Second Annual Language Contest by The Terasaki Nibei Foundation

 

March 25, 2022

(LOS ANGELES) - We are excited to announce the results from the second annual Language Contest by The Terasaki Nibei Foundation.

- This contest is the first contest that includes students whose parent is a native speaker of Japanese; called Shin-nisei. Shin-nisei who are learning the Japanese language as a heritage language outside Japan is not usually allowed to compete in Japanese language-related contests (speech, essay). The greater Los Angeles area has the largest community of Japanese language speakers in the world outside of Japan and therefore, we need to be the leader of the Japanese learners outside Japan to represent our community at large. The Terasaki Nibei Foundation has been hosting this contest since 2020.

 

We received 21 amazing videos, scripts, and essays created by 39 students.

1)Script: Five scripts were submitted by eight students

Four scripts (2 individual and 2 group submissions) have been awarded.

1st. Place博士とロボット(hakase to robotto)  By Taizo Nakayama

2nd. Place UCLAの学生  グルメさがし (U-C-L-A no gakusei gurume sagashi) By Ronan Akira Konishi, Minwook Sung, Jaeyong Ha

3rd/4th. Place(同点2作)

言葉戦争(kotobasensoo) By George Shenusay, Nicolas Sok

あともう少し (ato moo sukoshi) By Jonas Garcia/ Charmaine Concepcion/ Ryan Jolivette

2)Video: Five videos were submitted from 11 students,  including the students from Italy. All videos were well created, and judges had a hard time selecting.

The following prizes were awarded:

1st.お抹茶の美しさ(omaccha no utsukushisa) Marie Romano

2nd沈黙の大切さ (chin moku no taisetsu sa) Brandon Young

3rd日本語もっと (nihongo motto) Sora ADACHI, Ryusei KAWABATA, Makoto YOSHIOKA

 

3) Essay: There were 10 essay submissions.

The top three winners were chosen as follows.

1st. Place「おかえりなさい」(okaerinasai) Ludwig K.T. Bartels

2nd. Place「私にとって日本とは」 (watashi ni totte Nihon towa) Ciara Sassone

3rd. Place「祖父からのメッセージ」(sofu kara no messeji) Shaun Shinnosuke Masada

In addition, these selections were entered in “THE OMORI AWARD”

The 5th Japanese language essay contest for the Japanese language learners around the globe”

 

Thank you to our judges.

And finally, thank you Consulate General of Japan Los Angeles, Japan Foundation Los Angeles for your funding.  Your generous support made this contest a success.

Hon. Muto, Consul General of Japan, Los Angeles sent us a video message, thank you.

Video link: https://youtu.be/BNExKyTJJ1A

If you have questions, please contact Naoko Okada: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.