Dream
Dream.Never stop dreaming.Set your goals and strive for them.Success comes to those who work hard.It's the only way to make dreams come ture.*********Making English Work / English opens doors in Indonesia Midori Matsuzawa / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Yuki Oda, 32, is every bit as dynamic as you would expect of a woman who went to Indonesia to start her own business making bamboo furniture. As president of the company she set up in 2000, the entrepreneur believes her success is in large part due to her language skills--not in Indonesian, but in English. The company, called Kissable Zoy, has its own factory in a rural area in the eastern part of Java Island. Oda directs local technicians to ensure that her products are suitable in both size and design for Japanese homes. The furniture is then sold online via Internet mall Rakuten. Oda cannot communicate directly with her bamboo specialists. "Although I've studied standard Indonesian for the purpose of talking to them, it's useless," she said. "They can only understand their local dialect." For communication with the craftsmen--and business negotiations with other locals--Oda relies on an Indonesian agent who can speak both English and many local dialects. With the help of the agent, Oda found a veteran bamboo specialist in Jakarta who eventually went back home to eastern Java to establish the factory on his own plot of land. Her fascination with Indonesia dates back to around 1999 when she visited Bali for the wedding of a Japanese friend to a local man. During the stay, Oda happened to meet an American buyer who took her around, showing her how to purchase local specialties. She went back to Japan "with strong reluctance." "Bali products turned out to be so much cheaper and more attractive than I initially expected," Oda remembers. As she did not have a job in those days, "I thought it'd be good business (to start dealing in Indonesian products)," she added. Deciding to focus on bamboo furniture as her main product, Oda went back to Indonesia half a year later. Since then, she visits the country regularly, attending bamboo product fairs and other specialist events around the nation,. It was at one such fair where, quite by chance, she met her English-speaking agent. Through discussions with local businesspeople, Oda came to realize that English is indeed a global language. "Particularly in urban areas like Jakarta, it's like, if you cannot speak the language at all, what are you supposed to do?" she said. "Without such skills, locals would look down on you or wouldn't deal with you." Oda noticed that Japanese businesspeople who could not speak English hired locals who could speak some Japanese as interpreters. "But that would make it difficult for them to discuss in detail how they wished to develop their products," she said. Oda realized that many Indonesians in urban areas were able to speak English well compared with many Japanese who have studied the language at schools. "Even though they have never studied abroad and are relatively uneducated, many urban Indonesians can manage to communicate in English," Oda said. "They develop speaking skills by talking to foreign tourists in English." Oda herself had used the same approach as a teenager. In Kyoto, her hometown, the young Oda would take advantage of the many foreign visitors to practice her English. At the time, the language was almost the only subject she really put effort into--in part because she loved English-language songs. After graduating from high school, Oda headed for Los Angeles, where she spent a total of three years over two spells, mainly studying at a language school and an art school. This period was "the most helpful experience in improving my English skills," she recalls. Oda says she acquired her foreign-language skills as "a survival method" during life overseas, using it to manage situations that were hard to handle without speaking the language. For example, Oda shared an apartment with several friends, who "were sloppy, but had strong personalities," she says. "As they wouldn't pay the rent, I, as the official renter of the apartment, often had to demand that they pay up." In addition, Oda often had quarrels with her roommates. "They said nasty things about me and it left me frustrated as I wasn't able to talk back immediately," she said. In such cases, "I often took a quick look in the dictionary before arguing back." Back home, Oda realized the kind of English she had learned could not be considered "standard." "It was practical English, but it was street English," she said. "I thought I understood English grammar as I could speak fluently, but I found that I actually didn't"--a discovery she made when she failed the second grade of the Eiken test, the nation's most popular English examination. The second grade is the third-highest one with a level equivalent to high school graduates. The failure spurred her to study English grammar all over again. Although Oda believes her English skills have played an important role in becoming an entrepreneur, she also realizes the limits of the language in Indonesia. She says it is frustrating--and sometimes causes misunderstandings--that she can communicate with many locals only through her English-speaking agent. Yet, despite the language barrier, Oda believes she has established a relationship of trust with her craftsmen. "If craftsmen have no love for their work, the furniture they make will tend to be pretty crude," she says. "But my people really work hard on the details, and their products are really lovely." * * * This column features interviews with professionals and others who use English in their jobs, in the hope of offering insights into learning the language. Readers are invited to offer themselves as candidates to be featured in this column or recommend an acquaintance. E-mail dy-edu@yomiuri.com. The column will return on April 8.
出産・子育て
ファッション
美容・コスメ
健康・ダイエット
生活・インテリア
料理・食べ物
ドリンク・お酒
ペット
趣味・ゲーム
映画・ＴＶ
音楽
読書・コミック
旅行・海外情報
園芸
スポーツ
アウトドア・釣り
車・バイク
パソコン・家電
そのほか
すべてのジャンル
