専門職の日本語Professional Domain Communication
Chapter Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Recognize domain register across business, technology, finance, education, law-adjacent public information, health communication, arts, administration, and science contexts.
- Use professional moves such as framing a recommendation, weighing risk against benefit, and summarizing a position for a busy audience.
- Read a short executive summary and identify its recommendation, supporting reasons, and named risk.
- Write a concise executive summary that states a recommendation and briefly justifies it.
- Distinguish domain-specific terminology and abbreviations from general academic vocabulary already active from Chapter 7.
- Apply basic keigo appropriately within a professional register, adjusting for audience seniority and internal versus external communication.
- Listen to a short excerpt resembling an internal briefing and identify its recommendation and the risk or benefit it names.
- Avoid common errors such as burying a recommendation, overusing academic hedges in a business context, and mismatching register between internal and external communication.
Communication Scenario
Emma's evening seminar work with 中村先生 has drawn the attention of her employer, a small language-services company preparing to expand its client base to include universities and municipal offices. Her manager, 佐藤部長, asks Emma to help draft a short internal recommendation about whether the company should offer a new consulting service to local governments interested in multilingual public communication. Emma quickly notices that professional Japanese shares some conventions with the academic writing she has just studied — a clear opening statement, careful hedging of uncertain claims — but professional documents move faster to the point, name a concrete recommendation early, and speak explicitly about risk and benefit rather than academic implication. 佐藤部長 also reminds Emma that the same recommendation must sound different depending on whether it is written for colleagues inside the company or presented to an outside client.
- The learner studies core vocabulary for business, technology, finance, education, law-adjacent public information, health, arts, administration, and science domains.
- The learner studies professional moves for domain register, risk/benefit framing, and recommendation writing.
- The learner reads a model executive summary and a model recommendation memo excerpt.
- The learner listens to an excerpt resembling an internal briefing.
- The learner writes a short executive summary recommending a course of action.
- The learner completes a performance task combining reading, listening, and professional writing.
Core Vocabulary
This chapter's vocabulary supports business, technology, finance, education, law-adjacent public information, health communication, arts, administration, and science domains. All items are drawn from professional written and spoken registers and are intended for recognition and, where marked productive, for controlled production in executive summaries and recommendation writing.
| Japanese | Reading | Meaning | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 提言 | ていげん | recommendation, proposal (formal, professional) | Productive |
| 概要 | がいよう | summary, overview (of a report or plan) | Productive |
| リスク | りすく | risk (established loanword in business Japanese) | Productive |
| メリット | めりっと | merit, benefit, advantage | Productive |
| デメリット | でめりっと | drawback, disadvantage | Productive |
| 導入 | どうにゅう | introduction, adoption (of a service, system, or policy) | Productive |
| 費用対効果 | ひようたいこうか | cost-effectiveness | Productive |
| 社内 | しゃない | within the company, internal | Productive |
| 社外 | しゃがい | outside the company, external | Productive |
| ～を踏まえて | ～をふまえて | taking ~ into account, based on ~ | Productive |
| 意思決定 | いしけってい | decision-making | Productive |
| 試験的に | しけんてきに | on a trial basis, experimentally | Receptive |
| 利害関係者 | りがいかんけいしゃ | stakeholders | Receptive |
Items marked Receptive appear in the reading materials below but are not required for independent production in this chapter's performance task. Note that 先行研究, 分析結果, and other Chapter 7 academic vocabulary remain productive and may recur here in a professional context.
れんしゅう — Practice: Sort the vocabulary above into three groups: (1) words used mainly to name a recommendation, (2) words used mainly to weigh risk and benefit, and (3) words used mainly to distinguish audience or setting. Note any item that could plausibly belong to more than one group.
Script and Typography Focus
This chapter's script focus is specialized terminology, common business abbreviations, and the typography of charts and tables used in professional documents. Business Japanese frequently mixes established loanword terms such as リスク and メリット with kanji compounds such as 費用対効果, and it favors compact, scannable formatting — bolded headers, bulleted recommendations, and short summary lines — over the continuous prose typical of academic writing.
A professional recommendation memo is usually designed so that a busy reader can find the recommendation and its main reason within the first few lines. When reading a memo or executive summary, first locate the sentence that states the recommendation itself, then look for the sentences that give reasons, risks, and next steps. Do not assume the document must be read in strict linear order the way an academic abstract typically is.
れんしゅう — Practice: Before reading the Model Executive Summary below, scan it for ten seconds and try to identify the single sentence that states the recommendation, without reading the full passage closely yet.
