Learning Japanese opens up many opportunities

CHENNAI: For most students, learning Japanese starts with their fascination for anime (Japanese animated cartoons). But, after having stepped into S&N Hayakawa — the Japanese language school in Chennai, their curiosity not only transforms into a cultural experience, but also  opens up many opportunities. S&N Hayakawa has so far trained about 10,000 people. It has also hosted the inaugural of its 26th batch, last week. Prasanna(20), a Biotech student from Rajalakshmi Engineering College, went to a Japanese University on a student exchange programme for a month. He said, “This opportunity happened only because I knew the language at the undergraduate level, as their curriculum is mostly in Japanese."On why one should learn Japanese, G Ramesh, an expert in the language, who teaches in the school said, “There are 240 Japanese companies, who have set base in Chennai, and another 450 more in India. So, knowing Japanese will give people an edge when it comes to getting hired. Many of our past students are now employed in Japanese companies.”Shanmugasundram (44), a mechanical engineer, who works for an automobile company, said, “When I joined, I wanted to learn the language and go to Japan for work. But once I started, I realised I wanted to move to the higher levels for the love of the language and culture.”S&N Hayakawa offers JLPT(Japanese Language Proficiency Test) Courses on various levels like N5 ( Basic level), N4 (Intermediate Level), N3 (Advance Level) and so on.Kayoko Furukawa, Consul General of Japan, while addressing the students at the school  said, “I am also learning Tamil, now I speak Tamil Konjam! Konjam!” Itwas met warmly with a lot of claps from the audience. She further added, “I'm very impressed with Tamil people who are learning  Japanese. Knowing each other’s language is very important in building the cultural bond. Both Tamil and Japanese languages have a lot of similarities.”