Why don't my instructions get through to foreign employees?

The main cause is not only the language barrier but a "gap in unspoken assumptions." In most cases, things taken for granted in Japanese business culture are not shared by foreign employees. Unless you convey not just "what to do" but also the background of "why we do it," the meaning of your instructions will not get across.

Why don't foreign employees report to me?

The main cause is that Japanese and foreign employees do not share the same standard for "what should be reported." In most cases, unspoken assumptions of the Japanese workplace, such as "report trouble to your manager right away" or "share concerns early," have not been conveyed to foreign employees. Before trying to increase reporting, the first step is to define in words "what must be reported, and when."

Where should we start to close the "gap in assumptions"?

It starts with "putting into words what we take for granted." Things Japanese people never explain to each other, such as quality standards, when to report and how to respond to problems, are in most cases not understood by foreign employees. Putting that tacit knowledge into words is the starting point.

What is wrong with blaming communication problems with foreign employees on "culture"?

Judging someone as "that's because they're Vietnamese" risks hiding individual differences and differences in circumstances. Cultural tendencies are a useful reference, but if you stop there, you delay addressing the real causes (rules that have not been communicated, reporting standards that are not shared, and so on).

Why Communication with Foreign Employees Breaks Down

Published: April 2, 2026 / Updated: April 24, 2026

This page was translated from Japanese by AI. If anything is unclear, please refer to the Japanese version.

The frustration of instructions not getting through and reports not coming in from foreign employees

Day after day, worn out by communicating with foreign employees...

Communication barriers with foreign employees are problems that arise not from differences in language ability but from each side being unable to see the other's "obvious" assumptions about reporting, confirmation and quality standards.

No matter how many times you explain, the same questions come back. They said "I understand," yet the finished work is completely different. No report comes, so you go and check yourself, only to be told "there are no problems," and later a major problem comes to light.

Even with employees who speak Japanese reasonably well, subtle nuances don't get across. You said "it's urgent," yet nothing has moved by the following week. You said "do it carefully," and now they spend far too much time on it.

Communicating in English is not the answer either. English is not their native language either. When both sides speak a second language, it looks as if you understand each other, but in fact there are subtle gaps. And you can't notice those gaps.

"Can't this go a little more smoothly?" You are probably not the only one thinking that.

Why language skills alone don't solve communication problems with foreign employees

When communication with foreign employees goes wrong, many managers assume it is a "Japanese language problem." Yet the same problems occur even with employees who hold JLPT N2.

The real cause is that the assumptions each side considers "obvious" are different.

Take Ho-Ren-So (reporting, informing and consulting), for example. This concept, drilled into Japanese people in their first year of work, is unknown to many foreigners. The standard for "what to report, when and to whom" is simply not shared in the first place.

The same goes for "quality standards." The line for "this is OK" is different. What a Japanese person sees as "I'd like this done a bit more carefully" may be, for a foreign employee, "I did enough." This is not cutting corners; the definition of "enough" is simply different.

People who grow up in different environments think differently. That is only natural. But it is so obvious that no one is aware of it. That is why the problem surfaces in the form of a "gap in assumptions."

Managing employees without writing it off as "because they're Vietnamese"

When you work with Vietnamese people, there is a temptation to understand them through the category of "Vietnamese people are like this." And national "tendencies" do exist.

But the overall tendency and the individual are two different things.

If you talk to 10 Vietnamese people, there is no way all 10 will give the same answer. The same should be true of Japanese people.

When I first arrived in Vietnam, I heard many times from senior Japanese colleagues that "Vietnamese people are such-and-such." As a result, I was thrown around by all sorts of "Vietnamese people are..." claims. Others' views are worth hearing, but in the end, what you should trust is what you have seen and felt yourself.

The ultimate solution is to make decisions on the basis of "because this is our company's rule" or "because it is the manager's decision". Whether it is Vietnam or Japan has nothing to do with company rules.

5 reasons foreign employees don't report

Even a single symptom such as "reports don't come in" can have several causes.

1. The language barrier.
Conveying subtle nuances in Japanese is difficult even for employees who can handle everyday conversation. They know what they should report, but they stay silent because they can't say it accurately in Japanese.

2. Hesitation toward the manager.
They worry that reporting a problem will make them seem like "a nuisance." If the manager looks busy, it is even harder to speak up.

3. Past experiences of being scolded.
They were scolded before when they reported something, or they saw another employee get scolded. They have learned that "reporting = getting scolded."

4. Different standards for "what should be reported."
A situation that a Japanese person would consider worth reporting, a foreign employee judges to be "not worth reporting." The standard itself is not shared.

5. They don't recognize the need to report at all.
If they come from a culture with no concept of "reporting progress along the way," then "report when it's done" is what they take for granted.

These barriers cannot be overcome with language training alone. You need to address several layers at the same time: language, psychology, culture and structure.

"Putting it in writing" to close the gap in assumptions with foreign employees

In Japan, "sensing what is meant without being told" is considered a virtue. But this very virtue becomes the biggest barrier in communicating with foreigners.

Keeping only the people who can "read between the lines" makes no sense in an era of labor shortages.

What you need to do is communicate explicitly. Document the rules. Show concretely the quality you expect. Define when and what to report. One by one, turn "they should understand without being told" into "it's written down, so they can check it."

Documentation is ideal, but if that is difficult, keep sharing your thinking day to day, even if it is a little vague. The same applies when working with Japanese employees.

Another important point is making the effort to speak in the other person's language. When an interpreter is involved, however skilled, the message becomes "someone else's words" and loses persuasiveness. It is the same as how a message changes when passed along between Japanese people, like a game of telephone. Once translation is involved and the languages differ, some gap in content is unavoidable. And even more significant than the gap in content is the gap in "impression."

Even if it is halting, convey it directly in your own words. That alone changes how the other person receives it.

Above all, spend time on understanding. The brain of someone who has come to a new environment is already working at full capacity. A new country, a new language, a new workplace. The atmosphere is different, the food is different. It is not that they are "slow to learn"; they are simply beyond what their brain can process. At least until the work becomes routine, you should focus on understanding the other person. Very few people can give accurate instructions and make sound decisions while putting this off "because they're busy."

This is not only about foreign employees. The same can be said of the managers who take them on.