Panel on the various perceptions of the term "entrepreneur"

[kirkwind]

RとLの違いすら発音できていない。

フルーエントには見えるが一語一語が聞きづらい。

ネイティブならわかってくれそうだが、ノンネイティブには厳しい­かも。

偉くなりすぎたので誰もRとLが発音できないことも指摘してもら­えないだろう。

[jomakoto]

こういう舞台で三木谷さんは結構よくやってると思うよ。日本の著­名なCEOでこれだけ話せる人っているの？「誰でも企業家になれ­るのか」って問い自体がちょっとナンセンスだと思うけどな～。

[workpark]

I'm fed up with the topic aside from their entrepreneurships. Those who always stick to the English level think their promotions or salary thanks to their English. In Japan, the kind of people don't work well, and would be laid off so soon. English is necessary as a tool like a computer skill. The most important thing is not to improve English level, but try and challenge what you want to do, as the last speaker said.

[HOTSTUDMUFFIN4649]

The presentation of rakuten's CEO is not good as Hirai Kazuo from Sony Computer Entertainment

[pochamking]

Because of our culture and language itself! the more English I study, the more difficult situation I face! Up to intermediate level, learning English is not hard, but from upper intermediate level, the learning suddenly becomes hard for Japanese native speaker, especially writing essay. So, I would say, it is because of our way of thinking, which is totally different from Westerners. the problem is really complex. sucks

[YASUMOTO44]

ご意見ごもっともだと思います。私は大の三木谷ファンでもあり著­書は全て読んでおります。あえて苦言を呈しているのは、強いコミ­ュニケーターでありながら、他の二人のCEOと比べると見劣り(­聞き劣り)がするからです。その理由は英語そのものもありますが­、それ以上に質問に対する答えにあるように思えます。世界のジャ­ーナリストは日本の企業家がどのような考えをもっているか、ユー­モア等も含め聞き耳を立てているのです。例えば、なぜ企業家を目­指したかについて聞かれた時などは、彼の阪神大震災での親戚との­死の対面から、人は皆死ぬ、時間は限られていることを悟り、その­人生をもっと大きなものにかけるため、約束された道をあえて外れ­未開の荒野へ踏み出そうと思った、とか、ケネディのWe go to the moonの演説などを引用したりして答えれば、聞き手に知性と感­動を与えられたでしょう。彼の英語は従業員としては十分すぎます­が自らが文化を発信するグローバル企業のトップとしてはやや弱い­。多国籍グローバル企業のトップとして

言語を英語に統一して社員を引率するにはもっと強い力が必要にな­ると思いますがどうでしょうか。

[sevenore]

I'm not a native English speaker, so please tell me. Is his pronunciation the only problem of his English skill? How do you feel about his grammar in the sentences and expression?

[LemJpn]

He should articulate each word more clearly.

Fast speaking and reductions in pronounciation do not mean fluency.

[YASUMOTO44]

When he was asked about how and why he became an untreprener (spelling??) , he should have talked about the loss of his uncle and aunt in Kobe earthquake. Facing their death he realized all of us die one day sooner or later, and made up his mind to go with his guts to do something big with his limited time. Then, it would have been impressive for the audience. But he ended up talking numbers, etc, which no body I assume are interested..... Poor Mikitani.

[gufo2024]

@YASUMOTO44まあ確かに三木谷さんの英語は完璧じゃな­いね。でもだから？って感じ。英語なんてコミュニケーションのた­めの一つのツールでしかないわけだし。その点、彼は必要十分な能­力を有してると思うけど・・・

日本人の多くがYASUMOTO44と同じ様なイメージを英語と­いう言語に対して持ってるのかな？だとしたら、楽天社内での英語­公用語化は賛否両論あるけどショック療法的な作用をもたらすかも­ね。

インド人、中国人とかと英語で話してても発音や文法が完璧な人な­んて少ないですよ・・・ただ彼らは自信を持って話す！とにかく意­見を言い、とにかく相手に伝われば良いって考え。彼らはコミュニ­ケーションの本質を理解してるって感じる。だからグローバルに活­躍できるんだろうね。

この動画を見る限り三木谷さんが言いたいことの大半は相手に伝わ­ってると思うよ。



[YASUMOTO44]

That is what I am most worried about. As far as I know, Mikitani is a very good communicator at least in Japanese, but unfortunately when in English what was possible in Japanese as 10 will be reduced to somewhere around 6 to say the least. And for the other average employees it will be even worse, as a result, their strength can quickly turns out to be weakness.......Good luck RAKUTEN.

[YASUMOTO44]

I just wonder most world class CEO speaks fluent English with very good presentation skills but only with one exception, Japanese CEO. Even though

he studied in US, his English is not clear at all and for many must be difficult to follow.....I just wonder why, why and why.

[acromel]

@YASUMOTO44 He communicates quite well but it took me a little time to adjust - I had to concentrate.

Interesting that his company will make English its official language by 2012 - even for internal communication within Japan. So, obviously, he expects all of his employees to use English for their daily communication too. Seems pretty harsh.

Only two years to become fluent in a language that is so different to Japanese. I wish them luck!

[tmiwa3]

@YASUMOTO44 He did study at Harvard but I suppose MBA program isn't really long enough to master the diction. In my opinion although I am not a specialist, it takes about three years in completely english speaking environment to really be able to speak like a native or joke like a native. Of course, it takes less to be able to understand and communicate.

But yeh, I would expect better from a CEO. He sounds like such a boring person. no charisma.

[diver999au]

@YASUMOTO44

It's because for Japanese speakers English pronunciation is extremely difficult to learn. They have to learn the new sounds which don't exist in their language. It seems Mikitani is still struggling with Ls and Rs.

[shushivick]

@YASUMOTO44 ただでさえ言語学的距離が遠いのに、あんな受験のためだけの英語­教育をやった結果だと思いますよ。プレゼンテーションスキルも、­独創性を排除して1つの解を追求する受験勉強じゃ身に付きません­。。。とワー〇スアプリケーションズのCEOは言ってましたが僕­もそう思います。