On Saturday, October 29, 2011, APU student, BABA Narumi (APS1, Japan), claimed second place in the Recital Section of the “5th Vietnamese Speech Contest” held at the Kanda University of International Studies.

Nineteen selected students from APU, Kanda University of International Studies and three other universities around Japan took part in the contest in five divisions based on their proficiency level. BABA Narumi claimed second prize in the Vietnamese poetry recital division for students who are still in their first months of study.

After coming to APU, BABA Narumi soon made friends with a Vietnamese student and wanted to be able to speak to her in Vietnamese. Motivated by her desire to master the language, she joined Vietnamese Week stage performances, visited Vietnam on a language emersion program and came to feel a stronger attachment to the language. “We can get our message across with gestures, but I have also trained hard on my Vietnamese intonation and tone in order to convey my feelings as well. I feel as though this prize is recognition of my hard work. I’m very pleased to receive this award and I look forward to continuing my relationship with Vietnam and the Vietnamese language”.

Home to students from 78 countries and regions (as of November 1, 2011), APU provides students with the opportunity to develop advanced language proficiency by offering beginner, intermediate and advanced classes in six of the major Asia Pacific languages, namely, Chinese, Korean, Malay/Indonesian, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese.

Please click here for more details on the Kanda University of International Studies homepage:
http://www.kandagaigo.ac.jp/kuis/news/report750.html