復習２：高度な公的運用Unit II Assessment
Chapter Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Demonstrate integrated control of the advanced keigo, institutional language, academic reading and writing, professional domain communication, and negotiation and coordination systems developed in Chapters 6 through 9.
- Move fluidly between respectful and humble language, academic phrase frames, professional domain register, and conditional negotiation language within a single extended task.
- Read a longer, multi-part professional document that combines a formal request, background information, and a proposed resolution, and identify how register shifts across its parts.
- Listen to a longer excerpt combining a formal announcement and a coordination exchange and extract the key commitments made by each speaker.
- Write a multi-part professional message that opens with appropriate institutional formality, presents information in an academic-adjacent style, and closes with a calibrated, conditionally framed proposal.
- Deliver a short spoken exchange that shifts register appropriately as the situation moves from formal opening, to professional explanation, to negotiated resolution.
- Self-assess performance against the cumulative criteria for Unit II before proceeding to Unit III.
Communication Scenario
The trial multilingual consulting project with the municipal office has reached its midpoint review. 佐藤部長 asks Emma to prepare the materials for a joint review meeting: a short formal briefing document summarizing the project's progress for the municipal office's senior staff, a spoken update for the meeting itself, and a follow-up plan addressing the translation delay from Chapter 9 and a newly identified staffing question from Chapter 8. The meeting will include people Emma has never addressed directly — some more senior than 山本様, the contact she has worked with so far — so she must judge, in real time, how formal her language should be for each part of the exchange: the opening greeting, the academic-style progress summary, the professional recommendation about staffing, and the negotiated resolution of the translation schedule. This chapter asks the learner to bring together everything practiced across Chapters 6 through 9 into a single connected task, rather than treating each system as a separate skill.
- The learner reviews vocabulary from Chapters 6 through 9 and sorts it by communicative function.
- The learner reviews the authorized grammar and register systems from Unit II as an integrated set.
- The learner reads a multi-part professional briefing document.
- The learner listens to a longer excerpt combining an announcement and a coordination exchange.
- The learner writes a multi-part professional message.
- The learner completes the Unit II performance task combining all four skills.
Vocabulary Review
This section reviews productive vocabulary from Chapters 6 through 9: advanced keigo and institutional language, academic reading and writing, professional domain communication, and negotiation, coordination, and crisis communication. No new vocabulary is introduced in this chapter. All items below are drawn from earlier chapters and are expected to be productive.
| Japanese | Reading | Meaning | Source Chapter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 拝見する | はいけんする | to see, to look at (humble) | Chapter 6 |
| お伺いする | おうかがいする | to ask, to visit (humble) | Chapter 6 |
| 本稿では | ほんこうでは | in this paper / report | Chapter 7 |
| 先行研究 | せんこうけんきゅう | prior research, existing literature | Chapter 7 |
| 示唆する | しさする | to suggest, to imply | Chapter 7 |
| リスク | りすく | risk | Chapter 8 |
| メリット / デメリット | めりっと／でめりっと | advantage / disadvantage | Chapter 8 |
| 遅延 | ちえん | delay (formal) | Chapter 9 |
| 対応策 | たいおうさく | response measure, contingency plan | Chapter 9 |
| 代替案 | だいたいあん | alternative proposal | Chapter 9 |
| 段階的に | だんかいてきに | in stages, gradually | Chapter 9 |
| 確認を取る | かくにんをとる | to obtain confirmation | Chapter 9 |
Items marked Receptive in Chapters 6 through 9 remain receptive here and are not assessed for independent production.
れんしゅう — Practice: Sort the vocabulary above into four groups by source chapter, then group the same items a second time by communicative function: (1) respectful and humble reference, (2) academic framing, (3) professional evaluation, and (4) negotiation and repair. Note which items serve more than one function depending on context.
Script and Typography Review
This chapter reviews the script and typography strategies developed across Unit II: institutional formulas and official terms (Chapter 6), academic kanji, terminology, and citation-like formatting with verified names and titles (Chapter 7), specialized terminology, abbreviations, charts, and tables (Chapter 8), and notices organized by problem, cause, and response (Chapter 9). No new script conventions are introduced here.
