Strengthening office relations through language
As a foreigner, living in Japan has its difficulties and challenges: notably, working for a local company. Understanding the lifestyle, customs, and culture, including learning the local language, (which comes above all else) are just a few things to keep in mind in trying to fit in.
Being able to work in a diverse, multi-cultural Japanese company, such as e-Jan Networks, I am free to use English as a means of communicating with my department and with the rest of my colleagues. However, not everyone is a native English speaker (myself included), which in some situations lead to a disjointed conversation, where one is explaining something and another is trying to decipher what just heard. One of the most important things in a workplace is to have complete work-synchronisation, which is attained by having comprehensible and perspicuous communication among peers and supervisors. Focusing on this, I make it a point in a given situation to use a language that everyone is comfortable with. And by speaking with the locals (and foreign staffs) using Japanese as a medium to communicate gives an opportunity to interact with confidence, and it also shows great respect to everyone I talk with.
As an example, given a scenario that I am in a department meeting, together with my supervisors, where everyone is speaking Japanese - the flow of the meeting can rapidly turn incoherent just by a sudden use of English. My level of communication in Japanese is still at an appalling level (considering that I have lived here for more than a few years); however I am not disheartened nor intimidated to speak in the local language, even if I'm making mistakes. Putting in the effort to communicate in Japanese can make the meeting more comprehensible and more productive. Moreover, with more experience, I am more or less able to figure things out without disrupting the meeting with unnecessary questions.
As far as language is concerned, I still have a long way to go. Although, through experience being in an environment where I can use Japanese professionally, I will surely be able to overcome the trials and tribulations of living in Japan. And through conversing using the local languages, I am hopeful that I will be more free and confident in building synergy with everyone in the company and its affiliates.
-J.C. (Phillipines)