About us

test Many institutions in Europe that teach the inherited Japanese language are trying to do their best in spite of the lack of official support and information. To help solve this problem, we have established the "European Inherited Japanese Language Network" as a Special Interest Group (SIG) of the Association of Japanese Language Teachers in Europe (AJE). Through this network, we will work to connect those of you who are struggling alone and share knowledge and information on the teaching of inherited Japanese.


Greetings from the Members

  • I work at a public language school in Alicante. This school is like a junior and senior high school in Japan, and the tuition is paid by the government. As for my involvement with the heritage language, I organize a Japanese language club for my two elementary school sons and other children in the same environment. In this club, their mother is the teacher and I teach them. I would like to think about the inherited Japanese language together with you.
  • I teach Japanese at the Japanese Cultural Institute of Rome. I have a son who attends the kindergarten section of the Rome Japanese Language Supplementary School. I myself have been teaching at the Rome supplementary tuition school for 15 years. I have also been involved in the planning of the kindergarten program and in the preparation of teaching materials. I have also established an association called "Nihongo Moitotto" in 2021 to make use of this experience. I look forward to exchanging information with you.
  • I live in Basel, a border town between three countries. The town has a large number of immigrants and foreign workers, and 50% of the children speak two languages at home. Because of this background, the state is focusing on teaching the inherited language. I established an inherited Japanese language course called "Basel Japanese Language School" 34 years ago. Currently, there are 10 classes from elementary 1 to high school. I run the Swiss Liaison Association for Teachers of Inherited Japanese, and have also been conducting teacher training for the past four years. The environment surrounding the Inherited Japanese language in Europe is changing by the minute. I would like to follow this trend together with you all.
  •  I am a teacher at a small Japanese language school in the southern suburbs of Paris, the Paris South Japanese Language Supplementary School. We are studying together and focusing on ideas to make our classroom enjoyable to run. I am looking forward to exchanging ideas with you in Europe.
  • I am a Japanese language teacher in Germany while raising my children. I am currently working at the University of Tübingen. I have been teaching at a supplementary school and am very interested in language education for children who live in multiple languages and cultures. I am looking forward to exchanging information with you all.
  •  I teach at Károly Gáspár University and have been involved in a small inherited Japanese circle "Kazaguruma" for more than 10 years. I am following the life of this small circle, which is not well documented.