そういったときは、簡単な日本語を混ぜてゆっくり話すようにしています。文法がめちゃくちゃでもいいので、単語を並べて伝えたいことを伝えます。イメージは “ルー語” です。 「I think you can 読める more ゆっくり」いい感じの例が出てこないですが、こんなイメージです。恥ずかしいですが、これがコミュニケーションの第一歩だと割り切っています。
ミーティングの議事録には Google ドキュメントや Notion を利用しています。こちらも日本語と英語を併記しますが、私ひとりだけで書くのではなく、社員全員で共同編集します。 誰かが日本語で議事録をとれば、それを翻訳した内容を他の誰かが追記して、最後には併記された議事録の完成です。その場で翻訳ができなくても、後から翻訳結果を書き足すこともあります。
Language Policy に則ってこういったことをしているわけですが、とても勉強になります。併記されていることで、どこがどんな英語に訳されているかが一目瞭然になります。 また、他の社員の英語を見て学ぶことがあったり、時々フィードバックをもらうこともあります（言い方が違うとか、もっと自然な言い方があるとか、他にもこんな言い方があるとか）。何度も見たり書いたりする言葉は頭に残ります。 ちょっとした雑談であっても英語を併記することで、英語でのコミュニケーションを常に意識付けすることもできています。
What I do to communicate in English when my English is not good enough
Hello, good evening! My name is Omagari from mgn Co., Ltd. and I am a web engineer.
At mgn, we have native English speaking employees. But since there are more native Japanese speaking employees including myself, we are trying our best to communicate with each other. To support this, we also have a Language Policy for mgn.
I am not that good at English. So, today I would like to introduce five things I do to help me communicate in English.
What is my level of English?
First, let me tell you about my English level.
As my last education was a high school graduate, that means that I also learnt English until high school, which is more than a decade ago. Most of what I have learnt is on the verge of disappearing. The only qualification I have is the Eiken level two, which I took when I was in junior high school. I travelled abroad several times, but as I often went with my family, I left the conversations there to my father. Also, I attended English conversational classes from the age of three up until high school, and did a one-month homestay in the USA when I was twelve. While this sounds amazing, I actually always had to carry an electronic dictionary with me and used gestures to communicate.
As a result, my current English level looks like this:
Hearing: willing to listen, but the moment I hear a word I don’t know, I panicked
Writing: spelling is uncertain, even for simple words
Speaking: I can just barely speak English with simple words and no grammar
If I try to pay attention to grammar, it’s overwhelming for me and I will shut down
Worst case scenario, I feel l can use gestures to get my message across
I think you can see that I’m not very good at English. The only good thing is that I don’t feel reluctant to communicate in English.
What is mgn’s Language Policy?
Image by Adobe Firefly
So what exactly is the sudden appearance of “mgn’s Language Policy”?
As mentioned above, mgn has one native English-speaking employee, as of December 2023. The number of native Japanese-speaking employees is more than ten times that number. The native English-speaking employee can speak, hear and write in simple Japanese. However, she has difficulty understanding difficult Japanese, kanji and fast-talking Japanese. The English level varies between native Japanese employees, with some being able to speak and write English like a native, while others can only speak simple English.
The problem is the power balance between English and Japanese: there is a 1:10 situation, where the power of Japanese is overwhelmingly strong. It is easier to communicate using Japanese isn’t it? If the Japanese employees continue to speak only in Japanese and only use English when speaking to the English speaking employee, what kind of problems will arise? When I imagine what it would be like to be in the shoes of a native English-speaking employee, it makes my heart ache a little.
Therefore, in order to avoid such a situation as much as possible, “mgn’s Language Policy” was created as a guideline for one to see in which situations and which settings applied for a certain language to be use.
Here is an extract of the contents. Please note that there are other items that’s not included.
Try to speak in English as much as possible.
Speak in mix Japanese and English, or write in both languages.
Try to put what was said in the meeting into writing.
Actively reach out those who are not taking part in the conversation.
Support and encourage each other.
This is our internal Language Policy. Even though it is not mandatory, all employees try to keep this in their mind at all times. The policy is also been revised and updated accordingly.
I agree with the Language Policy and strive to do my best with my limited English skills.
5 things I do to communicate in English
Even though I agree with the Language Policy, my English level is low. So, the first part of the guideline, “Try to speak English as much as possible” is the most difficult one for me. I would like to introduce five specific things I do to communicate in English based on the Language Policy.
1. Use translation tools
That’s the first thing I’m going to do?! I guess that’s what I thought from the very beginning. But of course, I use it.
I use DeepL. I always have this as a tab in my browser.
While I am writing, I also use it to learn English. I try to keep the Japanese I type in as simple and concise as possible, and always retranslate the translation results. Also, the subject might be different from what is supposed to be, so I adjust it by myself or add a clearer subject on the Japanese text. I also make sure to read the translated English text. I find many phrases and words that I did not know before, and also realized that there are other ways to say things.
Though, I cannot use it so smoothly when I’m speaking. I say, “Ah… 00… 00… Sorry, I’ll translate…” and immediately type it into the translation tool. Then, I will read out the translation results. I try to read out as many alternative translations as possible. If I can’t read the translation, I will use the read-aloud function. The receiver understands that the translation is in progress, so they can wait until the result comes out. Plus, since I read out all the possibilities, at least some nuance is conveyed to them.
2. Mix Japanese and English when speaking
I try to speak English as much as possible, but there are many things I don’t know how to say in English. Sometimes it takes me a while to recall the correct grammar. Especially during conversations, I often become panicked and words just doesn’t come out.
