By Chok Sim Yee
Japanese speech contest in KK to be annual affair
KOTA KINABALU: The Embassy of Japan in Malaysia will make the Kota Kinabalu Japanese Speech Contest 2017 an annual event to expand the Japanese language movement.
Its ambassador, Dr Makio Miyagawa said there were some Japanese speech contests held in other parts of Malaysia.
Nonetheless, he said the Japanese speech contest organized jointly by Consular Office of Japan in Kota Kinabalu and Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) was the first in Sabah and Kota Kinabalu.
The objective of the event was to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Japan and Malaysia, he said.
“I am extremely impressed by the level of Japanese language spoken by the contestants,” Dr Miyagawa said when met after the prize giving ceremony.
He said the inaugural Japanese speech contest in Kota Kinabalu received more than 30 applicants, 13 of whom made it to the final round yesterday.
“There are many more applicants but we are unable to offer them an opportunity to speak this time.
“I think we will make it (speech contest) an annual event next year.”
He believed that more contestants would participate in the speech contest next year.
Dr Miyagawa said he was informed by UMS that Japanese was a very popular second language which students liked to learn.
As such, he said the speech contest would provide a good opportunity to encourage and motivate Japanese language learners.
He added that many young people in Sabah have also learned parts of the Japanese culture through television programmes and videos in the process of learning the language.
The winner of the Kota Kinabalu Japanese Speech Contest 2017 is Chin Tet Yee, followed by Brendon Chee Jun Ren and Tsen Jiun Tah in second and third place respectively.
Also present was UMS Dean of Centre for the Promotion of Knowledge and Language, Dr Jualang Azlan Gansau.