• At the meeting, the first lady Akie Abe, wife of the Japan´s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, talked in her own language with the young participants and gave each of them a gift. “I hope you visit Japan soon. Let me know in advance so that you can visit my house,” she said.

 

On August 31st, students of the Linguistics Applied to Translation Program, major in English- Japanese given by the Faculty of Humanities of Universidad de Santiago, had the unprecedented opportunity of meeting with Mrs. Akie Abe -the wife of the Japan´s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe- who started her official visit to Chile with this activity.

During the ceremony headed by the Academic Vice President, Dr. Fernanda Kri, the dignitary conversed with the young participants in Japanese. Each of them explained to her why they decided to learn the Japanese language and she showed herself very interested in their stories, paying attention to the language level that they have reached, especially in those students who have been in Japan, thanks to the scholarships awarded by the Japanese government.

Together with valuing the work done by Universidad de Santiago at teaching the Japanese language in Chile, Mrs. Abe donated more than 50 books to the University.

Mrs. Abe expressed her “deep gratitude for being received with such a kind hospitality.” And she gave the students a message: “I am sure that, with the visit of mi husband to Chile, we are strengthening our bilateral relations and I would like to ask you to be like bridges between the two countries.”

“I hope that you visit Japan soon and let me know in advance so that you can visit my house,” she said.

 
Strong links with Japan

In 1995, the University created the Linguistics Applied to Translation Program, major in English- Japanese. Universidad de Santiago is the only university that gives this program in Latin America, and since its beggining, it has built and strengthened links with Japan.

Examples of the importance that Universidad de Santiago has had in spreading the culture of that oriental country are the visit of Her Imperial Highness of Japan, Akiko de Mikasa, in September 2013, and the appointment of Universidad de Santiago as the only Chilean institution in charge of the administration of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT).

Also the students of this program organize every year the Japanese traditional culture festival, Nihon Matsuri, where they show the traditions of that oriental country.

The Chief of the Linguistics Applied to Translation Program, Marcela Contreras, said that “the Embassy of Japan has always supported the University in the different activities that we organize, since the program was created.”

“At this moment we have more than 200 students in the program and many of them apply for scholarships in Japan. And the Embassy of Japan receives our students for internships. So, we can see that both parties are interested in keep working together much longer, and this is confirmed by the visit of the wife of the Prime Minister to our University,” Contreras said.

 

Watch the video of the activity

 

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Translated by Marcela Contreras