Business Japanese

[bohappa]

I'd love topics for folks who need to use Japanese in a business setting. I lived/worked in Japan many years ago so my skills are rusty. I don't really see topics like conducting meetings, presenting a slide deck, handling questions/answers. I know these are sophisticated topics but some coverage would be greatly appreciated. 宜しくお願いします。

[community.japanese]

dohappa-san,
kon'nichiwa
You're right; dialogs with such situations are quite specific and it's rare to find lessons focusing on them...
Thank you very much for the suggestion, though! I'll let the team know so that we can consider that when
we expand our lessons

This is not really about Japanese only, but expressions used in business sceans are not very specail at all.
It's just a very formal Japanese you need to know. For instance, at the beginning of business meeting,
you can probably start with
では始めましょう。 OR では、始めさせて頂きます。
Then if there's any materials/handouts to all the participants, and you want to say "please look at your handout page 1"
お手元の資料１ページ目をご覧ください。
As you see, ご覧ください is a normally and commonly used in a very formal situation with being polite.
And during the meeting, when you need to say "this" or "that", again, politer versions こちら　そちら　あちら are appropriate.

Have you come across some specific situation where you couldn't find out what/how to say in Japanese? If so,
please let us know and we'll be happy to help you!!

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[richfowler6444]

I second this suggestion. I could use a whole multi-season series *just* on ビジネス日本語, 尊敬語, and 謙譲語 in an Intermediate/Upper Intermediate level style (all in Japanese, minimal English). You could cover the entire spectrum, from 就職活動 to the 退職のパーティ, with everything in-between. There are so many grammatical and cultural minefields to avoid, I need all the help I can get!

I really liked the Upper Beginner series last year on announcements using polite language, but that's really just the tip of the iceberg.

I know there are already lessons on business Japanese here and there on the website, but that's the problem: they're here and there, and not all in one place. Some are beginner, some are upper beginner, some are intermediate, etc. It would be nice to just have one series devoted for business use. (And it would be a great marketing tool!)

Some areas I'd love to see covered: networking, job interviews, getting hired and dealing with joining the company, negotiating salary, getting paid, answering the phone, handling troublesome tasks, visiting other companies, politely declining invitations (or accepting them), dealing with the boss, dealing with the boss' boss, dealing with customers, dealing with suppliers, quitting, retiring... so many areas. @_@

[paloma_ill]

bohappa-san and richfowler6444-san,

We really appreciate the time you spent you give us your feedback and show us what kind of lessons you want!
That's a great suggestion! Thanks for giving us so many topics ideas!

We'll consider it when developing new material to JapanesePod101!

Kind regards,
Paloma
Team JapanesePod101

[richfowler6444]

Thanks for considering it.

I saw a program just last night where celebrities were asked various questions about the right kind of response to make in various business situations when things went wrong, and by the end, they had all gotten at least one question (or more) wrong. So getting it all right may be a bit of a challenge even for some 日本人 (or at least for テレビ芸能人), but that said, I'd love to be able to handle things smoothly, especially when they go wrong.

[community.japanese]

richfowler6444-san,
I like that kind of TV shows too
There are many quiz TV shows which deal with Japanese languages and culture.
Such programmes prove how littel we know about own language and culture
So I like studying with those shows

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[daniallouisdl5130]

With your incredible advice many people will be able to prevent the mistakes and acquire the help from it. Thanks for sharing wonderful help with us. Keep posting the good work.

[community.japanese]

daniallouisdl5130-san,
thank you very much for a kind comment!
We can keep doing our best thanks to all of lovely J-Pod listeners like you!

Natsuko (奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com