[sumo] Peter Harmer's Post

[Mike Charlton]

On Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 1:11 AM, Jeanne Hedge <jhedge at rcn.com> wrote:
> At 11:42 AM 6/29/08, Joshua Maciel wrote:
> Besides, I think the Japanese staffers are smart enough to route something
> in English to someone that can read it - assuming they can't read it
> themselves.

Hmm... if it's anything like my school then English correspondence will
be filed in the little round filing cabinet that is emptied at the end
of the week and burned... :-P

I personally think that if one is addressing the English coverage team,
then English is appropriate.  But if one is addressing an executive in
the overall company, it *must* be at least partially in Japanese.  Otherwise
it will be (at best) simply directed to the people who already know that
English language service is a good idea (i.e., those that speak English).

My suggestion would be to draft a form letter in Japanese (which might
also mention that it's a form letter) and then allow people to add
additional comments in English.  This way the point gets across
to the Japanese speaking people (yet another damn letter asking for
English service), while at the same time allowing people to
express themselves in their chosen language.

Note: my Japanese is not at a level to help, unfortunately...

           MikeC