Pronunciation Focus
Professional spoken Japanese, especially when stating a recommendation aloud in a meeting, tends to favor a slightly faster, more clipped pace than academic presentation speech, with a clear drop in pitch at the end of the recommendation sentence to signal that the main point has been delivered. Practice saying a short recommendation sentence such as 導入をお勧めします aloud with accurate mora timing and a controlled falling pitch at the end, then compare that delivery with the more measured, hedged pacing appropriate to an academic implication from Chapter 7.
Grammar and Sentence Patterns
This chapter authorizes domain register choices, professional moves for framing a recommendation, risk/benefit language, and executive-summary structure, together with continued basic keigo appropriate to a professional register that shifts between internal and external audiences.
1. Stating a recommendation directly
Purpose: to state a course of action clearly and near the beginning of a professional document or utterance, rather than saving it for the end.
- 今回の調査結果を踏まえて、試験的な導入を進めるべきだと考えます。Taking this survey's results into account, I believe we should proceed with a trial introduction.～を踏まえて + べきだと考えます
- 社内での意思決定を早めるため、来週までにご回答いただけますでしょうか。To speed up the internal decision-making, could we ask for your response by next week?ため + いただけますでしょうか (polite request tied to a business purpose)
2. Weighing メリット and デメリット
Purpose: to present the benefits and drawbacks of a course of action side by side, so that a reader or listener can judge whether the recommendation is well supported.
- 社外に委託する最大のメリットは、社内の負担を減らせる点である。The greatest merit of outsourcing to an outside party is that it can reduce the internal workload.最大のメリットは～点である (naming the single strongest benefit)
- ただし、リスクとして、外部との連携がうまくいかない可能性も考慮すべきである。However, as a risk, the possibility that coordination with an outside party might not go smoothly should also be considered.リスクとして + 考慮すべきである
3. Writing an executive summary opening
Purpose: to open a professional document by stating its overall conclusion first, before the supporting reasoning, so that a reader who stops after one sentence still understands the main point.
| Function | Formula | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Stating the bottom line first | 結論として、～を提言する | opens with the recommendation rather than building up to it |
| Naming a benefit | ～というメリットがある | concrete, businesslike, less hedged than academic 示唆する |
| Naming a risk | ～というリスクが考えられる | names a risk without overstating its likelihood |
| Naming a next step | 次のステップとして、～を予定している | closes with a concrete, scheduled action rather than an open academic limitation |
- 結論として、来年度から多言語対応サービスを試験的に導入することを提言する。In conclusion, I recommend introducing the multilingual support service on a trial basis starting next fiscal year.結論として (bottom-line-first opening)
- 次のステップとして、来月中に社内説明会を開催する予定である。As a next step, we plan to hold an internal briefing session sometime next month.次のステップとして + 予定である
Chapter 7 taught that hedged academic claims such as ～と考えられる signal responsible scholarship. Professional Japanese respects careful reasoning too, but it generally expects the recommendation itself to be stated plainly and early, with risk and benefit named explicitly rather than folded into cautious academic hedging. A recommendation memo that hedges its central recommendation as heavily as an academic paper hedges a research finding will often read as indecisive rather than careful.
Grammar Practice
- Write an opening sentence using 結論として to recommend adopting a new scheduling system at a small office.
- Write one sentence naming a merit and one sentence naming a drawback of that same recommendation, using the メリット／デメリット frame.
- Rewrite the academic-style sentence この結果は、業務の効率が上がる可能性を示唆している。 as a direct professional recommendation using ～を提言する or ～をお勧めします.
- Identify which of the four formulas in the table above would be least appropriate for an external client-facing summary, and explain why.
Model Dialogue
Setting: 佐藤部長 and Emma review her draft internal recommendation about the proposed multilingual consulting service. Professional register, manager-employee relationship, continued basic keigo.
Emma makes two notes on her draft: one reminder to open with the conclusion, and one reminder to prepare a second, more formal version for external readers.
ないようりかい — Comprehension check: What structural problem does 佐藤部長 first identify in Emma's draft? What two changes does he ask her to make before the document goes to an outside client?
Guided Practice
タスク１ — Frame identification. Take the Model Executive Summary in the Reading Practice section below and underline the recommendation sentence, the merit sentence, the risk sentence, and the next-step sentence, labeling each.
タスク２ — Formula assembly. Using the table of formulas above, write a four-sentence mini-memo: one sentence stating the conclusion, one naming a benefit, one naming a risk, and one naming a next step.
タスク３ — Register check. Rewrite one sentence from タスク２ in a more formal style suitable for an external client, and compare it with your original internal-style sentence.
Listening Practice
Ask your instructor, a partner, or a text-to-speech tool to read the following short passage aloud.
