“How much is Japanese Language for? : Each Language has its Price”

Why people learn foreign languages?

There are mainly two reasons. One is the cultural reason. Both in the west and the east, people have learned foreign languages for cultural reason. One of such cases is found in learning classical languages, such as Latin or Sanskrit. Another reason is practical one. It can be most typically seen when people are learning languages for trade.

Recently, the trend of learning of foreign languages is more from practical reason than cultural one. Frankly speaking, many people are learning Japanese language abroad for the economic benefit.

In this way, it is worth considering the phenomenon as learning foreign languages from economic point of view. Japanese language, for instance, could not be sold in abroad until 1970s. But, after Japan experienced rapid economic growth, the price of the Japanese language also rose up. Then, how much is Japanese language, today?

This time, the Japan Foundation, New Delhi will invite one of the most eminent scholars on the Japanese language education to give us a talk on the above mentioned topic.

Speaker      : Prof. Fumio INOUE

Professor Emeritus, Tokyo University of Foreign Language

Chaired by : Ms. V. Ramalakshmi (Associate Professor, University of Delhi)