminen (1996) reports that, in Finland, about 50% of the respondents replied they write business messages in English on a “Daily” basis, and 25% “Weekly or more.” In Japan... 1998 2004

Q9 Approx. proportions of "in-house" and "outgoing" documents written in English In the past, it has been assumed that business messages written in English are sent overseas or otherwise written as “outgoing” documents (and with NS recipients in mind) In today’s business environment, however, this is no longer a valid assumption and many English documents are now written as “in-house” documents. Here’s the data: 1) The data show that about on-thirds of the business messages in English are written as “in-house” documents as one’s colleagues (rather than outside clients or business partners). 2) In-house documents and outgoing documents are quite different in many respects, including format, style, word choise and usage and so on, but these differences have received a very little attention in the past business English education. 3) The traditional assumtion of “business documents as outgoing documents” as a basis of Business English curriculum and textbooks should now be changed to give a due respect to the “in-house” documents that account for about 30% of today’s business documents. 1998 2004

Q10 Does you company has an official manual for business writing? If English is “absolutely” necessary in today’s business environment (Q2), and about 93% of the Japanese business people write all or most of the business msges in English by themselves (Q7), and over 38% write them on a daily basis (Q8), it is quite reasonable to expect Japanese business firms to have some kind of Business Documentation Manual or otherwise provide proper training opportunities for their employees. Unfortunately, this was not and still is not the case, as shown below: 1998 2004

Q11 Have you ever received any formal training in business writing? The previous question (Q10) revealed that Japanese companies are rather reluctant in providing a systematic, corporate support to their employees with regard to business documentation in English. This unwillingness is also evident in the answers to Q11. Here’s the data: 1998 2004

Q12 Any noticeable changes in the business documents due to increased use of fax and email? (1/3) It’s been said that the wide-spead use of fax and e-mail have accompanied many significant changes in both the quality and quantity of business msges, but the exact nature and extent of these changes are not necesarily know as yet (Bauman 1998). Louhiala-Salminen (1996) asked a question similar to the above in an attemp to answer the hypothesis that “the introduction of telefax and e-mail, and their present extensive use, have changed the language in interpersonal business communication” (p.47). To this question, 65% answered “Yes,” 23% “No,” and 11% “Don’t know.” Those who answered “Yes,” mentioned the following as the most evident changes: 　　 - Less attention to formalities (N=38)  - More everyday language, trend towards spoken language (N=28)  - Straignt to the point, efficiency (N=14)  - Language more fluent (N=9)  - Poor language (N=7)  - More American English (N=4)  - More Euro-English or other mixtures (N=3)  - Others (N=9)

Q12 (2/3) We asked a similar (but slightly modified*) question to our Japanese samples, and obtained the following results: 1998 2004 Those who replied “Yes,” mentioned the following as the most evident changes (go to next slide). --------------------- * The exact wording of the question is: “Do you find any noticeable changes in the business documents you write or receive due to increased use of fax and e-mail? If yes, what are they?”

Q12 (3/3) Major changes as perceived by Japanese business people ① ② ② ③ ④ ② ⑤ ② 1) この結果は、前述のLouhiala-Salminenの調査結果と大筋において同じであるが、特徴的なのは「文書の受発信頻度が増えた」というコメントが最も多くなっていることである。 2) 文書の形式や内容（文法的な正確さや論理的な構成など、従来のライティングの授業でやかましく指導されてきた事柄を含む）にあまりこだわらなくなり、口語文体を中心にした簡潔な文章で、現場の直接の担当者同士が気軽に、かつ時間にとらわれずに文書をやりとりするようになったとすれば、その結果として文書全体の受発信頻度が増えるのはごく当然のことであると言ってよいであろう。 3) なお、9) の「返事の書き方が変わった」というコメントは、電子メールで返事を書く際の「自動引用機能」による文章構成の変化について言及したものである。これも、文書の作成を比較的容易にすることで、結果的に「迅速な対応」および「受発信頻度の増加」に貢献している大きな要因のひとつである。 4) 以上、ファクスや電子メールといった新しい通信メディアの出現とその急速な普及がビジネス文書にどのような影響を与えているかについて見てきた。ただし、これらの観察はあくまでも回答者の感想として述べられたものであって、実際のテキストの分析に基づくものではないことを改めて確認しておきたい。ここで述べられた観察が、どの程度現在の英文ビジネス文書の実態を反映したものであるかについての検証は今後の課題である。 Major changes as perceived by Japanese business people

Q13 Mention three major problems you have in writing business messages in English (1/3) Concerning the areas of difficulty our respondents feel in writing business documents in English, "vocabulary" was mentioned in the 1998 survey as the most problematic area, followed by "grammar" and "pragmatics”*. 1998 * A concern for "politeness" was found significantly high and, therefore, it was treated as an independent category although it was initially included in the “pragmatics” section.

