With opportunities aplenty, more city residents say ‘Konnichiwa’

According to ABK-AOTS DOSOKAI (Tamil Nadu) chairman MR Ranganathan, the student’s enrolment stood at 3,270 in 2012. The figure went up to 4,620 in 2017. He expects the number of students to cross 5,000 in the current year.

Besides, there has been a more than 70% rise in the number of students taking Japanese language proficiency test (JLPT) since 2011. In addition, Chennai has the highest number of candidates attempting JLPT in the country. 

Many engineering students, studying in various colleges in and around Chennai, are evincing interest to take up JLPT as job opportunities are high in the land of rising sun, Ranganathan told DT Next. 

“Japanese inherits similarities from our Indian Languages. Today, there is a great demand for learning the language in Chennai,” he said. The Japanese language is taught in Romaji version for basic, advanced course of spoken Japanese and in Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji for the script courses.

According to Ranganathan, there are five level enrolment in Japanese language, such as N5, N4, N3, N2 and N1. While N4 and N5 measure the level of understanding of basic Japanese mainly learned in class, N1 and N2 measure the level of understanding of the broad range of vocabulary used in everyday life. N3 is a bridging level between N1/N2 and N4/N5. 

He said many engineering students, who wanted to work in companies in Japan, are coming forward to learn Japanese language. “Some students seek to provide language interpretation for the staff working in Japanese companies in Tamil Nadu”, he stated, adding that even school students, studying in class 10, 11 and 12, are showing interest. “We also provide free language classes every year for ten school students through a trust,” Ranganathan said.

Industry sources said that students, with a degree in software engineering, learn Japanese so that they are employed with a good pay package. A fresh engineer is paid anywhere between Rs 10 to Rs 15 lakh per annum by a Japanese company, while an interpreter is paid an annual package of Rs 7 to Rs 10 lakh per annum.