きくタスク — An excerpt from an internal briefing
結論として、多言語対応サービスの試験的な導入を提言します。メリットとしては、地方自治体からの新しい依頼に対応できる点が挙げられます。一方、デメリットとしては、社内の担当者を新たに確保する必要がある点が挙げられます。リスクとしては、需要が予想より少ない可能性も考えられますが、費用対効果は十分に見込めると判断しています。次のステップとして、来月中に社内説明会を開催する予定です。
聞くタスク — Listening task: Listen at least twice. (1) What does the speaker recommend? (2) What merit does the speaker name? (3) What drawback and what risk does the speaker name? (4) What next step does the speaker announce?
Speaking Practice
コントロールされた練習 — Controlled practice: Recommendation, merit, drawback, or next step?
- Given a short sentence, identify aloud whether it functions as a recommendation, a stated merit, a stated drawback or risk, or a next step.
- Given a hedged academic-style claim, restate it aloud as a direct professional recommendation.
- Given a business topic, produce aloud a one-sentence recommendation using 結論として.
コミュニケーションタスク — Delivering a short recommendation aloud
Using the Listening Practice excerpt as a model, deliver aloud a short spoken recommendation on a topic of your choice, including a bottom-line recommendation, one merit, one risk or drawback, and one next step.
ひとりでもできる練習 — Solo practice: Reading the briefing excerpt aloud
Read the Listening Practice passage aloud, delivering the recommendation sentence with confident, measured pacing and a clear falling pitch at its end. Record yourself and check whether your delivery sounds decisive rather than hesitant.
Reading Practice
Read the model executive summary below, drawn from the recommendation Emma is preparing with 佐藤部長, and complete the questions that follow.
概要（抜粋）— Model Executive Summary (excerpt)
結論として、当社は多言語対応サービスを来年度から試験的に導入することを提言する。近年、地方自治体からの多言語対応に関する依頼が増加しており、対応できる体制を整えることには大きなメリットがある。一方、デメリットとして、社内の担当者を新たに確保する必要があり、導入初期には一定の費用が発生する。リスクとしては、需要が予想より少ない可能性も考えられるが、費用対効果は中長期的に十分見込めると判断する。次のステップとして、来月中に社内説明会を開催し、担当部署からの意見を踏まえて最終判断を行う予定である。
- Identify the sentence that states the recommendation, and name the frame it uses.
- Identify the sentence that names the main merit, and explain what trend it is based on.
- Identify the sentence that names the drawback and the risk, and explain how the writer responds to the risk.
- Identify the sentence that names the next step, and explain what will happen before the final decision.
Writing Workshop
Draft a short executive summary recommending a course of action, applying the recommendation, risk/benefit, and next-step frames from this chapter.
- Choose a topic. Select a plausible workplace, school, or community decision that you can discuss, real or invented for practice.
- Open with the conclusion. Use 結論として or an equivalent frame to state your recommendation in the first sentence.
- Name one merit using ～というメリットがある or an equivalent construction.
- Name one drawback or risk using ～というリスクが考えられる or a similar frame.
- Name one next step using 次のステップとして～予定である.
- Write a one-sentence note in Japanese identifying whether your summary is intended for an internal or external audience, and why that affected your word choice.
チェックリスト — Revision checklist:
- The summary opens with a clear, direct recommendation rather than saving it for the end.
- At least one merit and one drawback or risk are named explicitly.
- A concrete next step is named, not an open-ended academic limitation.
- Register is consistent with the stated audience, internal or external.
- Terminology and abbreviations are used consistently, with rare readings supported only where genuinely needed.
Culture and Communication
Many Japanese organizations place strong value on building internal agreement, sometimes called 根回し, before a recommendation is formally presented to outside stakeholders or decision-makers. A document like Emma's draft is often circulated internally for comment well before its conclusions are treated as final, which is one reason 佐藤部長 wants an internal explanatory meeting before the recommendation reaches a client. This practice varies by organization, industry, and generation, and it should not be treated as a fixed rule for every Japanese workplace.
Professional register in Japanese is shaped more by industry, company culture, and the internal-external distinction than by regional dialect. A recommendation memo written for a technology startup, a hospital, and a municipal office will differ in terminology and formality, but these differences are domain-based rather than regional. Where regional variation does appear in a professional setting, it tends to concern spoken interaction style rather than formal written documents.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Error: Following an academic-style structure that saves the recommendation for the final sentence of a business document, forcing a busy reader to read the entire text to find the main point.
Correction: Open with the recommendation using a frame such as 結論として、～を提言する, then follow with supporting reasons, risks, and next steps.
Error: Writing a business recommendation as cautiously as an academic hypothesis, for example 導入する可能性があると考えられるかもしれない。
Correction: State the recommendation plainly while still naming genuine risks separately: 導入をお勧めします。ただし、需要に関するリスクも考慮すべきです。
Error: Sending an external client the same casually worded internal draft without adjusting formality or softening direct statements.
