Language
Business and English Language Education in Japan: Another Step in the Nova Saga
March 30, 2011 | 
Author The Osaka District Court recently sentenced Nova’s president, Nozomu Sahashi, to three and a half years in prison for skimming off employee funds. Sahashi stole the funds in 2007 during Nova’s last days; he was just a step ahead of the giant foreign language school’s bankruptcy in October.
Prosecutors had sought a five-year sentence and many were surprised that the judge handed down such a severe sentence. Sahashi will undoubtedly appeal and the appeals process will take some time. Some Japanese businessmen sentenced to prison terms never serve them. Nova was Japan’s biggest foreign language school chain and employed more foreign nationals than any other company in Japan.
The Nova Group was founded in August 1981. Nozomu Sahashi opened the first Nova classroom in Shinsaibashi, Osaka with two high school graduates from Sweden and Canada. Sahashi had met them thanks to a friend who was studying abroad in Paris. Over 20 years later at its peak points, Nova was nearing a half a million students with 50% of the total market share calculated according to revenue and a 66% market share calculated according to the number of students.
Nova’s high numbers were thanks to their very aggressive and extensive advertising in newspapers and on television and billboards everywhere. Many Nova classrooms were located in visible locations near train stations, key locations for doing business in Japan. Nova used the Nova pink rabbit as their company character and the rabbit often appeared in television commercials. Children liked the rabbit and its popularity skyrocketed. Nova introduced Nova pink rabbit merchandise, selling over two million dollars worth in the first two weeks alone.
Aiming to be Different: the New Hi-tech Player in Jakarta?s English Language Education Sector
Aiming to be Different
The new hi-tech player in Jakarta’s English language education sector.
By David Keating.
Jakarta, May 5th 2007
Both learning and using the English language have now become a major part of the lives of many Indonesians. From a young age children begin learning English at schools, meaning the majority of Indonesians who complete formal school education have at least a basic grasp of the fundamentals of the language.
Increasingly, families are recognizing that children who take language education one step further are getting a ‘head start’ on their peers when it comes to higher education and the employment market. From an early age, some modern Indonesian families (especially those in the big cities) incorporate English into the daily lives of their children through family conversation and after-school language classes. The result of this upsurge in demand for language education has been an increasing number of language schools, and nowhere can this trend better be seen than in Indonesia’s capital city, Jakarta.
A bewildering variety of English language courses are on offer for Jakarta’s youth, from ‘private’ classes with individual teachers to the array of different types of programs offered by the multitude of commercial language schools in the city. There are now English courses aimed at people from all walks of life, and for an array of different purposes:
Academic English, Business English, IELTS preparation, General English, Conversation, TOEFL preparation, writing classes, business communication, ESP(English for specific purposes)… the list goes on…
2 questions will be addressed here:
Dual Language Education
In the midst of multiple international conflicts, an interwoven global economy and the shrinking nature of our techno-driven world, language learning can no longer be considered an elective subject, but should rather be a necessary core to modern education.
Typically, we put language learning on hold through much of elementary school, but this is the time when children’s minds are most adept for absorbing words and languages.
Schools throughout the country are realizing this need and implementing Dual Language Education.
From neighborhood schools to charters and magnets, these schools are providing their students with greater opportunity to academically compete with students abroad by diversifying their skill sets in areas of communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, and analysis. Some education leaders are even predicting that dual language education will be the future of American schools.
Dual Language Education vs. ESL/ESOL
Dual Language Education is often confused with ESL/ESOL programs. While there are similarities between the two, there are major differences in their agendas.
The Breakdown: Compare & Contrast
Dual Language Education
Schoolwide approach Goal: To provide ALL students with the skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening) necessary to become fluent in both languages Programs usually begin at a young age (kindergarten or 1st grade) and continue for at least five years Students automatically opt in by enrolling in the school Depending on the type of program, requirements are placed on instructional time in partner language Not available in every school
ESL/ESOL
Language Connect Are Crowned Business Language Champions
Language Connect has completed the first in a planned series of interactive school workshops aimed at encouraging secondary school pupils to realise the benefits of language learning.
