The University of Bath sends its congratulations to Travis Moy, 2nd Year MArch Architecture student in the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, who reached the national final of the 17th Japanese Speech Contest for University Students on 5 March 2022.

The prestigious annual competition, organised jointly by the British Association for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language (BATJ) and the Japan Foundation London, provides an opportunity for students from the UK and Ireland to showcase their Japanese speaking skills. Travis was selected as one of only five finalists in the individual presentation category and was an overall runner-up in the competition.

Travis has been attending the Skills Centre’s Japanese Lower Intermediate Course with Teaching Fellow Satoko Suzui since Semester 1, having started to learn Japanese in high school. In his speech, he talked about the history of British rail and the culture of trainspotting.

The panel of judges commended Travis’ speech, saying it explored an original theme and was well structured and clearly presented.

Travis said:

I think Japanese is a beautiful language and culture. I entered the competition to challenge myself as I wanted to enhance my Japanese language, public speaking skills and confidence and also share my passion for trainspotting. Thanks to the support and guidance of Suzui Sensei, the experience has been very fun and fruitful as I had the chance to learn new grammar and speak in Japanese publicly for the first time.

Japanese Teaching Fellow Satoko Suzui said:

It isn’t easy to write a speech in another language, but Travis spoke about his subject very confidently. I’m particularly impressed because he was competing with students who study Japanese as their main degree course. He should be really proud of his achievement.

Travis is now looking forward to developing his Japanese further in the future.

Japanese is one of eight languages University of Bath students, staff and members of the public can learn through the Skills Centre.