Japanese Speech Contest was held at the Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Centre (CJCC) in 2017. Supplied
Fifty-six candidates have been whittled down to the last 15 for the final round of the 22nd Japanese Speech Contest to be held at the Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Centre (CJCC) in Phnom Penh on Sunday.
CJCC, the Department of Japanese Language and the Institute of Foreign Languages at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP-IFL) will hold the final of the competition for Japanese language learners in the Kingdom.
“The Japanese Speech Contest is a special occasion for students of various Japanese schools in Cambodia to showcase a wide range of brilliant speeches."
“This year, 15 candidates were selected among 56 to compete in the final round. This contest aims to further promote the understanding of Japanese culture and language among Cambodian youth,” the Japanese embassy said on Wednesday.
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Roth Filiyan, the Japanese language contest coordinator at CJCC, said on Thursday that the 15 candidates will be divided into two groups.
The first group is to consist of 10 people who have either never visited Japan or been there for less than 15 days, while the second is for those who stayed in the country for more than two weeks.
Each group will be awarded differently, Filiyan said. The winner of the first group will be rewarded with the chance to visit Japan, second place will win a laptop, and third will receive a tablet.
The first placed student from the second group will win a laptop, while the runner-up will take home a tablet.
Additional prizes will be awarded to candidates demonstrating good speaking techniques, Filiyan said.
“Fewer candidates applied for the contest this year than last because we tightened the selection criteria. We have since January selected students learning Japanese from 50 schools in Phnom Penh and the provinces,” she said.
One of the 15 candidates, Rith Samphors, said on Thursday that she had been learning Japanese for more than two years at a school in Siem Reap province.
“I’ve been learning Japanese because it was free to do so and there are many Japanese tourists in Siem Reap, but not many Cambodians know the language. Learning Japanese is quite difficult, but I am happy to do so,” she said.
