In all of that time, I had been striving to better connect our colleagues with better information to develop a sense of team. Little did I know that know matter how many news articles, or flashy adverts I'd create for the new things we were doing, if they were written in English the chances were they were widely overlooked by the global audience. Why is this? Because the people at our sites around the world don't speak English as their first language. When it dawned on me how the Japanese IT users were pretty much never reading most e-mails and news being sent out unless they were in Japanese (seeing something you don't understand allows you to be desensitized to it, those that can read English, it takes them 3x longer then the usual English reader to comprehend the information.. what's the motivation for them to exert such energy?). In addition I realized I have consistently been guilty of doing the things you shouldn't be doing when communicating with people in other parts of the world.
1) Speak too fast. I find it quite annoying when I hear people speaking to someone that may not speak English as their first language at a snail's pace. You know what I mean, 'Weehhheeerrree aaarreee yoou trrrryyinng tooo gooooooo?' They're not dumb, they just don't speak English. What I mean by speaking too fast is when you're on the phone with someone, do you realize how much more difficult it is to comprehend what is being said when the sounds and words you're hearing aren't familiar and second-nature to your experiences? When you can see someone's mouth moving, and read their body language and facial expressions, now that makes a difference. However on the phone, you're out to sea without a life preserver. So in speaking on the phone or even in person with a person from another country, take the time to enunciate your words and speak at a slower (and considerate) pace.
2) Don't use slang, long wordy words. Slang is slang for the reason that it's something everyone understands, at least everyone in that culture. One of my colleagues in Tokyo told me how recently everyone was mystified when on a conference call a woman in Ireland said, 'let's not beat around the bush'. Hah! I had to laugh at that because when else would you think that 'beating around the bush' or '24/7' or 'that'll come in handy' would mean nothing? We use slang so often and so regularly that it's very much apart of our language and difficult to separate from the 'real' English.
As for those wordy words, what I mean by that is.... well, I am a lover of the English language. I enjoy any opportunity to enumerate my appreciation for communications through language. Haha, okay, take out the word enumerate and it would be understandable to one of my English speaking colleagues in Japan. That's what makes it so difficult! You can speak with words that may not seem difficult to you, but are in fact to other people. In communicating with people from other countries, you really have to step up your conscientiousness game. It's not easy to work together, but imagine how much worse it is when you don't even know how to begin understanding someone in conversation? Just be aware of what you are saying and doing as proper communications requires greater awareness to what you're saying and how it's received.
3) In written communications (say if you're writing an e-mail) make sure you proofread before hitting send. This is a major part of the being aware aspect that I vouch for. I saw a colleague spend 40 minutes studying an e-mail before finally asking me to read it and wanting to know what a revolve ticket was. After reading and reading for context, I realized that the issue at hand wasn't a revolve ticket, but in fact a resolve ticket. The nature of the Japanese is not bother someone with what they consider extraneous queries, so it really is on the other side too to make sure they're holding up their end in the conversation.
Even for the Japanese that are adept at speaking in English, these things make communications all the more challenging. With a little patience and understanding we can all work together to communicate better.
As the people in my office are always interested in improving their English, and trying hard to learn themselves, I have started the English Word of the Day on a whiteboard in the office.
My neighbor, Tomoko made the sign at the top for my project. It reads 'English word of the day by Sara Rabeito'. Haha, if you say my American name to the Japanese, that is how they hear it.
Yesterday we began with 'commute' and with help from my colleagues I wrote in Kanji and hiragana the Japanese word for it, 'tsuukin'. I drew the bus below, and over the course of the day people becan to anonymously contribue as little cartoon images began to pop up in the windows. The front window had the Japanese cartoon character Doraemon {everyone knows big D, he's as famous as Hello kitty.. This is my favorite tidbit about him: 'Although he can hear perfectly well, Doraemon has no ears: his robotic ears were eaten by a mouse, giving him a series-long phobia of the creatures.}' but I'm not sure what that other thing is in the back. After that first word, I realized it was a fantastic feeling to know that perhaps I can make even a little bit of a positive impact in improving communications for my colleagues....... even if that impact is felt with just 1 new word a day.
Doraemon:
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