A single professional document, such as the briefing below, may shift typography section by section: an opening greeting in dense keigo with few labels, a middle section using academic-style headers and enumerated points, and a closing section labeled by function, such as 現状, 原因, and 対応策. Before reading closely, scan the whole document once to notice where these shifts occur, since each section calls for a different reading strategy.
れんしゅう — Practice: Before reading the Model Briefing Document below, scan it once and mark where the typography shifts from a greeting style, to an academic-style summary, to a labeled problem-and-response section.
Pronunciation Review
Across Unit II, formal openings and ceremonial keigo (Chapter 6) call for a measured, slightly slower pace with clear phrase-final lowering. Academic and professional explanation (Chapters 7 and 8) call for a more even, steady pace with clear phrase grouping around enumerated points. Apology and negotiation language (Chapter 9) calls for a deliberate slowing on the apology itself, followed by a more forward-moving pace on the proposal. This chapter's listening and speaking tasks ask you to move through all three prosodic styles within a single extended exchange, so practice noticing the shift as it happens rather than only producing each style in isolation.
Grammar and Register Review
This chapter assesses formal language, synthesis, professional register, and coordination under constraint, drawing on the authorized systems from Chapters 6 through 9. No new grammar is introduced. The building blocks below are reviewed together because a single real document or exchange often requires moving among them in sequence.
1. Review: Advanced respectful and humble patterns (Chapter 6)
Purpose: to open a formal exchange, refer to one's own actions humbly, and refer to another party's actions respectfully.
- 本日はお時間をいただき、誠にありがとうございます。Thank you very much for taking the time today.formal opening + humble いただく
- 資料は拝見しております。I have looked at the materials (humble).拝見する (humble form of 見る)
2. Review: Academic phrase frames and synthesis language (Chapter 7)
Purpose: to summarize progress and evidence in an organized, academic-adjacent style suitable for a briefing document.
- 本稿では、これまでの進捗を三点にまとめて報告する。In this report, the progress so far is summarized in three points.本稿では + まとめて報告する
- これまでのデータは、当初の想定より導入期間が長くなることを示唆している。The data so far suggest that the introduction period will be longer than originally expected.示唆している (evidentially cautious claim)
3. Review: Professional domain register and recommendation frames (Chapter 8)
Purpose: to present a professional recommendation with risk and benefit language, appropriate to an executive summary.
- 現在の体制のままでは、担当者一名あたりの負担が大きいというリスクがあります。If the current structure is left as is, there is a risk that the burden on each staff member will be large.リスクがあります (professional risk framing)
- 増員のメリットは負担軽減ですが、デメリットは追加コストです。The advantage of adding staff is reduced burden, but the disadvantage is additional cost.メリット／デメリット paired evaluation
4. Review: Conditional mitigation and calibrated apology (Chapter 9)
Purpose: to name a condition for cooperation and calibrate an apology to the true severity of a problem.
- 優先度の高い部分を先にお渡しできれば、全体の遅れは最小限に抑えられます。If we can deliver the highest-priority part first, the overall delay can be kept to a minimum.できれば conditional + result clause
- ご迷惑をおかけし、申し訳ございません。We apologize for the inconvenience caused.standard formal apology for an acknowledged problem
A single briefing document or meeting rarely stays in one register throughout. A realistic sequence often opens with the respectful and humble keigo from Chapter 6, moves into the academic-style synthesis from Chapter 7 to summarize progress, shifts into the professional risk-and-recommendation language of Chapter 8 to address a staffing question, and closes with the conditional, calibrated negotiation language of Chapter 9 to resolve an outstanding delay. Treat the boundary between sections, not the whole document, as the place where register changes.
Grammar Review Practice
- Write a two-sentence formal opening using humble language appropriate for greeting senior staff you have not addressed before.
- Write a three-point academic-style summary of a project's progress using 本稿では and at least one evidentially cautious claim.
- Write one sentence presenting a staffing risk and one sentence presenting its corresponding benefit, in the paired style of Chapter 8.
- Write a conditional proposal and a calibrated apology addressing a delay, choosing the apology formula appropriate to a clearly acknowledged, moderate problem.
