Thursday, 27 December 2007: RIYADH - Four Saudi students were declared winners of the third Japanese Language Speech Contest held at the College of Languages and Translation King Saud University here earlier this month.
Eight participants, who competed in the intermediate and advanced levels, delivered speeches to demonstrate their language capabilities, dialect and proficiency. Each level comprised four students.
The students impressed both the audience and the panel of judges that comprised Japanese Ambassador Nakamura, Counselor Takeshi Okubo, a number of diplomats and officials from Japanese Society in Riyadh, Principal of Japanese School, Resident Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Manager of Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and the associate professors of Japanese language at KSU.
The judges evaluated the Saudi students' performance for language skills and speech delivery.
According to one guest present on the occasion the Saudi students have learned the Japanese language skills so well that they spoke as native speakers.
Dr. Abdullah Al-Othman, KSU Rector was also present.
Ambassador Nakamura highlighted the importance of Japanese Language Division at COLT, which he said was the only Japanese language learning facility in the Gulf region.
The envoy appreciated the efforts of COLT's Japanese Language Division for organizing the contest.
Japan and Saudi Arabia have deep-rooted relations, which were further strengthened by the recent high-level exchange of visits by Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz and former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe to Saudi Arabia.
"These visits reflect the strategic partnership between the two countries," he said.
Established in 1994 the Japanese Language Division at COLT produced around 30 Saudi graduates, who are either working as interpreters or translators in the Kingdom's multinational companies and at Saudi Embassy in Tokyo. Around 30 students are now studying at different levels at COLT.
Japanese Language Division at King Saud University was established with full support from the government of Japan. Currently three Japanese lecturers including one from Japanese Foundation, are teaching the students at COLT.
By Shahid Ali Khan
© The Saudi Gazette 2007
