In December 2017, Tomohide Tashiro (5th year student of the Department of Mechanical Engineering) participated in the 18th All Japan Student German Speech Contest held at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. Japan has three major German speech contests, one of them.
~Tashiro’s comment~
The reason I applied was to study abroad in Germany in my third year of technical college. Through studying abroad, I had cross-cultural exchange and learned a lot. Among them, what greatly encouraged my growth was the diary in which I wrote about my study abroad life in German. I argued on the subject of three great things in the diary, “Wenn du dein Tagebuch führst…” The three are to improve your German vocabulary, improve your independence, and get a rough idea of your year studying abroad at a glance. I am glad that I was able to convey the amazing things about this diary, which has made me grow so much, in such a big tournament in German, which I learned while studying abroad. Unfortunately, I was not able to win a prize, but through this competition, I was able to get to know students who are also interested in Germany. In addition, through the practice of speech, I was able to reaffirm my gratitude to my parents who paid me a lot of money to study abroad. There are many students at Toyota National College of Technology who have taken on the great challenge of studying abroad. However, after returning to Japan, I feel that many students have lost their desire to take on challenges. By all means, let’s make use of the language you learned while studying abroad to participate in the speech contest. It will surely help you grow.
Our students go to study abroad not only in English-speaking countries but also in various countries. It is wonderful that even after returning to Japan, I am still striving to improve my abilities through these opportunities. Mr. Tashiro has said that he will challenge the speech contest again this year. I hope you will do your best to surpass the last speech!
