A patois from the East

Updated on: Monday, February 15, 2010

Every student who is keen to learn a foreign language generally seems confused about choosing which language he/she should study. Thousands of institutes in the country offer foreign language courses such as German, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, French, Japanese etc. With the world becoming a global village, learning a language would serve a student in good stead. But instead of going for a European language why not consider one from Asia? Think about it — there are about 500 Japanese companies in India and approximately 300 in Delhi & the NCR alone. Suzuki, Honda, Nissan, Toyota, Canon, Sony etc are but a few names.

There are several places you could study languages at like the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages (CIEFL), Hyderabad, the Western Regional Language Centre, Pune (a hub of foreign language institutes) and the Japanese Information and Cultural Centre at New Delhi. Almost every prime university in India has a language school or department like the Delhi University has the Department of East Asian Studies and Jawaharlal Nehru University has a School of Languages. There are institutes that offer just Japanese such as the Nihongo Centre, New Delhi that has various courses in Japanese from the basic to the advanced level. The content of the courses are mainly based on the Japan Foundation’s Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT).

The Japanese Language Proficiency Test is conducted both in Japan and outside Japan to evaluate and certify the language proficiency of primarily non-native speakers of Japanese. The Japan Educational Exchanges and Services, inside Japan, and the Japan Foundation outside Japan, administer the test.
Says Indian student Akhil Sharma presently working as an interpreter in Shizuoka, Japan, “The JLPT, has four levels. If you want to get a job as an interpreter or translator the basic requirement is level two. After completing level two — with good skills in English — you could get a salary of around Rs. 25,000 to 30, 000 per month in India, and after level four you could earn about Rs. 5,000 to 10,000 extra. If you are an IT engineer with a knowledge of Japanese you can earn more in India as well as in Japan.”

Universities offer degree and diploma courses at both the graduation and post graduation level. But other autonomous language institutes could build you a programme depending on your needs. For instance if you are planning to go to Japan on a visit, or on a business trip your needs would differ. If you however, wish to converse in Japanese in a short time without going through your graduation in the subject, the Nihongo Centre would charge you between Rs. 3,300 and 7,000 for a five month course.

Says Noriko Nasukawa, Head, Nihongo Centre, “Nowadays domestic as well as international companies are recruiting students with JLPT qualifications. The opportunities are bright for Japanese learners as they can become interpreters; or work in the accounts department of a Japanese company if they are commerce students; or go into the automobile industry or an IT company if they have done engineering.”

Neha Mittal, a student emphasises that, “most jobs are for interpreters or translators, teachers, or in the Japanese embassies in India. However if you have an additional qualification like being an engineering graduate — the world could be your oyster!”

A patois from the East

More Education news