Boys line up for the language of Manga

CHANGE THE SUBJECT JAPANESE:  JAPAN'S NAME MEANS "sun origin". This is why it is often referred to as the "land of the rising sun".

The country is made up of over 3,000 islands and has a population of approximately 128 million people.

The Japanese language has been on offer to post primary students in Ireland since 2001. Since then it has grown in popularity every year. In 2002 students could take it for the Leaving Cert for the first time. In 2004, 35 students sat the exam. That number grew to 95 in 2007 and it is expected that around 150 students will sit the exam this year. So where has the demand come from?

"There are many links between Ireland and Japan," explains Brídin Gilroy of the Post Primary Languages Initiative (PPLI). "There are several cultural ties and we have a long history of trade with the Japanese. With the rise of China in recent times, many people ask why we don't offer Chinese. However, Japan is still the second largest economy in the world."

In 2001 there were 377 students taking Japanese countrywide. That number grew to 1,268 in 2007. It has been offered in TY to all schools interested and no prior knowledge of the language is needed to take the course. However, while it used to be offered as a module in TY which could be done just for one year, it is now PPLI policy to support only schools that wish to take it on as a Leaving Cert subject. "It was introduced to a small number of Dublin schools as a TY module in 2001," says Gilroy.

"The objective was always to go from there and gradually encourage schools to take it at Leaving Cert level. It still starts in TY, but now we're only working with schools planning to do the exams."

The PPLI have 16 teachers working in centres nationwide including the greater Dublin area, Cork, Clare, Limerick, Galway, Sligo and Wexford. Ursula Zimmerman teaches in three schools in Wexford and recently wrote the Leaving Cert Japanese textbook, Nihongo Kantan, commissioned by the PPLI.

"What we do in TY really depends on how much time the school is willing to devote to it," says Zimmerman. "In one of my schools, I have timetabled three classes a week for the whole year. In another I'm just doing a 10-week taster course. We generally start with more of a focus on the cultural side of Japanese life," says Zimmerman.

"Students learn about Japanese life, they do some calligraphy, origami, tea ceremonies, dressing in kimonos and we do a project. Then we introduce the writing." There are three scripts in the Japanese language - Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji - and altogether there are around 2,000 different symbols. "We start at a slow pace and we look at greetings, introductions and basic conversation," says Zimmerman. "It is a phonetic language and we have nearly all the sounds needed to pronounce the words. Pronunciation is very straightforward.

"The difficulty usually comes with reading and writing. It's not that it's really hard, but it is a challenge at the age of 16 to sit down, feel completely illiterate and try and get your way around the script. It takes time and effort."

However, Zimmerman believes Japanese will appeal to those who want to try something new. "After the Junior Cert, students can go through a difficult time," she says. "So it can be good to do something brand new. I think students who haven't done well in the Junior Cert should give it a go. There is a level playing field as everyone is a beginner which is also nice from a teacher's perspective," she says.

Brídin Gilroy has also found a rather interesting phenomenon about Japanese in Ireland. "Japanese is proving to be very popular among boys," she says. "Boys aren't traditionally interested in languages but so many of them are into Manga comics and other Japanese animation that it has proven quite attractive for them."

If you would like a copy of Nihongo Kantan it is available at www.authentik.com. For further information on Japanese, contact www.languagesinitiative.ie