“Enabling Japanese language and culture learners go beyond services,
tests and workforce but also creating mutual understanding,
cooperation and development.
One Team – We Win As One!”
1. Keeping Japanese “omotenashi” (hospitality) with the influx of foreigners
We envision that through the locals’ work, ever larger new people in society are coming into contact with them from other countries and cultures who speak different languages. This is enrichment as intercultural contacts offer invaluable new opportunities. What is very important here is a correct interpretation, openness and mutual understanding.
We also preview that internationalization and interculturalization are processes with the same development phases for both locals and internationals. Knowledge of a different language and culture develops from a tool to get by in a new social environment. The learned new language becomes an instrument for self-expression and offering people the chance to make a difference to others. During these development phases, various language proficiency and cultural needs manifest themselves.
What we want to see is cross-cultural and cross-linguistic contacts between people leading to the best possible, fruitful results. If you speak or write each other’s language and are open to each other’s cultural differences and similarities, you can make a difference to others. Being a serious partner in social interaction is the basis for friendly relations and productive cooperation wherever you are in the world. The Olives Japanese Language School opens up opportunities at every level and for every user context to improve language proficiency and increase cultural sensitivity.
2. Japan’s open door and the global response
We see that the internationalization of society is profoundly affecting the daily lives of citizens. We see something comparable in enterprises and social institutions. Locals and foreign workers are increasingly active in international forums and international business contacts. Through their services, work output, presentations, they make contact with people with a wide range of cultural backgrounds. This not only requires good language proficiency, but also cultural sensitivity – an understanding of the cultural aspects of personal behavior and mutual relationships.
What we want to look is people and organizations no longer viewing an intercultural setting as a brake on their actions, but as an enrichment.
As well as good language proficiency, recognizing and acknowledging the effect of cultural differences on communication is an essential competence in an international environment. The Olives Japanese Language School helps people develop their language proficiency and intercultural sensitivity.
3. Japanese Language & Culture Acquisition
We pay attention tomore and more new insights emerging in the academic field concerning the effective acquisition of language and intercultural competences.
In the working environment, we see that foreign workers are often not sufficiently aware of the cultural environment in which the translated message must function. Adequate intercultural knowledge will influence the effective use of translated texts in social and professional contexts.
We also notice the rise of technologies and new media such having a major influence on the quality and the speed of communication processes between the Japanese and foreigners. Thanks to the internet, contact has no barriers any more – communication via the internet leads to an immediate response and result.
What we endeavor is to make recent insights concerning language acquisition and language teaching productive for student within and outside the Olives Japanese Language School. To that end, we make optimum use of the opportunities provided by new technologies and means of communication.
We also desireto raise our students’ awareness on the social and cultural contexts within which their spoken and written texts function, and of the influence that language use has on comprehension.
We want to help our students keep the quality of their Japanese language use up to scratch through the critical use of media and online services.
