Effective Communication

Communication is the act of conveying meanings from one entity or group to another through the use of mutually understood signs, symbols, and semiotic rules.

Verbal

• Indirect Communication: The Japanese communication pattern is very indirect and far less verbose than what the English-speaking West is familiar with. They rely less on words to convey context and are more attentive to the posture, expression and tone of voice of the speaker to draw meaning from a conversation. In order to maintain harmony throughout conversation and prevent a loss of face on either end, they may use ambiguous speech and understatements to convey their message in a more subtle way. The best way of navigating around this rhetoric to find the underlying meaning is to check for clarification several times using open-ended questions.
• Refusals: The cultural preoccupation with saving face and being polite means that the Japanese may wish to avoid giving a flat “no” or negative response—even when they don’t agree with you. Therefore, focus on hints of hesitation. Listen closely to what they say, but also pay careful attention to what they don’t say and implicitly mean. It’s a good idea to clarify and double check your understanding.
• Laughter: When communicating bad news, a Japanese person may smile and laugh to diffuse the uncomfortable situation. People may also cover their mouth when they giggle. It is rare to see big bursts of laughter with corresponding gestures.

Non-Verbal

• Physical Contact: The appropriacy of physical contact varies depending on the context in Japan. You can expect a Japanese person to immediately apologise if they bump into or brush against you by accident. However, often the situation is unavoidable (e.g. on crowded public transport). In these situations, people are generally accustomed to a lack of personal space.
• Body Language: The Japanese do not gesture very much while speaking as their body language is largely restrained. Instead, they often hold their hands together as they speak which prevents them from gesturing throughout conversation.
• Eye Contact: The Japanese avoid eye contact with strangers as it is considered rude to stare.
• Facial Expressions: It is common for Japanese people to maintain a placid expression and smile during an interaction regardless of the topic. This evidently differs between personalities, but a modest, reserved demeanour is polite. Furthermore, consider that whilst smiling can indicate happiness, it is sometimes used in an attempt to cover awkwardness or sadness.
• Nodding: Japanese people often nod to acknowledge what is said. However, this does not always mean they agree or understand. It is primarily a gesture made out of politeness.
• Feet: Displaying the soles of your feet is considered rude.
• Inhaling: When a Japanese person inhales air through their teeth, it usually implies disagreement.
• Silence: Silence is an important and purposeful tool used in Asian communication. Pausing before giving a response indicates that someone has applied appropriate thought and consideration to the question. This reflects politeness and respect.
• Beckoning: It is impolite to beckon people who you are not close friends with. Beckoning is done by facing the palm of the hand to the ground and waving one’s fingers towards oneself. Individual fingers should not be used.
• Pointing: Pointing is done using the entire hand unless referring to oneself, in which case they place their index finger on their nose.
• Waving: Shaking the hand with the palm facing forward from side to side means “no”.
• Gestures: A Japanese person may clasp their hands together in front of their chest when apologizing or accepting something. This expresses gratitude and respect.
• Bowing: See ‘Greetings’ for guidelines on how to bow.

Parts of Speech

Nouns

Nouns in Japanese are fairly immutable. They do not take definite or indefinite articles, gender, and do not change for number.
Although there is no true plural in Japanese, a small number of nouns may take one of several collective suffixes.

Tanaka-san (Mr. Tanaka), Tanaka-san-tachi (Mr. Tanaka and his group).
Certain nouns may take a prefix in polite speech. Most often, native Japanese words
(和語) are preceded by “o-” (“お”), and Sino-Japanese words (漢語) are preceded with “go-” (“ご”). Both are readings of the kanji “御”.
Though primarily used for adding politeness or distance, some words more commonly appear with the prefix than others, and in some cases, never appear without it
(e.g., お茶 [ocha], “green tea”).
Many nouns may be converted into verbs simply by affixing 「する」 (suru) to the end.
“benkyō” (勉強(べんきょう)勉強する(べんきょう) )
Nouns may also function as adjectives when the particle の (no) or な (“na”) is appended.
“ki” (木) means “wood” with “ki no tatemono” (木の(き)建物(たてもの)

Pronouns

Further information: Personal pronouns
Unlike many other languages, Japanese has no true pronouns; since words that are clear from context are usually elided, there is less need for them. In general, natural-sounding Japanese tends to avoid the use of nouns that refer to people except when explicitly needed. This is often a point of confusion for beginners. Pronominals are not grammatically distinct from ordinary nominals: notably, they may take adjectives, which pronouns cannot.
“watashi”, “boku”, “ore”, “watakushi” all mean “I”; and “anata”, “kimi” mean “you”