In those cases, I try to speak slowly, mixing in simple Japanese. It doesn’t matter if the grammar is messed up, I put the words together to convey what I want to say. ”I think you can Yomeru more Yukkuri”. I can’t find a good example, but this is the image I have. It is embarrassing, but I have decided that this is the first step in communication.
Thankfully, the native English-speaking employee in mgn usually understand me if I speak slowly or mix in simple Japanese. However, not all Japanese that native Japanese speakers consider simple can be understood. When the amount of Japanese being used is too much, I try to ask her if she understood me.
Finally, I always reflect within myself after using so many words at a time. When I calmly think about it, I can come up with the correct grammar, the correct words, and so on. If I still don’t understand after I have some time to think about it, I will look it up with a translation tool or ask the English employee for the correct way to say it.
3. Mix Japanese and English when writing
mgn is a fully remote company. Most of our communication takes place on Slack. This includes talking about small things like taking breaks or work-related interactions. Compared to other companies, there is a lot of chatting going on.
When communicating using text, on Slack for example, we try to write in both Japanese and English. Sometimes we only write in English if it is just a simple text.
Example of Japanese and English togetherI forgot to comment on my return from the break
We use Google Docs and Notion for meeting minutes. Likewise, we also take notes in Japanese and English, and it is not just me who’s taking notes, every members take turns and edit the notes together. If someone takes notes in Japanese, someone else will add the translated content in English, and finally the notes are completed in both languages. If the translation cannot be completed at once, it can always be added later.
We do this in according to the Language Policy, and we learned a great deal from it. By having things written side by side in English and Japanese, it is easy to see and compare what kind of English can be used in what part of the document. I also learn from looking other employees’ English and sometimes get feedback (e.g. how to say this correctly, a more natural way to say this, or another way to say this). Words that you see or write many times will stay in your head. By writing English together with Japanese, even if it is just a small chit chat, I am also able to constantly remind myself to communicate in English.
4. Learn English
Of course, I myself am learning English as my English skills are not good enough.
Through many times of communicating in English, I have found that the first thing I need to do is to learn English vocabularies. Regarding hearing, I feel defeated if I don’t know a word. Regarding writing, spelling is unclear, and for speaking, if I don’t know a word, I cannot speak continuously at once. For this reason, I started to reach out for my old English vocabulary book.
I am using the electronic version, not the paper version. Specifically, I use Eiken® Smart Measures (non-English version) on the Nintendo Switch. I am doing this every day, a little at a time. Just in case, I started with level 5. Then, there was one word I didn’t know. “P.E.” Do you know this word? The answer is “physical education”. That was the moment when I was glad I started from level 5.
In addition, mgn also offers English lessons once a week for about 30 minutes by the native English-speaking employee. Many of the content I already learned when I was in junior high school, but most of it has almost vanished from my brain. So, anyway the level is very good and helpful for me. There were sometimes when I have a hard time with it, but also sometimes, the content I was learning at the time was actually not a very good way of expressing in English. I realized that it is very important to learn English from a native English teacher. mgn provides such an opportunity within the company, and I think there are not many companies that have such opportunities provided for them. Recently, there are many online services where you can take lessons from native English teachers, so it might be a good idea to take advantage of those services.
5. Don’t be shy to speak
After all, this is probably the most important thing. No matter how messed up my English is, if I don’t try to speak it, then nothing will ever change.
As someone who is not good at English, I also have my own worries when communicating in English
I don’t know what to say or write in English.
I can’t speak smoothly so I feel bad for everyone who is waiting for me to finish.
What if I recall and use the wrong words, what if they are misinterpreted?
What if I use them in a way that makes people feel bad?
What if people laugh at me or make fun of me for using such poor English?
It is difficult to communicate in English with these feelings in my mind. It is exhausting at times and even I had regretful moments. However, the hardest part was only at the beginning. I gradually got used to it by taking the first steps again and again. I also realized that people did not laugh at me. Though my worries have not completely disappeared, I don’t give up communicating in English anymore just because of these barriers.
Take on the challenge with a translation tool! But don’t push yourself if your mind is tired. Don’t let your mind get tired of communicating in English. Instead, try to enjoy the challenge as much as you can.
Summary: Why am I doing this?
“You don’t have to try that hard to communicate in English, do you? You have more native Japanese speaking employees, don’t you?” I think there are some people who have such an image in mind. To be honest, at first I was one of those people. I thought that I would never leave Japan anyway and that I could rely on translation tools for English, and so I did not need to actively use or learn it.
However, my way of thinking changed when I understood the feelings of the English employee and so I made efforts in according to the Language Policy. More importantly, I enjoy communicating with the English employee. The more I talked, the more I see a totally new world opened up to me, and this led to me to want to talk about more and more things. For example, I would hear things like the word “00” in Japanese is a word that does not exist in English, or that the word “00” in English is a word that does not exist in Japanese. There is a mysterious sense of achievement when I can communicate in English, even in just an ordinary chit-chat. And also one more thing that is a very very important underlying factor is that, I really adore the native English employee. Nowadays, when we have offline gatherings, I almost always dominating the space next to her! (laughs)
Understanding English is also useful for my work. As an engineer, there are many opportunities when I am forced to read documents in English. There is a lot of information that can only obtained in English. Even branch names, function names and the descriptions of those functions are in English. Even though, now I still rely on translation tools a lot, the more I don’t rely on them, the more efficient my work will be.
Image by Adobe Firefly
I want to do what I can, little by little, to broaden my world.
If you have read until this far, then I assume that you have a desire to be able to communicate even if you are not good at English. Please take a step forward and find your motivation. And let’s try our best together!
Thank you so much for reading my article until the end.
