For those of our learners who wished for a more interactive communication experience between each other, our school decided to set up a Facebook page (at the end of 2008). It was created to serve mainly as a forum, not only for use by registered learners who regularly attend lessons but also for learners who were previously registered at the school.
We hope that the page will be useful in order to form further friendships and communicate more freely among the learners out of the ordinary class environment. Membership of this Facebook group is strictly limited to currently registered learners as well as previously registered learners of the school. The contents such as “Wall”, “Photos” and “Discussions” sections on the page are not publicly visible and accessible unless the users are formally accepted and registered as a learner by the school.
To join the group, please click the following link and request your membership to the administrators.
“Cape Town Nihongo Kai Learners”
Surprisingly to most people, the population of native Japanese speakers in Cape Town and its surrounding regions is extremely scarce compared to other Asian language speakers such as Chinese related languages, Mandarin, Cantonese and Taiwanese. (For details about the Japanese community in Cape Town, please check the following link.)
“Japanese Community in Cape Town”
The native Japanese speakers among such a small local community are, in all probability, pre-occupied with their own businesses, duties and individual affairs around the clock. Therefore, even though they may be willing to do everything possible to support local learners of the Japanese language, the number of those available and competent enough to provide the necessary assistance for their studies is quite limited.
That is one of the reasons why, where the learning environment is rather constrained and the opportunity to practice it is slim, mutual help among the learners inevitably becomes more important and meaningful.
Where possible, we are willing to facilitate extracurricular study group gatherings and activities as co-ordinators. Recently (in May, 2010), a few of our senior level learners voluntarily launched a forum website called “Cape Town Japanese” for anyone who studies Japanese language in the Cape Town area. Although, technically and strictly speaking, it has nothing to do with Cape Town Nihongo Kai, it fully supports the ideas and motives.
At present, the majority of its members appear to be from Cape Town Nihongo Kai, however, on the website, you are allowed to remain anonymous to a much greater degree than Facebook and you do not have to be registered as our learner. The page has a wide range of discussion sections and topic threads which are categorised in an orderly manner.
For those willing to join this online forum, please click the following link.
“Cape Town Japanese”
(A community forum devoted to the study of the Japanese Language.)
June 2010
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