Shall We Promote Japanese for BusinessCommunication Globally?
W. Jean Kwon, Ph.D., CPCU
Faculty Chair
the School of Risk Management, St’ John’s University, New York
Visiting Professor
Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo
Organization Committee
World Risk & Insurance Economics Congress, Singapore

Let’s Use Our Mother Tongue!
 École Normale Supérieure• A petition in 2007 – French as a Teaching
Language!
• Unacceptable that native French professors
teach in English

 Former President Chirac (in 2006)• Walked out of an European Union summit
when asked to speak a common language
at the meeting, i.e., English

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/article695298.ece© 2010 W. Jean Kwon - 2

Is the Issue about…
 National pride
 Cultural superiority or relativism
 Economic/political/demographic power games
 Efficiency© 2010 W. Jean Kwon - 3

World’s Most Populous Countries
Rank

Country

Population (million)

World’s Share (%)

1

P.R. China

1,338

19.6

2

India

1,182

17.31

3

United States

309

4.53

4

Indonesia

231

3.39

5

Brazil

193

2.82

6

Pakistan

170

2.49

7

Bangladesh

162

2.38

8

Nigeria

154

2.27

9

Russia142

2.08

10Japan

128

1.87© 2010 W. Jean Kwon - 4

World’s Most Popular Languages

Skipper and Kwon (2007)© 2010 W. Jean Kwon - 5

World’s Most Popular Languages – Summary More individuals speak Chinese than any other languagesworldwide
 English is the official language of more countries (58) thanany other languages.
 English is the most common business language worldwide,with it often being the lingua franca.

http://www.jpss.jp/e‐univ/index.htm© 2010 W. Jean Kwon - 6

Lingua Franca A language systematically used to communicate between
persons not sharing a mother tongue• Often (but not necessarily) a third language Original lingua franca• Italian plus Turkish, French, Spanish, Greek and Arabic• Language of commerce and diplomacy

 French until World War II
 English today Challengers in the modern economy• Spanish!
• Chinese!
• Arabic especially among Muslims© 2010 W. Jean Kwon - 7

English Currently lingua franca of business, science and diplomacy
 Countries using it as a major language• The United States• The United Kingdom• Commonwealth States© 2010 W. Jean Kwon - 8

French (32 Countries) Native speakers• 68 million

 Total speakers• 200 million

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population© 2010 W. Jean Kwon - 9

Spanish (21 Countries) Native speakers• 329 million

 Total speakers• 495 million

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population© 2010 W. Jean Kwon - 10

Chinese (Few Countries) Native speakers• 845 million

 Total speakers• 1,345 million

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population© 2010 W. Jean Kwon - 11

Arabic (25 Countries) Native speakers• 221 million

 Total speakers• 325 million

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population© 2010 W. Jean Kwon - 12

English (58 countries) Native speakers• 328 million

 Total speakers• 1,800 million

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population© 2010 W. Jean Kwon - 13

Shall We Promote Japanesefor Business Communication Globally?

English is Common in Business Schools
 World's top business schools push to make English theteaching tongue• Instituto de Empresa (Spain) offers admission tests in English as well.
• Korea University attempted to raise courses in English from 30% to60%.
• Lille School of Management (France) stopped considering English asa second language in 1999. It has been the major language.

 Graduate Management Admission Council reports• Master’s programs “also” using English increased from 1,700 in 2004
to 3,300 in 2007.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/10/world/europe/10iht‐engbiz.2.5212499.html© 2010 W. Jean Kwon - 15

English is Common in Japan, too!
 More in applied, medical, agricultural political science
programs
 Business schools as well
• Keio – Japan/World Bank Graduate Program in Taxation Policy andManagement, Graduate School of Business & Commerce(established in 1996)• Tokyo International – Graduate School of Economics• Hitotsubashi – Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy• Tokyo – Executive Management ProgramChallenges to Japan Establishing basis• Economic power• Population power Cost of educating Japanese to global citizens• Expense-wise• Time-wise

Does not Make Economic Sense!
For Now

It Makes More Sense If
 We accept that the lingua franca is English in this era.
 We become more active in the global business community.
 We understand that it is not about culture or national pride.
 More Japanese use this lingua franca to promote Japan’sinterests to others as well as to attract foreigners to be partof the Japanese economic activity.