Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Japanese language students show their oratorical skills

CHENNAI: Twenty-eight students of the Japanese language gathered here on Saturday to participate in a speech contest, which was organised by the Mombusho Scholars Association of India (MOSAI) and the Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IJCCI) in cooperation with the Japan Foundation, Tokyo.

In the 4 minute long performances they brought to the audience a range of personal stories and informative speeches – all in Japanese.

Language students from institutes all over South India, such as the English and Foreign Languages University in Hyderabad, Bangalore University and the IJCCI language school, participated.

The six winners, three on junior-level and three on senior-level, are one step closer to the first prize of the national contest to be held in Delhi in March and a two week trip to Japan.

The participants talked animatedly about topics ranging from their family, a plea for people to do more social work and the similarities between Indian and Japanese festivals, Executive Secretary of IJCCI Suguna Ramamoorthy translated.

“The students can choose any topic of a general nature,” she said. Other rules are that the students did not spend more then 500 hours of learning and not more than one year in Japan.

The jury, headed by the Consul of Japan in Chennai, Tomonori Minowa, judged the performances on the fluency, pronunciation, contents and delivery.

The Consul General of Japan in Chennai Kazuo Minagawa and President of IJCCI R.Veeramani were present.

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