Málfríður - 15.09.2003, Blaðsíða 16

In language
class, it comes
with the topic
or situation and
we don’t make
it like, “Now, we
are going to
teach you the
culture”.
16
It depends on the level, but I think part-
icles and honorific forms are in general
difhcult. For European students, I suppose
it also depends which country in Europe
they are from, and it is hard to generalize.
— Is it important to introduce Japanese cult-
ure to European students at the early stages of
teaching?
I should think so. I don’t think you can
separate culture from language learning. It
depends on the definition of culture, but if
you include the way of thinking, customs
etc., the bowing, how to exchange name
cards etc. are mentioned when we teach
about greetings, for instance.
— How do you introduce Japanese culture to
your students?
It can be taught in various ways. In the
lecture specific to the culture course, the
teachers use computers, video clips and
power point as well as textbooks. In the
language class, when the cultural aspect is
mentioned, it can be by internet, or pict-
ure (photo) card, or just by gesture. In
language class, it comes with the topic or
situation and we don’t make it like,“Now,
we are going to teach you the culture”. If
it is the lecture of Japanese culture, various
teachers uses various methods such as
computers, videos, sHdes, books etc.
— What is the primary reason,for your
European students,for learning Japanese?
(practicaí reasons, pleasure, curiosity...)
Curiosity about Japanese culture as well as
practical reasons if they want to go and
study or work in Japan in the future.
— Do you think it wouid he easier to teach
Japanese to students from Asian contries
rather than European countries? Why (not)?
I don’t think so. It may be the case that
sometimes Asian students are quicker to
learn Kanji than European students, but in
terms of the accuracy, they may not be
able to get rid of their own pronunciation.
Chinese shares the similar Kanji with Jap-
anese, but the pronunciation is different.
Some European students get very intere-
sted in Kanji, and those students tend to
learn quicker and better. The individual
differences tend to outweigh the native
language differences.
— Why do you think learning Japanese at
the University of Iceland is so popular?
I had distributed a questionnaire to the
students and asked why they want to stu-
dy Japanese.They say they are interested in
Japan and Japanese culture. It seems there
are many people in Iceland who are inter-
ested in Japan. It seems we (Japanese and
Icelanders) have very positive impressions
about each other’s culture and share a des-
ire to learn about each other.
Kristín Ingvars-
dóttir lauk BS-
gráðu í japönsku
°g hagfræð i frá
Handelshejskolen
í Kaupmannahöfn
vorið 1998. Hún
hlaut styrk frá
japönskum stjórn-
völdum til fram-
haldsnáms. Fyrst
var hún rannsókna-
nemi íjapönsku og
japönskum frœð -
um/stjórnmálum við Tokyo University ofForeigtt Stu-
dies í eitt og hálft ár. Hún hóf meistaranám i nútíma-
stjórnmálasögu Japans við Hitotsuhashi Daigaku (Hi-
totsubashi University) haustið 2000 og lauk meistara-
prófi þaðan vorið 2002. Hún hóf doktorsnám við
sama skóla vorið 2002.
— Hvað varð til þess að þú ákvaðst að lœra
málið ?
Mér hefur alltaf fundist mjög gaman að
læra erlend tungumál og vildi því helst að
tungumál yrði á einhvern hátt hluti af því
námi sem ég myndi velja eftir stúdents-
próf. I menntaskóla lærði ég Hkt og flestir
dönsku, ensku og þýsku og sú reynsla og
kunnátta hefur reynst ómetanleg. Mig
langaði til að bæta við mig a.m.k. einu
„ekki-vestrænu“ tungumáli. Ég ákvað að
velja Asíumál og af Asíulöndunum fannst
mér Japan vera það land sem mest ætti
sameiginlegt með íslandi — en samtímis
vera framandi og spennandi.
— Hvernig barstu þig að við að komast til
náms í landinu þar sem málið er talað?
Eg ákvað að byrja japönskunámið við
Verslunarháskólann í Kaupmannahöfn, en
þar er boðið upp á nám sem kallast
JAPOK (Japoek) sem er blanda af við-
skipta- og japönskunámi. Ég ákvað að
byija í Danmörku til að komast að því