Three students from York University earned a first-place prize during the 32nd Canadian National Japanese Language Speech Contest (NJSC).
The students, from the Japanese Studies Program in York's Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS), earned the top spot in the Beginner, Intermediate and Open categories during the contest, held online by the University of British Columbia on March 28.
Earning the prizes were:
- Beginners’ category – Heshan Wadumasethrige (JP1000)
- Intermediate category – Peter Wenxiang Zang (JP2000)
- Open category – Lilika Zheng (JP3000)
These three students were also the first prize winners in their respective category at the 2021 Ontario Japanese Speech Contest.
Professors Norio Ota, Noriko Yabuki-Soh, Kumiko Inutsuka, Akiko Mitsui and Eri Takahashi coached the students diligently and professionally and led them to the successful results at the contest. Yabuki-Soh also served on the organizing committee for the national contest.
The national speech contest was established in 1989 under the auspices of the Japanese Embassy in Ottawa in order to promote Japanese language education in Canada. The national speech contest has been sponsored by the Japan Foundation and held at a different location across Canada annually. Consulates General of Japan, universities and corporations have provided various support and assistance in making it a very successful and important event to the Japanese community. The national speech contest is now co-hosted by the National Japanese Speech Contest Organizing Committee and CAJLE.
For further information, visit http://buna.yorku.ca/ojsc/.