Integrated Dialogue
Setting: the midpoint review meeting. Emma addresses 中村部長, a senior municipal staff member she has not met before, together with the familiar contact 山本様. The exchange moves from formal opening, to progress summary, to a staffing recommendation, to a negotiated resolution of the translation delay.
Emma notes three follow-up actions: complete delivery of the remaining translation materials this week, prepare a staffing proposal by next week, and follow up with both 中村部長 and 山本様.
ないようりかい — Comprehension check: Identify where the register shifts from formal opening, to academic-style summary, to professional recommendation, to negotiated resolution. What follow-up actions does Emma commit to?
Guided Practice
タスク１ — Register mapping. Take the Integrated Dialogue above and label each line with the chapter whose system it primarily draws on (6, 7, 8, or 9).
タスク２ — Formula assembly. Write a six-sentence mini-exchange that opens with humble/respectful keigo, includes one academic-style summary sentence, one professional risk-benefit pair, and closes with a conditional proposal and calibrated apology.
タスク３ — Register check. Exchange your mini-exchange from タスク２ with a partner, or review it yourself after a short break, and mark any sentence where the register does not match its section of the exchange.
Listening Assessment
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 combining an announcement and a coordination exchange
本日は貴重なお時間をいただき、誠にありがとうございます。本稿では、これまでの進捗を三点にまとめてご報告いたします。相談件数は想定通りに推移しておりますが、データからは担当者一名あたりの負担が想定より大きくなっていることが示唆されております。増員にはコストというデメリットがある一方、負担軽減という明確なメリットがございます。なお、翻訳資料の件につきましては、ご迷惑をおかけし、申し訳ございません。優先度の高い部分は既にお渡しし、残りは今週中にお渡しできる見込みでございます。増員の件は来週までにご提案をまとめ、改めてご連絡いたします。
聞くタスク — Listening task: Listen at least twice. (1) How many points does the speaker say the progress summary contains? (2) What risk and what benefit does the speaker mention regarding staffing? (3) What apology does the speaker use, and for what problem? (4) What two follow-up commitments does the speaker make, and by when?
Speaking Assessment
コントロールされた練習 — Controlled practice: Identify the register
- Given a short sentence, identify aloud whether it functions as a formal opening, an academic-style summary point, a professional risk or benefit statement, or a negotiation move.
- Given a mild problem and a serious problem, produce aloud the appropriately calibrated apology for each, as reviewed from Chapter 9.
コミュニケーションタスク — Delivering a short integrated meeting update aloud
Using the Integrated Dialogue as a model, deliver aloud a short spoken update that opens formally, summarizes progress in an academic-adjacent style, presents one professional recommendation, and closes with a negotiated resolution to an outstanding problem.
ひとりでもできる練習 — Solo practice: Reading the listening excerpt aloud
Read the Listening Assessment passage aloud, adjusting your pace and pitch as the register shifts from formal opening, to steady academic summary, to the slower apology, to the more forward-moving proposal. Record yourself and check whether each shift is audible.
Reading Assessment
Read the model briefing document below, prepared for the midpoint review meeting, and complete the questions that follow.
中間報告書（抜粋）— Model Briefing Document (excerpt)
本日はお時間をいただき、誠にありがとうございます。本稿では、多言語対応サービスのこれまでの進捗を三点にまとめて報告する。第一に、相談件数は当初の想定通りに推移している。第二に、データからは、担当者一名あたりの負担が想定より大きくなっていることが示唆されている。増員には追加コストというデメリットがあるが、負担軽減という明確なメリットがある。第三に、翻訳資料の一部について当初の予定より遅延が生じている。現状：優先度の高い部分は既に納品済みである。原因：社内確認作業に想定より時間がかかったことによる。対応策：残りの部分を今週中に納品し、増員の件については来週までに提案をまとめて改めて連絡する。
- Identify the sentence that opens the document in a formal, humble register, and explain what makes it formal.
- Identify the three numbered points in the academic-style summary and state, in your own words, what each one reports.
- Identify the paired risk-and-benefit sentence about staffing, and explain both sides of the pair.
