Creating more opportunities for local community members to advance their Japanese language learning

Dubai: The Japan International Cooperation Centre (JICE) and the Institute for Community Engagement at Zayed University (ZUICE) at its Abu Dhabi and Dubai campuses, an outreach arm of the United Arab Emirates’ Zayed University, have launched online Japanese language courses as part of their focus on community engagement. Established in 2008 under the direct orders of H. E. Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, ZUICE aims to support the economic and social development of the UAE, as well as to make the academic resources of Zayed University more widely available, ultimately creating a world-class institute offering training programs that fit all community needs.

The first online course was launched in May 2021, focusing on introductory level learning. The next level course, Beginner 2, will be available online from November 21, 2021. Depending on the demand from the community, additional advanced courses may be offered in the future.

In April 2018, Japan and the UAE agreed that Japanese language education would be included in one of 12 priority areas under the Comprehensive and Strategic Partnership Initiative (CSPI) framework. Japanese pop culture, in particular manga and anime, is becoming increasingly popular among the Emirati youth, however there are relatively few options available for the study of Japanese language outside of formal educational programs.

To this end, the Japanese language courses at ZUICE aim to reach the community more broadly by meeting not only the needs of Zayed University students, but also of a wide variety of people in the UAE who have a passion for Japan and for furthering their Japanese language studies, whether they have upskilling and potential employment in mind, or merely want to expand on their language comprehension.

Dr. Noura Salem Alkaabi, Director of ZUICE, believes that the importance of foreign languages as part of community education shouldn’t be underestimated, and that it contributes to the community as a whole, and not just to the individual. “Currently we offer training in seven languages – Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Italian, French, German and Urdu. The recent online Japanese courses offered at ZUICE were a great success with students enrolled from all over the UAE. Demand remains high, and we are happy to be continuing the courses,” she says. Dr. Alkaabi has a great interest in the Japanese language, having taken lessons herself and has visited the country five times.

While the programs are currently online, there are plans to revitalize the exchange between Japan and the UAE in future through in-person study programs in Japan, internships at Japanese companies, and recruitment, to visit Japanese companies and to interact with Japanese high school and university students who are learning Arabic.

Esraa Al Kamali is a graduate of Zayed University who has been studying Japanese through ZUICE. A graphic design professional, she first became interested in Japan as a child watching anime. “I wanted to do something during the pandemic to better myself and to acquire a new skill. I found out about the Japanese language courses from a JICE Instagram post, and signed up,” she explains. One day she hopes to study art and design in Japan, and hopes that the language study she is doing now will help her in those endeavors.

16-year-old Hamdan Ali AlMarzooqi is another student on the program, and hopes to study environmental science, nanotechnology and biotechnology in Japan. “I believe studying in Japan will be a unique experience,” he says. “My teacher Ms. Kobayashi is excellent, she really cares for her students, and shows great enthusiasm for us all to learn,” he continues.

Says Shigeto Aoki, General Manager of JICE Abu Dhabi, “Our first two courses reached full capacity, although the number of applications we received exceeded that number. We’re thrilled about the uptake for our Japanese language learning courses, and hope to spread the opportunities further within the UAE community.”

About the Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE):

Ever since its establishment in 1977, Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE) has supported the growth of human resources in partner countries. The purpose of its organization is to contribute to the development of the international community through investing in various activities which strengthen mutually beneficial relations between Japan and other countries. Following the JICE’s motto of ‘Share knowledge and experience. For our world. For the future.’ JICE will work together toward achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). JICE will constantly move forward by planning, proposing and creating projects based upon the flexible mindset to respond to the social issues in changing society across the world.