With the development of automatic translation, it may seem that the importance of being ”bilingual” or ”multilingual” has become less important. With the development of AI, the resources of the brain, especially the ability to express foreign languages ??in their own sentences, have decreased. We asked Professor Kiyo Ikeda what it means to be bilingual in this new era.
Professor Ikeda believes that reading and writing skills are actually “an important tool for perfecting Japanese.” Only those who have repeated such training will be able to “think” using “Japanese” in their heads.
What kind of role will “human resources who think using Japanese” play in the future world despite being raised in a foreign country? The fact that the number of Japanese-speaking people is decreasing along with the declining population means that Japan’s presence in the world will be diminished. The role of bilinguals is to convey Japan’s presence to the world and to increase Japan’s national strength.
Raising children overseas, where values ??and common sense are different, can lead to unexpected problems, and parents often find it difficult and lonely. On the other hand, when I see a child who speaks to me in fluent Japanese even though he was raised in a foreign country, I can’t help but smile. I sincerely hope that there will be as many Japanese speakers around the world as possible. The scenery they see will surely be a little different from the scenery seen by monolinguals (one language speakers), and it will be more colorful.