Na-adjectives
Further information: Adjectives

A Na-adjective is a nominal that often precedes a copula
(such as ‘na’). Due to the common occurrence of na-adjectives, many Japanese dictionaries write nominals with the ‘na’ included. Na-adjectives are generally adjectival in meaning, as most cannot exist in context without a previously denoted subject; however, one might simply say “げんき　な (genki na)” to describe a subject that is understood within the current conversation’s context
(this situation is limited to casual or somewhat informal conversation; using full sentences is almost always necessary when speaking to anyone of higher status). Examples of na-adjectives: “heta na:” unskilled, bad at; “genki na:” healthy, energetic; “orijinaru na:” original

Verbals
Further information: Verbs
Verbs are where most of the action in Japanese sentences takes place. They are the primary means for controlling levels of politeness in speech,…
Japanese verbs inflect directly for tense, negation, mood, aspect, politeness, and honorific speech.
Unlike English, conjugation of Japanese verbs is extremely regular, with few exceptions. The system takes some getting used to, but once the kana have been learned, a uniform pattern emerges. Verbs are placed into one of three groups: 五段 (godan, aka Type I), 一段 (ichidan, aka Type II), and 不規則 (fukisoku, irregular).
Only two verbs are generally considered irregular in the modern language, 来る (kuru, to come) and する (suru, to do). Despite being such, even they are somewhat regular in their irregularity.

I-adjectives
Further information: Adjectives
These inflect for tense, politeness, and honorific speech as well (although not aspect or mood, as they are all stative verbs); an -i adjective will always end in -ai, -ī, -ui, or -oi. (Note that there are also stative -u verbs.)
“utsukushī”: beautiful; “ī”: good; “sugoi”: amazing; “ureshī”: happy

The Copula

Although the copula is not strictly a verb, most of its forms derive from “de aru”, but inflects somewhat irregularly. It retains an “attributive form”, na, used to modify the noun it stands before: however, this form is almost exclusively used after na-adjectives.

Further information: Basic Particles

Particles: Also called postpositions or joshi, particles show the case of nouns in Japanese: that is, they mark nouns as being the subject, object, indirect object, etc. (English typically uses word order or prepositions for the same effect.)

Particles follow the noun they modify.

• wa (は): topic
• ga (が): subject
• o (を): direct object
• no (の): possession, apposition
• ni (に): indirect object, direction “to”, location of existence, etc.
• kara (から): direction “from”
• made (まで): “until”, “as far as”
• de (で): means, location of an action

Some particles are used after sentences instead:

• ka (か): question marker
• yo (よ): marker for giving new information or showing emphasis or certainty
• ne (ね): marker for seeking agreement
• tte (って): informal quotation marker

Adverbs:

Adverbs typically modify the entire sentence, although most Japanese quantifiers (including numbers) are actually adverbs, rather than adjectives as in English.

• aikawarazu as always;
• sukoshi (少し) a little, few
• mō sugu soon, before long;
• sō thus, so

Conjunctions:

Japanese conjunctions typically either apply to nominals (like English “except”) or to predicates (like English “when”), not both (like English “and”).
• mata wa or (n.);
• soshite (そして) and then, and also (pr.);
• ga but (pr.)

Interjections:

Common to every language.
• wā! “wow!”
• are? “huh?”, “wha?”
• ē to “um, er”
• anō “um”

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Why Are Records Important?
Records are important for their content and as evidence of communication, decisions, actions, and history. As public institutions, school boards/authorities are accountable to the public and to government. Records support openness and transparency by documenting and providing evidence of work activities and by making them available to the public. Records support quality program and services, inform decision making, and help meet organizational goals.

Characteristics of a Record

The International Standard Organization (ISO) Standard 15849 – Information and Documentation – Records Management defines the characteristics of a record. In addition to demonstrating accountability, a record should sup- port organizational needs.

Records Should Have:

• Content: A record should reflect what was communicated or decided or what action was taken, and should pro- vide enough information so that it is understood.
• Context: It should reflect how it was used or why it was created (purpose), the date, the time, and the participants.
• Meaning: It should be linked to other documents or information to which it relates.

Authenticity
A record is one that can be proven:
• to be what it purports to be;
• to have been created or sent by the person purported to have created or sent it; and
• to have been created or sent at the time purported.

Reliability
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Integrity
A record must be complete and unaltered and must be protected from unauthorized changes, and verifiable unaltered.
Usability
To be useable, records must be retrievable, presented, and interpreted. The links between other records should be maintained.