(This month, each day, except the four Sundays, I will be blogging about interesting features associated with Bengaluru, formerly known as Bangalore, as part of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge)
A random online survey showed at least 10 institutes in the city each for language like French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Italian, Chinese etc. Besides, there are many who teach small groups of students at their homes.
In 2014, there were around 200 Japanese companies in Karnataka and the Japanese population was about 600. Five years later, the corresponding figures were 530 and 1,300, according to Deccan Herald. There are around 30 Japanese restaurants too in Bengaluru.
We are on J today, therefore, Japanese Language School. It was established in 1984, which its website says is "the first organized Japanese language institute in Bangalore".
The entire course was designed especially for the Indians by an Indian educationist and Japanese expert late H Ganesh. According to him, the pronunciation and grammar aren't tough; it's the vocabulary that is difficult since it's very different from Indian or European languages.
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| Images from Japan Habba (Festival of Japan 2019) Source: Consulate-General of Japan, Bengaluru |
The course is stuctured keeping in mind the Japanese Language Proficiecy Test certificate which is recognised world over. The levels of learning range from the basic N5 to the highest N1. Besides grammar and vocabulary, students are also taught basic Japanese culture like etiquette.
My son studied at the Japanese Language School and cleared the elementary level. He couldn't continue the course as he had to move to Sydney. We keep telling him to keep in touch with the language in some way so that he doesn't forget what he learnt. Not sure if he is getting the time for it.
In the city, the other two very popular foreign cultural centres are the Alliance Francaise (for French) and the Goethe-Institut (for German), which in India are called Max Mueller Bhavan, in honour of Friedrich Max Müller, who specialised in Indian languages and culture.
(Tomorrow, we go back in time again - it's about a centuries-old festival.)
It must be a very interesting language. It would be valuable to learn.
ReplyDeleteHari Om
ReplyDeleteJapenese would serve our son well even in Sydney - quite a strong population there too! YAM xx
Hi Yamini - Thank you. I will encourage him to keep revising, if not fully enrol for a course.
DeleteWhen working for a Japanese owned firm, I took Rosetta Stone language lessons out of fascination and a fruitless hope the managers might take me to Japan. ~sigh~ Interestingly, my high school Spanish lessons resurfaced in that period during a visit to the US state of Florida. So this knowledge may well resurface for your son, much younger than me, when he does get time. Be well!
ReplyDeleteHi Darla - Thank you. I will tell my son.
DeleteI think it is beneficial to learn other languages, although I was never very good at it. I took three years of French in high school and one of Spanish and I can barely count to ten. I hope that your son finds the time to keep in touch with the language. I will be spending some time journaling
ReplyDeleteHave a great day.
Cheers,
Crackerberries
Hi Crackerberries - Yes, some people take to different languages very easily. Not everyone!
DeleteJapan has always held such fascination for me. Even the theme for my A to Z this year is based on a Japanese concept.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the centuries old festival tomorrow:)
Hi Arti - Yes, I noticed that about your theme. Thanks. Take care.
DeleteIt is interesting to note there are 30 Japanese restaurants in Bangalore. If your son is interested in Japanese language for the love of the language it is excellent. If he wants to learn a language for "job prospects", my advice would be for him to learn Spanish. In about 2o to 25 years, Spanish would become the business language of the world.
ReplyDeleteDeep Japanese connection with Bengaluru.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many restaurants!
Hi Anita - Mainly because of strong Japanese business connections.
DeleteHi Pradeep - it is fascinating how peoples have travelled and thus languages ... my SIL studied Japanese for her work ... and I'm sure has kept the basics up.
ReplyDeleteIt's admirable your son has done some basic studies ... and I hope he keeps it up ... he'll really appreciate any learninghe does now in later life. It's also easy then to add another language into the mix ... All the best to you all - cheers Hilary
I have a friend who is in love with Japan and for a time she studied Japanese on her own (she's German). She too told me that Japanese ronoucietion isn't hard... it's the vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteDon't knwo whether she kept it up.
@JazzFeathers
The Old Shelter - The Great War
Hi JazzFeathers - It's difficult to keep up with it, if it's that tough.
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