- Identify the labeled 現状・原因・対応策 section, and explain what each label introduces in this document.
- Identify the two follow-up commitments named at the end of the document, and their stated timing.
Writing Assessment
Draft a multi-part professional message for the midpoint review, applying the humble/respectful opening, academic-style summary, professional risk-benefit framing, and conditional negotiation systems reviewed in this chapter.
- Open formally. Write a one- to two-sentence humble and respectful opening appropriate for addressing senior staff you have not met before.
- Summarize progress academically. Write a three-point summary using 本稿では and at least one evidentially cautious claim such as 示唆されている.
- Present one professional recommendation using a paired risk-and-benefit structure.
- Resolve one outstanding problem using a calibrated apology and a specific conditional proposal.
- Close with named follow-up commitments, stating what will happen and by when.
- Write a one-sentence note in Japanese explaining why you placed the register shifts where you did.
チェックリスト — Revision checklist:
- The opening register is appropriately formal for addressing unfamiliar senior staff.
- The progress summary uses academic-style framing and at least one evidentially cautious claim.
- The recommendation presents both a risk and a benefit rather than only one side.
- The apology matches the actual severity of the problem addressed.
- The conditional proposal names a specific condition and a specific outcome.
- Follow-up commitments are specific and dated.
- Register remains internally consistent within each section of the message.
Culture and Communication
The Integrated Dialogue and Model Briefing Document above shift register several times within a single meeting or document. This is not inconsistency; it reflects that different communicative acts — greeting an unfamiliar senior person, summarizing evidence, recommending a course of action, and negotiating a resolution — carry different conventional registers even within one continuous professional interaction. Treating an entire meeting as requiring one unchanging formality level often produces language that sounds stiff in some places and too casual in others.
As introduced in Chapter 9, how formally a meeting proceeds and how quickly a problem is escalated to senior staff varies by organization and industry more than by region. The same principle applies to how a single meeting moves among the registers reviewed in this chapter: some organizations expect nearly uniform formality throughout, while others expect a visible shift in tone as the topic moves from ceremony to problem-solving.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Error: Using the same dense keigo throughout a briefing, including inside the academic-style summary, where it becomes unnecessarily heavy, or using the same plain professional tone throughout, including the formal opening, where it sounds under-formal.
Correction: Match register to function within the same document: humble and respectful for the opening, more even academic framing for the summary, professional but direct language for recommendations, and calibrated apology and conditional language for negotiation.
Error: Stating only the risk of the current staffing structure, or only the benefit of adding staff, without acknowledging the corresponding trade-off, which can make a recommendation sound one-sided or unbalanced.
Correction: Present both sides explicitly, as in Chapter 8: 増員にはコストというデメリットがありますが、負担軽減という明確なメリットがあります。
Error: Apologizing again for a problem that has already been substantially resolved, such as re-apologizing for a delay after the priority portion has already been delivered, which can needlessly reopen a settled matter.
Correction: Briefly acknowledge the earlier issue, then move to confirming current status: 優先度の高い部分は既にお渡しし、残りは今週中にお渡しできる見込みです。
Chapter Review
Section A — ごい (Vocabulary Review)
1. Complete the Vocabulary Review sorting practice above.
Section B — もじ (Script Review)
1. Complete the Script and Typography Review scanning practice above.
Section C — ぶんぽう (Grammar and Register Review)
1. Complete the Grammar Review Practice exercises above.
Section D — どっかいりかい (Reading Assessment)
1. Complete the Reading Assessment questions above.
Section E — かくこと (Writing Assessment)
1. Complete all six steps of the Writing Assessment, as part of the Performance Task below.
Section F — はなすこと (Speaking Assessment)
1. Complete the spoken meeting update from Speaking Assessment, as part of the Performance Task below.
Unit II Performance Task
パフォーマンスタスク — ユニット２
中間報告会に臨む — Presenting at the Midpoint Review
Complete all four parts below to demonstrate integrated control of advanced keigo, academic synthesis, professional recommendation, and negotiated resolution.
