Education | UM student wins championship at Japanese Speech Contest in HK

Leong Wong Ian, a third- year student of Japanese studies from the University of Macau (UM), recently won the championship at the 42nd Japanese Speech Contest, held in Hong Kong.

Leong’s speech focused on the importance of Japanese honorific expressions. Based on her experiences, she illustrated her views on the language’s complex honorific system in a unique and interesting way. Her performance received unanimous applause from the judges and members of the audience.

Under the guidance of instructor Kumiko Kimura, Leong started to receive intensive training on pronunciation and facial expression two months before the contest. Quoted in a UM press release, Leong said that she believes that it is important to be a self-driven learner when learning a new language and that one of the best ways to learn a language is to speak it.

This year marks the 55th anniversary of the Japan Society of Hong Kong. Organized by the society and held in Chiang Chen Studio Theatre of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, this year’s competition attracted 14 students from Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong.