Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The next, 32nd Republican Oratory Competition in Japanese was held in early March in Tashkent. The first four best participants will now represent Uzbekistan at the Central Asian competition.

The best four included Amina Ziinatova (1st place, representing the Uzbek-Japanese Center UJC), Mashkhura Bobonova (Tashkent State University of Internal Affairs), Muhammaddiyor Ismatullaev (Noriko-Gakkyu), Marjona Mardonova (UMED). Nargiza Abdunasimova (Tashkent State Law University) and Mukhlisakhon Sayfiddinova (SamGIYA) who took 5th and 6th places were also noted.

The oratory competition was organized by the Society of Japanese Language Teachers in Uzbekistan, Tashkent State University of Law and the Embassy of Japan with the assistance of the Japan Foundation, the Uzbek-Japan Center and the Representative Office of Nagoya University in Uzbekistan.

Speaking at the opening, the Ambassador of Japan to Uzbekistan Hatori Takashi noted that this is the second time he is taking part in the oratory competition and was very surprised by the high level of the Japanese language of students the previous time. He emphasized that more than 3,500 people study Japanese in 18 educational institutions in Uzbekistan. At the same time, Uzbek students achieved excellent results at the Moscow International Student Oratory Competition and the Central Asian Oratory Competition.

Hatori Takashi noted the high level of Japanese language teachers in Uzbekistan, as well as the determination of young people interested in mastering it.

A total of 19 students from various educational institutions in Tashkent, Samarkand and Ferghana took part in this year’s competition. These include the Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies, the Uzbek State University of World Languages, the Tashkent State University of Law, the Japan Digital University (JDU), the Samarkand State Institute of Foreign Languages, the Academic Lyceum at the Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies, the Uzbek-Japanese Center (UJC), the Rishtan Cultural and Economic Center -Japan “Noriko-Gakkyu” and the Japanese language school AOKAI Uzbekistan.

Each participant, according to the rules of the competition, gave a 5-minute speech in Japanese on a freely chosen topic, and then answered 2 questions about the content of the speech. At the same time, the expert jury assessed the level of language knowledge, rhetorical talent, as well as the quality of internal content and originality of speech on the chosen topic.

The traditional competition is aimed at stimulating the educational process among students, developing public speaking skills, developing the teaching of the Japanese language in Uzbekistan, as well as deepening cultural exchange between Japan and Uzbekistan.

This year the Central Asian Oratory Competition will also be held in Tashkent and will be held in May.