Hello, I am Ito, an Administrative Assistant in the Global Development Group at KINTO Technologies. My role is to support team members with various tasks including answering their inquiries and translating documents.

I love cats and reading novels. Lying down and reading with my cat used to feel like heaven. But ever since my cat passed on to another heaven some time ago, I’ve been spending my days reading alone. I have read 5 or 6 English novels this year. Reading in English used to be nothing but a struggle, but lately, I’ve started to enjoy experiencing them in their original language. However, I think the most enjoyable part of speaking foreign languages is having conversations. If you speak in another language, not just English, you definitely open yourself up to more opportunities and choices. Of course, there are challenges along the way.

What should you do to be able to speak foreign languages? Unlike children, who can absorb things effortlessly, most adults need to put in a significant amount of effort. Effort to create many opportunities to speak, based on understanding basic grammar and vocabulary. I think this is essential to mastering a language.

In this article, I would like to introduce the Language Skill Up Project, organized by the Business Enhance Team of the Global Development Group, which aims to help improve the language skills of working adults.

Introduction

Currently, the Global Development Group has almost sixty members from diverse backgrounds, including various nationalities, cultures, and languages. Among them, some aren’t very proficient in Japanese, while others aren’t used to speaking English due to limited use in their previous roles. Although the members share strong development skills, it would be a loss for the company if language barriers prevented effective communication. To help address this issue, the Language Skill-Up Project was launched, led primarily by the Business Enhance Team, whose mission is to maximize the members' potential.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications defines global human resources as individuals who possess language proficiency, communication skills, and cultural awareness. The Global Development Group offers an environment that fosters the development of these qualities. One of the goals of this project is to cultivate global human resources by making use of this environment. People from outside of the Group can also join our study sessions.

The key to language learning is not telling yourself that you can’t do it. Our goal is to help learners build confidence by first becoming comfortable speaking in English or Japanese. To support this, we organize and run the following events.

What Shall We Do?

What shall we do to help improve people's language proficiency? Everyone has different starting points.

What needs to be done to learn languages?

1. Focus on mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, such as junior high school-level English.

2. Read (also read aloud)

3. Write

4. Listen

5. Practice shadowing to improve your pronunciation and intonation

6. Speak with others as much as possible

I think you can do steps 1 through 5 on your own. However, number 6 requires you to take the initiative and create opportunities on your own, unless you're willing to spend money on language schools or online conversation lessons. Probably what many of our members are lacking is opportunities to speak the language. Since we could add steps 1 to 5 later if needed, we decided to start by providing speaking opportunities first.

Japanese Cafe

It is a casual meeting to enjoy conversations held in lunch time, fortnightly, also known as the pizza party. It's been nine months since we've started in April 2022. Since the event is conducted entirely in Japanese, it mainly attracts participants with intermediate to advanced Japanese proficiency. Having fun is key, and our goal is to help people communicate more smoothly in Japanese.

Japanese cafe

Japanese Study Sessions

While providing opportunities to speak is essential, the Japanese Cafe alone cannot meet everyone's diverse needs. That's why we launched the Japanese study sessions in August 2022: 30-minute weekly sessions held in small groups.

• Beginner class - Learn greetings, Hiragana, Katakana, useful phrases for everyday life.

• Conversation Class (Beginner to Intermediate) - Practice role-playing situations like shopping or making phone calls. Use newly learned phrases in conversation and expand vocabulary with related words.

• Kanji class (Beginner to Intermediate) - Learn Kanji while practicing new phrases.

• Business Class (Intermediate to Advanced) - Learn business Japanese vocabulary and expressions using real examples from Slack communications.

English Cafe

It started in July 2022. Each session lasts 30 to 60 minutes and is held weekly in the late afternoon. The event is held at the Jimbocho office, but participants also join from outside the Global Development Team, including some who attend remotely from the Muromachi office. (Unfortunately, no pizza is provided.) So far, we've organized various activities such as English games, presentation practice, and group discussions. Similar to the Japanese Cafe, most participants are at an intermediate level or higher and are looking to practice conversation. However, since the sessions are typically held in small groups, we can adjust the level based on the participants each time. We also welcome beginner-level participants and those who want to discuss their concerns about learning English.

English cafe (It's packed. People gathered for the photo shooting.)

Individual English Sessions

These 30-minute weekly sessions began in April 2022, designed for those who aren’t very familiar with English. For the first six months, the sessions were held twice a week. As participants grew more comfortable speaking English, the frequency was reduced to once a week.Participants have become noticeably more proactive in speaking English compared to when the sessions first began. They said, "I feel more comfortable speaking English," and "I have more confidence now." Having something to say is a key factor in learning a foreign language. I hope they will continue improving their skills.

Reflections and Future Plans

We started with the goal of enhancing communication among team members. Both the Japanese and English sessions have a friendly, relaxed atmosphere and have been very effective for team building. Even within the same group, some people rarely have the chance to talk to those they don’t work with directly. By attending the Japanese cafe or the English cafe, you can communicate with people you usually don’t have a chance to talk to. Participants come from diverse backgrounds, and some are native speakers of neither Japanese nor English. Through these conversations, you get the chance to explore a variety of topics and gain insights into different cultures.

The Language Skill Up Project is still in its infancy and we are exploring more effective ways. I hope those who haven’t joined yet will give it a try. We also welcome your ideas and suggestions. I hope this can be a place that helps people stay motivated and inspires them to create more opportunities to speak outside of the sessions as well.

There’s no magic potion to improve your foreign language skills. It all comes down to your own effort. In other words, you will be able to speak the language as long as you keep on doing it without giving up. If you don't try to create opportunities to speak the language after reaching a certain level, unfortunately it is easy to get rusty. There will always be something new to learn, so continuous study is essential. Once studying becomes a habit, it turns into a natural part of your life rather than just a task.