近来,议论“日本的国际化时代”的人逐渐增多。对此普遍认为:没有国际化,就没有日本经济和文化的繁荣;而且,没有外语的使用能力,就没有日本的国际化。笔者同几名共事者一起接受了文部省的科学研究津贴,正在调查“日本的双语现象”。其环节之一便是调查与外国贸易有关的日本企业在外语的使用能力方面有何设想和方针。就日本的企业而言,国际化是个重大问题,因为企业的国际化与日本的国际化有着直接的联系。以往的调查已弄清了几件事。首先,协助调查的企业几乎百分之百地把英语视为最重要 Recently, there has been an increase in the number of people who talk about the “era of Japan’s internationalization.” It is generally agreed that without internationalization there will be no economic and cultural prosperity in Japan and there will be no internationalization of Japan without the ability to use foreign languages. The author, along with several co-workers, accepted the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology grant and is investigating “Japan’s bilingual phenomenon.” One of its aspects is to investigate what ideas and guidelines Japan companies in foreign trade can use in foreign languages. In the case of Japanese enterprises, internationalization is a major issue because the internationalization of enterprises is directly linked to Japan’s internationalization. Past investigations have identified a few things. First, companies that assist in the survey view English as the most important