Correction: Prepare a more formal version for external readers, adjusting keigo, softening direct claims where appropriate, and confirming that internal-only information has been removed.
Chapter Review
Section A — ごい (Vocabulary)
1. Complete the Core Vocabulary sorting practice above.
Section B — もじ (Script)
1. Complete the Script and Typography Focus scanning practice above.
Section C — ぶんぽう (Grammar)
1. Complete the Grammar Practice exercises above.
Section D — どっかいりかい (Reading comprehension)
1. Complete the Reading Practice questions above.
Section E — かくこと (Writing)
1. Complete all six steps of the Writing Workshop, as part of the Performance Task below.
Section F — はなすこと (Speaking)
1. Complete the spoken recommendation from Speaking Practice, as part of the Performance Task below.
Performance Task
パフォーマンスタスク — 第８章
提言書を仕上げる — Finishing a Recommendation Document
Complete all four parts below to demonstrate integrated control of professional phrase frames, risk/benefit language, and continued basic keigo.
- Listening: Complete the Listening Practice task above and identify the speaker's recommendation, merit, drawback/risk, and next step.
- Reading: Answer the Reading Practice questions on the Model Executive Summary.
- Spoken production: Deliver your recorded recommendation from Speaking Practice, using at least one bottom-line frame and one risk/benefit frame correctly.
- Written production: Submit your executive summary and audience note from the Writing Workshop, checked against the revision checklist above.
Assessment focus: correct use of recommendation, merit/drawback, and next-step frames; appropriately direct rather than over-hedged claims; register consistent with the stated audience; and the ability to explain, in Japanese, why a document was written for an internal or external reader.
Answer Key
Core Vocabulary — Sorting practice
Open-ended; representative grouping: (1) naming a recommendation — 提言, 概要, 意思決定; (2) weighing risk and benefit — リスク, メリット, デメリット, 費用対効果; (3) distinguishing audience or setting — 社内, 社外, 利害関係者. Some items, such as 導入, plausibly belong to more than one group.
Script and Typography Focus
Open-ended scanning task; confirm against the Model Executive Summary, whose opening sentence 結論として、当社は多言語対応サービスを来年度から試験的に導入することを提言する states the recommendation before any supporting reasoning appears.
Grammar Practice
(1) Open-ended; model: 結論として、新しいスケジュール管理システムの導入をお勧めします。 (2) Open-ended; model: メリットとしては業務の効率が上がる点が挙げられる。一方、デメリットとしては導入に時間がかかる点が挙げられる。 (3) 業務の効率を上げるため、導入をお勧めします。 or 導入を提言する。 (4) The academic-adjacent hedged frame using an implication verb such as 示唆する is generally least appropriate for an external client summary, since professional readers expect the recommendation stated directly rather than as a hedged research finding.
Model Dialogue — Comprehension Check
佐藤部長 first identifies that Emma's conclusion does not appear until the end of the document. He asks her to (1) open with the conclusion using a frame such as 結論として, and (2) prepare a more formally worded version before the document is shown to an outside client.
Listening Practice — Model answers
(1) The speaker recommends a trial introduction of the multilingual support service. (2) The named merit is the ability to respond to increasing requests from local governments. (3) The named drawback is the need to secure new internal staff, and the named risk is that demand may be lower than expected; the speaker judges cost-effectiveness to still be sufficiently promising in the medium-to-long term. (4) The next step is holding an internal briefing session next month.
Reading Practice
(1) 結論として、当社は多言語対応サービスを来年度から試験的に導入することを提言する states the recommendation, using the 結論として frame. (2) The sentence naming increasing requests from local governments states the main merit, based on a recent increase in multilingual-related requests. (3) The sentence beginning 一方、デメリットとして names the drawback of needing new staff and initial cost, and the following sentence names the demand risk while judging cost-effectiveness sufficient in the medium-to-long term. (4) The final sentence names the next step: an internal briefing next month, with a final decision to follow based on input from the responsible department.
Chapter Review — Sections A through D
Open-ended; check against the Core Vocabulary, Script and Typography Focus, Grammar Practice, and Reading Practice sections above.
Chapter Review — Sections E and F, and Performance Task
These are open-ended, integrated production tasks. Evaluate the written executive summary, audience note, and recorded recommendation against the assessment focus listed under the Performance Task above.
Looking Ahead
いまできること — What you can do now
You can state a direct professional recommendation, weigh merits against drawbacks and risks, name a concrete next step, and adjust register between internal and external audiences, while maintaining continued basic keigo and distinguishing professional directness from academic hedging. This foundation in professional domain communication carries forward into Chapter 9, where these same systems support negotiation, coordination, and crisis communication under greater pressure.