NEWS

Yui Ikeo (College of Asia Pacific Studies, 2nd year) was awarded 2nd place in the Recitation Category for university students at the 41st National Chinese Speech Contest sponsored by the Japan-China Friendship Association, which was held in Tokyo. In the Recitation Category, participants read aloud a given text, and pronunciation and intonation are assessed for accuracy and fluency.

After entering APU, Ms. Ikeo decided to take on the challenge of learning a new language and began studying Chinese I (Introductory Class) in the fall of last year. Last summer, she participated in the short-term study abroad program, AP Language Immersion, for three weeks to enhance her language learning. Currently, she is enrolled in Chinese IV (Advanced Class). With enthusiastic guidance from her teachers in four classes per week, supported by friends who speak Chinese and other Chinese learners, in the short span of about one year, she achieved the excellent result of winning at the national competition.

＜Comment from Ms. Ikeo on the award＞
I never thought I could win, so I was truly surprised. I would be happy if people see me and think, "even if you start Chinese from scratch, you can still become able to speak it," and I would be happy if this becomes a source of motivation and inspiration for engaging in language learning.
And I would like to express my thanks to my Chinese teachers. I am truly grateful for their support!

At APU, in addition to Japanese and English, students can study the 6 languages of the Asia Pacific (Chinese, Korean, Malay/Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai, and Spanish) from beginner to advanced levels. There are many students and professors on campus who speak one of these as their native language, allowing students to strengthen their language ability through daily interactions with others.