Japanese Language Education in Central Asian Countries - Examples from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia

Abstract

While the Soviet Union was once a powerful influence in the Central Asian region, many countries in this region are now strengthening their ties with third countries such as China and the United States. Among them, the nomadic countries with similar values and deep historical and cultural ties are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia. Japanese-language education in these three countries began at approximately the same time and has been developing steadily. Japanese language education, which used to be taught in a few specialties in so-called “isolated Japanese language learning environments” (Onishi:2004), is now expanding as Japanese language courses are offered to primary and secondary school students and adults (Bayarmaa:2005), but there are still many problems, such as the employment of students studying at the postgraduate level and the training of teachers (Sugiura:2007). Given the current changing international context and the goals and scope of Japanese language education abroad, we aim to review the importance of Japanese language teaching in Central Asian countries and explore how we can jointly contribute to Japanese language education in the region.