Of the estimated 24,000 students studying Japanese in India, as many as 3,000 are learning the language in Pune, making a strong statement of the city emerging as one of the national hubs for this language.
After well-established courses being conducted by the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), Indo Japanese Association (IJA) and Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth (TMV), the famed Deccan College is set to introduce a certificate course this year.
Every year, the Japan Foundation by the Government of Japan conducts Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) at more than 128 centres in 50 countries on the same day (first Sunday in December and July).
The objective, said Kousuke Noguchi, director, Japan Foundation (Japanese Language and Japanese Studies) is to evaluate and certify Japanese Language Proficiency of non-native speakers. The purpose was to send experts to train teachers to teach Japanese to students “We have experts teaching in Delhi, Chennai, and Kolkata but Pune has amazed us with rising number of students recorded through JLPT,” he said.
A welcome figure of 654 students from Pune appeared in 2011 and the number reached 1,070 in 2015. “There is dedication, sincerity and an academic approach by students in Pune ,” he said.
