ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the larger background to care communication. It presents a brief outline of Japan's recent demographic developments and how they relate to an increasing interest in the topic of eldercare in general, and the role of communication in particular. The chapter introduces the sociolinguistic background and summarises the main findings from research on communication in eldercare outside Japan. It discusses the most salient characteristics that previous researchers have identified when exploring resident-staff interaction in institutional eldercare settings. The 'foreign element' in care has entailed an increased interest in care communication, which has been the main drive for a greater number of studies. The heightened consciousness of foreign care workers is reflected in a 2009 publication of a little Japanese-English glossary of care language that explicitly addresses a non-Japanese workforce. From an applied perspective, many of the studies further recognise the importance of talk in itself, stressing that it must be considered one key element in providing satisfactory care.
