Belarusian State University
AIHARA Mikiko

There are two universities in Belarus that offer Japanese-language education. One of these is Belarusian State University. The Japanese-Language Specialist dispatched by the Japan Foundation is fundamentally responsible for six class periods a week. During the 2018 academic year, I was responsible for classes in which students study Japanese as their specialty, as well as classes for students studying Japanese as a secondary specialty.

The secondary specialty classes are for students specializing in the international economy. The students of this class are able to judge what they need in a short amount of time and get their hands on the required information. Their class time may be short, but my impression is that they learn incredibly efficiently.

Specialty students

The classes for the specialty are mostly made up of students who have returned from studying in Japan or who aim to study in Japan. Up until 2017, the speaking classes focused more on everyday conversation than anything else, but during the 2018 academic year I held classes in which I particularly kept in mind that the students would be studying in a Japanese university. The students learn by cooperating with each other.

From among the students, I started hearing conversations such as, “When I talk, even if a Russian word comes to mind, it doesn't always go well if I try to directly translate that into a complex Japanese word,” and “Don’t force yourself to use complex words, communicate in your own words.” In addition, if a student uses a word that someone else isn’t familiar with and receives questions afterwards, they are now able to paraphrase their sentence with a different word and explain in a way that is easy to understand. The students have also started paying attention to the differences between written and spoken language.

In addition, I felt that they were preparing and practicing for the Japanese speech contest with more autonomy than last year. They carried out practices that included the moderator, asked each other astute questions, and offered accurate comments. When it came to pronunciation practice, the other students joined in with the students participating in the Japanese speech contest.

Japanese speech contest poster

The venue for the 2018 Japanese Speech Contest was Belarusian State University, the same as in 2017. The students didn’t just participate in the Japanese Speech Contest—they also created posters, and students even acted as moderators. The moderator roles were carried out in Japanese and Russian by students from two universities in Belarus. Students from Belarusian State University were responsible for the Japanese in 2017, and the Russian in 2018.

Up until the 2018 academic year, students studied Japanese for five years in Belarusian State University. This will become four years from the 2019 academic year, and the time for their Japanese-language classes will also shorten. The students should, of course, concentrate as they learn in class, but it will become even more necessary for them to think about what they need themselves and advance their own learning. I think that the current students who are carrying out autonomous learning will serve as great references for next year’s new students as they advance in their studies.