"EnglishCentral" to Speak at "HR Conference 2026-Spring-" on May 15

EnglishCentral Japan Inc. (Headquarters: Taito-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Alan Schwartz; hereinafter, EnglishCentral), which provides "EnglishCentral," an online training platform for speaking English, to corporations and educational institutions, will give a lecture at the "HR Conference 2026-Spring-" hosted by Japan's HR department on Friday, May 15, 2026, featuring language and cross-cultural communication consultant Ms. Chiemi Allwright. In this lecture, she will explain communication issues that cannot be attributed solely to Japan's unique personnel systems, distinctive business customs, or language barriers, from the perspective of linguistic cognition, amidst the growing recruitment of multinational talent within companies. As the acceptance of foreign workers expands due to labor shortages in Japan and the rate of local hiring at Japanese companies' overseas subsidiaries increases, the workforce within companies is becoming more multinational. Consequently, the challenge of communication gaps in managing multinational talent is growing in importance, demanding urgent solutions. Regarding the management of multinational talent, three issues are generally pointed out: "Japan's unique personnel systems," "distinctive business customs," and the "language barrier." In response to these visible issues, companies have implemented various measures, including personnel system reforms, as well as providing training in business etiquette, cross-cultural understanding, and language. However, the problem of communication gaps remains unresolved. In this special lecture at the HR Conference, Ms. Chiemi Allwright, a UK-based expert who continues to research and teach focusing on cognitive differences due to language discrepancies from a linguistic and cultural communication perspective, will take the stage. Using Japanese and English speakers as examples, she will clarify how a "cognitive gap," where perceptions and views of things differ, arises. Furthermore, she will explain what kind of language training design is necessary to bridge the cognitive gap between different languages and will introduce case studies where cross-cultural communication skills have actually improved by resolving this gap. "EnglishCentral" will continue to propose solutions that support the activities of globalizing companies. ##
＜HR Conference Special Lecture Overview＞ **Lecture Theme** Why do miscommunications with multinational talent happen so easily? - The "Cognitive Gap" that language learning alone cannot fill -