- Listening: Complete the Listening Assessment task above and identify the number of summary points, the staffing risk and benefit, the apology and its target problem, and the two follow-up commitments.
- Reading: Answer the Reading Assessment questions on the Model Briefing Document.
- Spoken production: Deliver your recorded meeting update from Speaking Assessment, moving through all four registers reviewed in this chapter.
- Written production: Submit your multi-part professional message and register-choice note from the Writing Assessment, checked against the revision checklist above.
Assessment focus: appropriate register selection across four distinct communicative functions within one task; accurate humble and respectful forms; a balanced professional recommendation; a calibrated apology paired with a specific conditional proposal; clearly named, dated follow-up commitments; and the ability to explain, in Japanese, the reasoning behind register choices made across the task.
Answer Key
Vocabulary Review — Sorting practice
Open-ended; representative grouping by function: (1) respectful/humble reference — 拝見する, お伺いする; (2) academic framing — 本稿では, 先行研究, 示唆する; (3) professional evaluation — リスク, メリット, デメリット; (4) negotiation and repair — 遅延, 対応策, 代替案, 段階的に, 確認を取る. Some items, such as 対応策, could plausibly support more than one function depending on context.
Script and Typography Review
Open-ended scanning task; confirm against the Model Briefing Document, which opens with a formal greeting sentence, shifts to a numbered academic-style summary (第一に／第二に／第三に), and closes with a labeled 現状・原因・対応策 section.
Grammar Review Practice
(1) Open-ended; model: 本日はお時間をいただき、誠にありがとうございます。資料は拝見しております。 (2) Open-ended; model: 本稿では、進捗を三点にまとめて報告する。第一に…第二に…第三に…データからは、～ことが示唆されている。 (3) Open-ended; model: 増員のデメリットはコストですが、メリットは負担軽減です。 (4) Open-ended; model: ご迷惑をおかけしております。残りの部分を今週中にお渡しできれば、全体の遅れは最小限に抑えられます。
Integrated Dialogue — Comprehension Check
The register shifts from formal opening (greeting 中村部長), to academic-style summary (the three-point progress report), to professional recommendation (the staffing risk/benefit pair), to negotiated resolution (the calibrated apology and delivery update). Emma commits to completing delivery of the remaining translation materials within the week, preparing a staffing proposal by next week, and following up with both 中村部長 and 山本様.
Listening Assessment — Model answers
(1) The summary contains three points. (2) The risk mentioned is that the burden per staff member has become larger than expected; the benefit of adding staff is reduced burden, with cost named as the corresponding disadvantage. (3) The speaker apologizes using ご迷惑をおかけし、申し訳ございません for the translation delay. (4) The two follow-up commitments are delivering the remaining translation materials within the week and preparing a staffing proposal by next week.
Reading Assessment
(1) The opening sentence 本日はお時間をいただき、誠にありがとうございます。 is formal because it uses a humble expression of gratitude appropriate for addressing people one has not met before. (2) The three points report: consultation volume proceeding as expected, staff burden being larger than expected, and a translation delay. (3) The paired sentence states that added staff carries an additional-cost disadvantage but a clear burden-reduction benefit. (4) 現状 introduces what has already been delivered, 原因 introduces the cause of the delay, and 対応策 introduces the proposed remaining steps. (5) The two follow-up commitments are delivering the remaining part within the week and preparing a staffing proposal by next week.
Chapter Review — Sections A through D
Open-ended; check against the Vocabulary Review, Script and Typography Review, Grammar Review Practice, and Reading Assessment sections above.
Chapter Review — Sections E and F, and Unit II Performance Task
These are open-ended, integrated production tasks. Evaluate the written professional message, register-choice note, and recorded meeting update against the assessment focus listed under the Unit II Performance Task above.
Looking Ahead
いまできること — What you can do now
You can move deliberately among humble and respectful keigo, academic-style synthesis, professional risk-and-benefit recommendation, and calibrated negotiation language within a single extended professional interaction, adjusting register as the communicative function changes rather than holding one formality level throughout. This completes Unit II, 高度な公的運用, and prepares you for Unit III, which turns to literature, contemporary media, regional and multilingual variation, and advanced translation and mediation.