Q13 (2/3) The general tendency was found to be the same in the current survey. The three most problematic areas as perceived by our respondents continue to be: 1) vocabulary*, 2) grammar, and 3) pragmatic considerations including “politeness”, as follows: 2004 [問題点の詳細] 1) . 「語彙」については、具体的には語彙不足、語句選択の適切性（類義語･同義語の使い分けを含む）、専門用語（技術用語)、慣用語句、および略語などが挙げられている。 2) 「文法」については、冠詞と前置詞を挙げた回答者が最も多く、次いで時制、仮定法、動詞、条件法、移行詞･連結詞、完了形、接続詞、助動詞などが挙げられている。 3) 「語用論的配慮」のカテゴリーでは、表現の適切さやニュアンスの問題（言いたいことが正しく伝わっているか；誤解のない表現になっているか）、および日本語的表現や不自然な表現になっていないかという点についてのコメントが多かった。中でも、特に目立つのが「丁寧さ」や「失礼のない表現」への関心の高さであり、回答者の 9.32% が何らかの形でこの点についての関心を表明している（1989年の調査では10%)。 4) 「文体」についてのコメントのほとんどは、トーン＝レジスターの使い分け（口語と文語、フォーマルとインフォーマル）に関するものであった。 5) 「簡潔･明瞭さ」については、文体上の問題として言及しているケースと内容上の問題として言及しているケースがあるが、いずれにせよ、回答者の多くが「簡潔な英文による明瞭な意志伝達」に高い価値を置いていることが伺える。 6) 文章の「構成」についてのコメント（「より効果的な文章構成（が必要）」「文章にまとまりがない」など）を加えた回答者はわずか 5名(3.11%) に過ぎないが、筆者の経験からすれば、これは問題がないのではなく、回答者の多くがこの点にかかわる問題の所在、ないしその重要性に気付いていないことを示すものと解釈すべきであると思われる。 7) 「形式（書式）」については、「（文書の）マナーやルールを外してないか気になる」というコメントに代表されるように、ファクスや電子メールのように書式に気を遣わずに済むものなら書けるが、通常の書簡形式で作成する正式な文書の書き方を知らないという回答者が少なからずいることを示すものである。今回の調査では、この点について明示的なコメントを加えている回答者の数は5名(3.11%) であったが、筆者の経験では、フォーマルな文書の書き方を知らないビジネスマンの数はこれよりはるかに多い。今後、ファクスや電子メールの一層の普及とともに、この数はますます増えてくるものと思われる。 8) 最後の「その他」のカテゴリーでは、「作成に時間がかかる」というコメントが最も多かった(N= 9/31）。このほか適切な文例集（用例集）やマニュアル、参考書類の不備･欠如を挙げて回答者が多かった。 Click to see Table of Comments * The category “expressions” was included in the “vocabulary” section in the 1998 survey, and it covers such comments as “I wish I knew more useful phrases and expressions.” The aggregate percentage of “vocabulary” and “expressions” is about 22% (The “vocabulary” section in 1998 comprises 19%.)

Summary (1/4) The current survey can be summarized as follows, and all of these findings are more or less in line with those of the 1998 survey:  (Q2) The needs for English as an essential business tool remain strong, and 82.2% of the respondents feel that English is “absolutely” necessary in their workplace. (Q3) Our respondents believe that the most important English skills at their workplace today are: Writing, Reading, and Oral Communication skills in this order. (This result is possibly skewed due to the particular nature of our respondents.) (Q4) 51.6% of the respondents think that the English they use at their workplace is “Japanese” English, although how they define it is not necessarily clear. Otherwise, the influence of “American” English continues to be strong. (About 36% replied that their English is “American,“ while only 6.6% replied that they use “British” English.) (cont’d...)

Summary (2/4) (Q5) About 52% replied that a half or more of their written business communication is directed to non-native speakers of English, and 13.7% replied that NNS comprise 100% of their foreign business counterparts. (Q6) Email has now become the single most important means of international business communication, with 82.2% of the respondents choosing it as the 1st choice. Fax was mentioned as the 2nd choice by 58.9%. (In the 1998 survey, fax was the 1st choice by 54%, and only 35% said that email was their 1st choice.) (Q7) Over 93% of the respondents said that “all” or “most” of the English business messages were written by themselves (rather than someone else writing for them as it was often the case until very recently in many Japanese companies), whereas the figure in the 1998 survey was 89%. (Q8) About 38.6% replied that they write business messages in English on a daily basis, while the figure in the 1998 survey was 29%. (cont’d...)

