News Releases

UWI Hosts Central American and Caribbean Japanese Language Speech Contest

For Release Upon Receipt - December 20, 2024

St. Augustine


ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad and Tobago. December 20, 2024 – For the very first time, Trinidad and Tobago was host of the Central American and Caribbean Japanese Language Speech Contest. Significantly, 2024 commemorates the 60th anniversary of bilateral relations between Japan and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. According to Dr. Nicole Roberts, Director of the Centre for Language Learning (CLL) at The University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine Campus, three previous regional Japanese language speech contests had been hosted by Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador.

Nine students of Japanese language and culture represented their respective countries on December 7 at the CLL Auditorium:

Susana Vega Quesada, Costa Rica     - The Japanese culture that impacted my life

Yiliam de la Caridad Pérez Lorente, Cuba - Imagination of the Japanese character 人

Pablo José Sánchez Martínez, El Salvador - My favourite type of architecture

María Alejandra Samayoa, Guatemala - My Japanese friend (via Zoom)        　          

Camila Méndez, Honduras  -Music and Japanese

Tiffany Nalia-Lee Thomas, Jamaica - Environmentally friendly Blue Mountain Fitness Villa 

Stefani Urbina Salgado, Nicaragua  - My trip to Japan     

Emilio Abraham Quintanar Rodríguez, Panama  - A Path with no End          

Matthias Elliot, Trinidad and Tobago - Collaboration between Japan and Trinidad & Tobago in Green Hydrogen   

Melissa Lynch of the University of Guyana contributed to proceedings with a special guest presentation.

H.E. Yutaka Matsubara, Ambassador of Japan to Trinidad and Tobago, served on the judging panel. Head Judge was Asahi Kunito of the Japan Foundation in Mexico as well as Sachiko Kurihara of the Japan Foundation, Kohji Oikawa, President of the Japanese Language Speech Association and Gota Shimizu, Chairman of the Japan -T＆T Friendship 60th Anniversary Executive Committee

Honduras’ Camila Méndez emerged victorious, securing the coveted opportunity to pursue a two-week long language course in Japan with airfare and accommodation covered. Trinidad and Tobago’s Matthias Elliot was awarded second-place.

For further information, please review TTT Live Online coverage and UWI St. Augustine Facebook livestream.  Learn more at https://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/cll/

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