2012.01.11
January 11, 2012
On November 15, 2011, 27 students of the Japanese language from Russia visited SFC as part of the Japan-Russia Youth Exchange Program conducted by the Japan-Russia Youth Exchange Center.
Every year, the Center invites university students studying Japanese in Russia to Japan for exchange and cultural experience programs with Japanese students. This year's visiting students were scheduled to tour cultural facilities and historical sites in Tokyo and Kyoto from November 10 to 17, and their visit to SFC was part of this tour.
Upon arriving at SFC, the Russian students first enjoyed lunch with students from the Taira Takaya Lab, after which they were guided by SFC students on a tour of the campus, which was beautiful with autumn leaves. Some of the students were very impressed with the extensive facilities at the Media Center and said they would love to study at SFC.
Afterwards, they split into three groups for discussions with an even larger number of SFC students. The Russian students came from various cities including Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Khabarovsk, Irkutsk, Vladivostok, and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and their Japanese language proficiency levels varied. As a result, they discussed familiar topics such as student life, hobbies, and youth culture, sometimes mixing in English.
The Russian students then specially participated in a Japanese skills class taught by Yuko Terada, a visiting lecturer (by invitation) at the Faculty of Policy Management. The theme of the class was noun accent. For example, "hana" (flower) and "hana" (nose) have the same accent when read as single words, but when the particle "ga" is attached, as in "hana ga," the difference in the accent of "ga" allows one to distinguish between the two. It was very impressive to see the Russian students actively participating in the Japanese class—some nodding eagerly at this discovery, others practicing pronunciation with sparkling eyes—all while being guided by international students from Korea and China who were enrolled in the course.
Posted by: International Group, Academic Affairs