Supporting child-rearing of foreign residents with multilingual materials, TUFS�� language and culture supporters cooperate with Book Start project

April 27, 2021

TUFS helped with translation and other activities for the "Multilingual Picture Book Introduction Sheet" (completed in March 2021) created by the NPO Book Start (Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo).

The "Book Start Project" provides all parents and children with a fun time with picture books and is also open to foreign residents. Therefore, the NPO has been providing multilingual materials to local governments since 2004. A project that led to the creation of this sheet was started in collaboration with experts. Translations were made not only for the outline of the story. Sentences that supplement the onomatopoeia and mimicry words that are difficult to understand for foreigners were also included while the Japanese used was made easy. Translations were additionally provided in 9 languages: English, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai, Vietnamese, and Nepali.

Language and culture supporters * from TUFS among others were in charge of translation while Associate Professor Yoshimi Kojima (World Language and Social Education Center) provided advice on the use of "easy Japanese".

* Language and Culture Supporters: Based on the Center for Intercultural Studies, supporters are comprised by graduates of the university, graduate students of the university, or faculty members of the university, and conduct activities such as interpreting when international event staff and foreigners are need it.