Surveys and analyses of English use of small and medium sized manufacturing companies

笔者对中小制造企业的英语交流需求进行了问卷调查。185家公司回应了调查问卷，其中26家公司的代表接受了采访。大约一半的公司回答说，英语是工作场所最重要的沟通语言，尽管他们的业务主要是在国内或与亚洲国家有关。分析显示，拥有专利的中小企业比没有专利的企业更重视用英语交流。另一方面，由于缺乏合格的国际交流人才，许多中小企业对海外经营持消极态度。

The author conducted surveys to investigate English communication needs of small and medium sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs). One hundred eighty five companies responded to the questionnaire and representative from twenty six of them were interviewed. About half of the companies responded that English is the most important communication language at the workplace, even though their operations were mainly domestic or connected to Asian countries. The analyses revealed that SMEs holding a patent considered communication in English more important than companies without a patent. On the other hand, many SMEs expressed passive attitudes toward overseas operations due to their lack of qualified personnel for international communication.