Summary (3/4) (Q9) The approximate proportion of “in-house” and “outgoing” business documents written in English is 25 to 75 (was 30 to 70 in 1998), while the percentage of those replied that 100% of their English documents are for in-house distribution increased from 3.7% in 1998 to 7% in 2004. (Q10) About 63% of Japanese companies involved in international business do not have an official writing manual for their employees to refer to, regardless of the size of business in terms of the number of employees (STD=3.4) as it was also the case in 1998. (Q11) About 80% of the respondents said they had never received formal training in business writing. The figure was 87% in 1998, but there does not seem to be any significant improvement in terms of training opportunity. (Q12) About 27% of the respondents replied that they find some notice-able changes in business documentation due to increased use of fax and e-mail (The figure was 30% in 1998. The difference, however, is not statistically significant.), and... (cont’d...)

Summary (4/4) (Q12) Some of the most significant changes mentioned are: 1) increase in the number of documents they write and receive, 2) increased pressure to respond immediately, 3) increased use of colloquialism, and 4) less emphasis on formality. The same tendency was also observed and reported in the 1998 survey. (Q13) The three most problematic areas in writing business documents in English as perceived by our respondents continue to be: 1) vocabulary, 2) grammar, and 3) pragmatic considerations including a strong concern for “politeness.”* ------------------------ * Some of the major specific “notions” mentioned in these categories are: 1) Vocabulary = word choice, specialized lexis, vocabulary size (Expressions = variety, more useful expressions and set phrases, ideomaticity and foreignness) 2) Grammar = articles, prepositions, modal verbs, tense, conditional 3) Pragmatics = appropriateness, acceptability, modality (in terms of the non-propositional elements of the sentence).

Concluding Remarks and Pedagogical Implications All of these findings suggest that the nature of written business communication in Japan has been undergoing significant changes in many important respects due mainly to the rapid advance in communication technology and the accerelated globalization of business. These changes as a whole seem to suggest that our business communication pedagogy should be redefined in the following directions: Introduction of a new educational paradigm that is based on the notion of International English, instead of the traditional adherence in the classroom to the so-called Native English as the single normative model to follow. Shift to a more down-to-earth business English education that is focused primarily on fluency, but in addition to (rather than instead of) the traditio-nal focus on correctness. The new educational goals should specifically include the ability to respond immediately under the pressure of time, as well as the tolerance for linguistic surface “errors” and “non-standard” usage as long as communicability is secured. 以上見たとおり、わが国における国際ビジネスコミュニケーションの内容は、国際的なビジネス環境の変化、および通信技術の急速な進歩により、大きな変容を遂げつつある。これらの変化は、全体として現在のビジネス英語教育（ここでは特にビジネスライティング教育）が、次のような方向へ転換していくべきであることを示唆している。 1. 母語話者の「英語」をモデルとした従来の教育方針に代わって、特定の文化的枠組みにとらわれない、いわゆる「国際英語」という視点に立った新たなビジネス英語教育。 2. 文法的な「正確さ」を重視した従来の教育方針に加え、「（言語的な表層構造上の）エラーに対する許容力」を含む「迅速な対応力」を重視した実践的なビジネス英語教育。

Acknowledgements I am deeply indebted to ALC Publishers, Inc Acknowledgements I am deeply indebted to ALC Publishers, Inc., Sogo Kyoiku Kikaku, Inc., and SMBC Consulting, Co. Ltd. for their cooperation in conducting this survey. I also appreciate all the business people who kindly responded to this survey. My deep apologies go to the respondents whose responses were not included in the current report due to inappropriate handling of the questionnaire on our side. References Louhiala-Salminen, Leena. (1996). “The Business Communication Classroom vs Reality: What Should We Teach Today?” English For Specific Purposes. Volume 15, No. 1, pp. 37-51. Pergamon. Bauman, John (1998). “E-Mail in the Business World: Issues for Teachers of ESP,” Proceedings of the 1997 Japan Conference on English for Specific Purposes. University of Aizu, Japan. pp.35-40. Someya, Yasumasa (1999). "The State of Written Business Communication in the Japanese Workplace: A Questionnaire Survey." A paper presented at the 64th Convention of the Association for Business Communication, Los Angeles, November 5, 1999.  染谷泰正 (1999) 「ビジネス英語のニーズと実態に関するアンケート調査」『ビジネス英語習得術』 pp. 116-121. アルク Fuji Zerox (2002). “English Business Documentation Survey.” （Unpublished in-house survey conducted in March 2003, based on Someya 1999.)  

Thank you. Any questions? 　 The State of Written Business Communication in English in the Japanese Workplace: A Questionnaire Survey Update Someya Yasumasa 2005 This presentation can be downloaded from: www.cl.aoyama.ac.jp/~someya/