Candidates make check-in procedures (Photo: VNA)Tokyo (VNA) – Nearly 565 candidates of different age groups took the secondVietnamese language proficiency exam at the Japanese College for Foreign Languagesin Tokyo, Japan, on June 24, a surge from the previous exam which drew 379 candidates.
The exam was comprised of six levels from basicand advanced. Candidates who were unsure of their level were allowed toregister for two exams.
Chairman of the examination board YanagisawaYoshio said the exam received great attention from 27 localities across Japan,including prefectures near Tokyo such as Chiba, Saitama, and Kanagawa as wellas northern and western prefectures like Hokkaido, Okinawa, Aomori andKumamoto.
The average age of those who took the exam was40, with the oldest 82 years old and the youngest 15 years old.
Notably, a significant number of Japaneseworking in Vietnam had returned to Tokyo to take this year’s exam.
Fujino Masayoshi, chairman of the association ofSoutheast Asian nations’ foreign language exchange in Japan, highlighted thelong-standing friendship between Vietnam and Japan.
Aiming to deepen relations across economy andculture, the association hosted the only Vietnamese language proficiencycontest in Japan to increase the number of Japanese who can speak Vietnamesefluently and enhance people-to-people exchanges, he said.
Learning a country’s language is learning aboutits culture and history, which will contribute to the development of thebilateral relations, he added.
Ise Yoji, chairman of the BunsaiGakuen Non-Profit Education Foundation, said ties betweenVietnam and Japan have been growing strongly in 2018 with the latestState-level visit to Japan by President Tran Dai Quang.
He added that the two countries had historicalexchanges several hundreds years ago and both have long-standing culture andhistory.
Bilateral economic ties have been thriving withmany Japanese firms investing in Vietnam while the number of Vietnamesestudying in Japan is on the rise.
He hoped the Vietnamese language proficiencyexam will attract more Japanese candidates.
The third exam is set to be held on June 23,2019.-VNA
VNA
