The rationale behind teaching Japanese to Irish students is that it is a gateway into Asian languages and culture, writes Gráinne Faller

In the modern world "nation branding" is big business, as countries scramble to promote themselves in the global economy. Of course, some have more to do than others. Italy, for example, has a pretty strong brand, at least in this part of the world. Everyone has some idea or image about Italy and what it represents. Some countries, on the other hand, are familiar for all the wrong reasons. Kazakhstan, for instance, is currently cursing Borat for its recent run of negative publicity.

Simon Anholt works as a consultant to various governments around the world who wish to strengthen their global brand. His job is to advise governments on how best to promote what's unique about their country to the rest of the world. As a whole, Asian countries present more of a challenge for Anholt, as they are less familiar in this neck of the woods. One notable exception is Japan which, according to Anholt, is safely nestled in the public consciousness. People associate it with very advanced technology and high prices. All the same, the majority of Irish people would probably know very little beyond that. Sofia Coppola's film Lost in Translation gave us some idea of what modern Japan is like, and snippets of news give us bits and bobs of information, but for many of us, the sum of our knowledge doesn't amount to much.

Not so for many TY students - Irish teenagers have been learning Japanese in transition year for the past six years. Some are even doing it as a Leaving Cert subject. Just eight students sat the exam four years ago, but that figure grew to 55 this year. Most of those students are Irish learning Japanese as a foreign language.

Ennis student Adriana O'Reilly will be one of those taking Japanese in the Leaving Cert next year. Her school, Coláiste Muire in Ennis, Co Clare, has been very active in promoting the language and she got the opportunity to visit Japan last summer.

"I've always been interested in the humanities, including languages, and I just thought that Japanese might be something interesting and different," says Adriana. "My own interest makes it easier, I think." The opportunity to learn Japanese (as well as other languages) comes courtesy of the Post-Primary Languages Initiative. Now in its sixth year, the initiative aims to promote and broaden the teaching of languages in secondary school. Spanish, Italian, Japanese and, most recently, Russian are available and 250 schools have participated to date. Grants to buy materials, allocation of teaching hours and the provision of teacher-training courses are all part of what the initiative does.

The rationale behind teaching Japanese to Irish students is that it is a gateway into Asian languages and culture. Classes aren't simply about learning vocabulary and grammar. Alan Breen is a TY student in Sligo Grammar School. "We learn a bit about the culture," he says. "There's so much there, between the old culture and the modern street culture. I've always been interested in it."

"It adds another element to the classes altogether," says Simona Sampaolo, a TY student in Coláiste Muire. "When you're learning French you just stick to the language. With Japanese, some days we'll learn words, other times we might learn about something like origami."

But how difficult is it? "It is kind of hard," says Bryan Foley of Sligo Grammar School. "There are three alphabets - one for words that come from English, one for Japanese words and one that's based on Chinese. We're just learning the first one at the moment." The language is easier for some than others and Bryan's Korean classmate, Jong Seo Lee, is also learning Japanese with a view to doing it in the Leaving Cert.

"It's a different language to Korean, but it's similar as well," says Jong Seo. "It's interesting for me to hear Irish people speaking Japanese." "Once you learn the alphabet it begins to get easier," says Alan Breen. "There aren't as many rules as other languages. There's no future tense, for example. It was very overwhelming at first but it's much better now."

Exchange programmes are available. Coláiste Muire is currently hosting two Japanese students who are studying in Ireland for transition year. "They're getting on really well," says Simona. "In class, if we don't know something, they are sometimes asked to explain it. We're learning Japanese and by helping us, they're practising their English. It works well."

The opportunities for Irish students who continue with the study of the language can be significant. As mentioned earlier, Leaving Cert student Adriana O'Reilly spent last summer in Japan. "I won a scholarship from the embassy of Japan," she explains. "I went over with 30 other students from all over Europe." Adriana describes the experience as being "totally different" to what she was accustomed to. "The huge thing was that there weren't many westerners at all," says Adriana. "We spent the first week in Tokyo. It was just so built up. I mean, I come from Ennis." The bulk of her five weeks over there was spent living and going to school in Osaka.

"I lived in an apartment, which was a big change," says Adriana.

The education system was something of a shock as well, as she explains: "It was such a long day. I'd be up at six in the morning to get three trains to school. Then at seven in the evening I'd have to make my way home." The culture in schools was also very different and Adriana found that students were reluctant to ask questions of their teachers for fear of being disrespectful.

It was a steep learning curve, both linguistically and culturally, but she coped well. "It was definitely a brilliant experience. I got to tour around Japan in the last week," she says. "It was life-changing. I'd really recommend it."

•www.languagesinitiative.ie

•With thanks to teachers Niamh O'Regan, Midori Hayes and Deirdre Cox

Life swap Newbridge's Japanese link

Holy Family Secondary School in Newbridge had long been a host school for Japanese students studying in Ireland and it was decided to attempt an exchange with a Japanese school called Sendai Ikuei Gakuen, situated in the city of Sendai, about two hours north of Tokyo. Students went about fundraising by staging concerts and seeking sponsorship from various businesses.

Before long, the date was set and last February, 23 students from the school set off for Sendai. Sophie Cadogan was in transition year at the time and had never been on an exchange before. "I was completely nervous," she says. "Our first day was a free day with our families so that was really nerve-wracking but they were amazing." Sophie stayed with the Hasegawa family, who were accustomed to having exchange students. "My exchange sister was in our equivalent of sixth year, so she had very good English," says Sophie.

The cultural differences were huge. "It's difficult to pin down because it was so vastly different," says Sophie. "There were little things, like not wearing your shoes inside, and dinner was served on lots of little plates, some of which you could pick up and others that you weren't supposed to. The family would instruct you about what to do."

She was impressed with how the Japanese managed to hold onto their culture and traditions while still moving with the times.

The students spent the mornings learning Japanese and attending classes in their exchange school. "I remember my host mother dropped me off at the bus stop. I remember thinking, 'I'm sitting on a bus in the middle of Japan!' It was very strange but the bus driver told me when to get off and everything. Everyone was extremely polite and welcoming," says Sophie.

Trips in the afternoon included excursions to temples and areas of interest around Sendai. The girls had the chance to participate in a traditional tea ceremony. Traditional Japanese arts were important and the students participated in flower arranging and karaoke.

Last month, the Japanese students came to Newbridge for their return visit. "They did similar things to what we did when we were over there," says Sophie. "They went to Dublin sightseeing and to farms. Everyone seemed to enjoy it."

Buoyed up by the success this year, the school is aiming to repeat the exchange. "We have a lot of students taking Japanese for the Leaving Cert," says Sarah Allen, the teacher in charge of the Japanese exchange. "It has gone really well so we would hope to repeat the cycle every two years."