The Impact and Role of High Language Competency and Cultural Intelligence on Workplace Communication: An Analysis of Australian Expatriates in Japan
Sean O'Connell,
Ph.D. Candidate, School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Queensland, Australia
Given the close business ties between Australia and Japan as well as the continuing increase in the number of Australians working in this country, communication between these expatriates (AEWs) and their Japanese coworkers is receiving more attention because of its impact on business efficiency. This study, which represents the first stage of the author’s Ph.D. research project, explores the relationship between Japanese language proficiency and cultural intelligence (Peterson, 2004) through a survey of twelve AEWs and 48 of their coworkers (four for each AEW) in three business organizations in Japan. Although the AEW participants were chosen because of their strong Japanese skills, this paper analyzes differences between those evaluated by themselves and their coworkers as having advanced Japanese proficiency and those who possess only conversation-level Japanese. It considers the AEWs’ use of Japanese in the workplace and their strategies for resolving breakdowns in communication between them and their Japanese coworkers, but focuses specifically on differences in their awareness of the necessity of accommodation of communication style as an indicator of cultural intelligence. The results suggest that the higher their level of Japanese proficiency, the more conscious AEWs are of the need to converge to a Japanese style of communication in order to achieve smooth workplace communication and the more willing they are to do so. In this way, the study supports the view that L2 proficiency is in essence an integral part of cultural intelligence.
