On March 4th, Mr Yusuke Sasaki, Assistant Director, and Ms Carol Cheng, Research & Liaison Officer at CLAIR Sydney, presented for a Japanese class at the University of New South Wales.
The two CLAIR Sydney staff made the presentations at the request of Professor Yumiko Hashimoto, and there were approximately 30 students in attendance on the day. Mr Sasaki presented on the variety of Japanese dialects through a comparison of the Nambu dialect, which is spoken in the eastern part of Aomori Prefecture, and the Tsugaru dialect, which is spoken in the western part of Aomori. Students were surprised by the differences between standard Japanese, which is what they study at university, and the two dialects. Ms Cheng gave a presentation on her Japanese study experience through studying abroad and joining the JET Programme. As Ms Cheng graduated from UNSW herself, students were able to relate to her and asked about her experiences working in a city hall in Japan.
We hope that the presentations will motivate the students to develop further interest in Japan.
