Social Mobility and Language Use in an American Company in Japan

Abstract

This paper is based on a year of ethnographic research in an American company in Japan. The company, a high-tech computer firm, has a policy of requiring English to be used in all overseas offices. Like most other foreign companies in Japan, this company has difficulty attracting high quality Japanese employees. They need to hire Japanese managers who have both business experience and English language skills. At the same time the company attempts to compete with the Japanese business community by hiring new college graduates, overlooking the English language requirement. As a result, there is considerable variation in the English language abilities of Japanese employees. This causes problems because the American managers insist on the use of English for meetings, classes, and any interactions involving foreigners. English facility and the ability to deal with Americans socially becomes a source of power for English proficient Japanese employees. The use of English and Japanese in the company becomes an important means of restricting access to information as well as a source of power and advancement to a subset of employees. Ethnographic examples of language use in the company as it relates to the issue of power brokerage and employee advancement in the company are presented in the paper.