Language Connect devised the workshops in close collaboration with the Convent of Jesus and Mary Language College in Willesden, London to educate its students about career opportunities in the translation and interpreting services industry. The workshops confirm Language Connect’s commitment to support the Business Language Champions programme which is aimed at inspiring young people to learn languages through interaction with the business community.
The Convent of Jesus and Mary Language College was an ideal choice for the workshops because of its specialist status as a language college and the large numbers of its pupils for whom English is a second language. Following consultation with the school, Language Connect designed the first workshop for Year 10 and 11 students whose first language is Polish.
The workshop’s aim was to help students realise that their natural linguistic abilities could lead to opportunities in higher education and even a career in the language services industry. The workshop successfully achieved this goal by involving the students in an interactive session where they could directly use their bilingual skills in a face-to-face interpreting context. A Language Connect interpreter demonstrated with other staff some typical interpreting scenarios to help the students understand the basic principles. The students then created and acted out role play dialogues themselves in scenarios such as a doctor’s surgery and a courtroom. The best role plays were rewarded with Language Connect certificates.
Why Learn Swedish?
Aside from the possibility of living in Sweden or Finland (where Swedish is an official second language), or meeting someone important who knows to speak only in Swedish, you’re probably looking for other reasons to convince you to go through the trouble of learning it as a second language. After all, Swedish is not as widely used as Chinese, Spanish or English—it’s not even among the top 10 languages in the world—but knowing how to speak the language does have its perks.
If surviving in a foreign land is not enough of a reason for you, then it should be of interest that the Swedish language is one of the easiest to learn to those who fluently speak English. It is worth noting that Swedish has borrowed a lot from other, more popularly used and studied languages, such as French, German, and English, which may lend to the initial familiarity of the words to a first-time learner of the language.
Before borrowed words were included, however, Swedish has long enjoyed commonalities with most other Indo-European languages, particularly its closest kin—Norwegian, Danish, and Icelandic. It is even said, that by knowing how to read in Swedish, one is also instantly able to read Danish and Norwegian text, as probably the main difference between the three languages is in the pronunciation.
Another good reason to learn Swedish, particularly if you plan to stay in Sweden for a long period of time and want to get on the native’s good side is that knowing their language will make it easier for them to open up to you, with you being a stranger to the country. Learning the native language is important if you find it important to make many friends while you’re there, as it is seen as a means of showing respect to the natives in many countries.
Posted in Language | 
Tags: English, Finland, indo european languages, initial familiarity, Language, language learning guide, living in sweden, reason, Sweden, Swedish | 
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What is Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana
The Japanese language is so fascinating. The tonal qualities of the language is quite unique and the inherent politeness of the Japanese people is translated well into its language which is in turns elegant and stylish and drips with respect.
Japanese writing is also a very elegant script and it has evolved from its original Chinese script beginnings to become something that is intrinsically Japanese. There are actually different types or ways of writing Japanese characters and it has been a source of confusion for people who are not familiar with Japanese culture or for students of Japanese culture who have not yet fully researched the intricacies of the Japanese written language.
The three ways of writing Japanese characters are Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana, with another version called Romaji being used for special purposed.
<b>Kanji</b>
The word kanji is a Japanese derivative of the Chinese word hanzi, which translates to “Han characters”. The word Han pertains to the Han Dynasty and is also the name that the Chinese use to refer to themselves.
Using Kanji would mean employing between 5000 to 10000 Chinese characters. This meant that writing in this form was very difficult. In 1981, the Japanese government, as a measure to simplify how Japanese is written and read, intrduced the j?y? kanji hy? or List of Chinese Characters for General Use. The list includes 1945 regular characters and 166 special characters that has a use only for writing people’s names. All official documents, as well as newspapers, textbooks as well as other publications only use this form.
<b>Hiragana</b>
Posted in Language | Tags: e-course, elegant script, General Use, Hiragana, hiragana and katakana, Japanese, Japanese language, Katakana, Language, Spanish, syllabic script | No Comments »