The Okayama University Language Education Center held an international exchange speech contest on July 10 in the Building for General Education on the Tsushima Campus as a way to encourage mutual understanding between Japanese and foreign students beyond nationalities, languages and cultures.
Ten students - seven foreign students from four countries, including Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, and three Japanese students gave speeches in Japanese. They talked of the importance of mutual understanding and recognition over and above words, exchanging stories laced with humor of differences in eating styles and gestures between their home countries and Japan, of realizing the Japanese attention to detail through how the characters for the word "ambulance" are reversed to make them easier to read from the car driving in front of it, or episodes of how people around them helped them in their shopping or how their communication increased. The contest was attended by 100 ordinary citizens and students with an interest in international exchange who listened enthusiastically to the speeches.
The international exchange speech contest is held twice a year, this being the sixth contest so far.