Social Mobility and Language Use in an American Company in Japan
Social Mobility and Language Use in an American Company in Japan
复制标题
在日本的美国公司的社交流动性和语言使用
DOI：
10.1177/0261927x8763003
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发表时间：
1987
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
Patricia M. SanAntonio
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Patricia M. SanAntonio
本文是基于对一家在日本的美国公司为期一年的民族志研究。这家公司是一家高科技电脑公司，它的政策是要求所有海外办事处都使用英语。与大多数在日本的外国公司一样，该公司很难吸引高素质的日本员工。他们需要雇佣既有商业经验又有英语能力的日本经理。与此同时，该公司试图通过雇用新的大学毕业生来与日本商界竞争，而忽视了英语语言要求。因此，日本员工的英语能力差异很大。这就造成了问题，因为美国经理坚持在会议、课堂和任何涉及外国人的互动中使用英语。英语能力和与美国人打交道的能力成为精通英语的日本员工的力量源泉。在公司中使用英语和日语成为限制获取信息的重要手段，也是一部分员工的权力和进步的来源。在该公司的语言使用的民族志的例子，因为它涉及到的问题，权力经纪和员工的进步，在该公司的文件。
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.