Many years ago, I read an article about a business meeting between Americans and Japanese. The Americans were asked how the meeting went, they replied it was very professional and efficient, and it was a successful transaction. After the meeting though, there was no interaction, the meeting concluded, people stood up, and there was silence. After the successful transaction, the Americans didn’t “connect” with their Japanese counterparts. What happened?
Why you don’t know
The Japanese employees knew how to speak English and communicated very well during the business meeting. What they didn’t know was basic English small talk, a polite conversation to show interest in others and avoid awkward silences. Why didn’t they know? Why should they know? It’s not taught in schools.
The cultural difference didn’t make the Americans feel welcome, they travelled to Japan for the first time to make a good impression. It was a successful business meeting, however, could the lack of small talk damage their working relationship?
How do you get to know what you don’t know? Ask people who do.
How we know
This is how we do it. We are a private English school, which means the CEOs (Masami and I) are also web designers, promoters, and janitors amongst other things. We don’t know everything about how to run a small business but by asking professionals and other entrepreneurs we learn new things all the time. We find answers to questions we didn’t know to ask by hiring people and making connections with other private businesses.
All this takes us away from helping Japanese people with acquiring English communication skills. We don’t have all the answers or all the questions to run a small business. However, by meeting people who know more than we do, we broaden our knowledge, skillset, and understanding.
We can show you what we know
You can learn what we know too. You may not know that speaking and communicating in English is different. We know the difference and can help you know what you don’t know.
*****お知らせ*****
【ご自身が英語でコミュニケーションを取れているかどうか】を知りたい方、
【ご自身の英語のコミュニケーションの改善点】を知りたい方はお問合せから
【無料英語コミュニケーション力ミニ診断】と件名にご記入いただき、ご連絡ください。
毎月先着３名様のみ受付中です！
ー オンライン英語コミュニケーションプログラム ー
【あなたの心が伝わるあなただけの英語】
英語でのコミュニケーションをあなたらしい英語で。一人一人のレベル、能力、
興味に合った教材や方法を用いたテイラーメイドの英語コミュニケーションプログラムです。
”あなたの英語”でコミュニケートしたい方は、まずは無料カウンセリングをご予約ください。
