Language Education Center
Language Education Center
Foreign Language Education Division
Japanese Language Education Division
The Nagoya University Language Education Center was established on April 1, 2023 as an inter-departmental education and research center. The Language Education Center consists of two divisions: the Foreign Language Education Division and the Japanese Language Education Division. The Language Education Center provides language education, namely foreign language education (English and introductory foreign language courses) mainly for first-year undergraduate students and Japanese language education mainly for international students, in cooperation with the Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the International Affairs, the Graduate School of Humanities, and other related departments within the university. In addition, the Center works to strengthen students' foreign language skills and promote co-curricular activities by promoting the advancement of foreign language and Japanese language education from a university-wide perspective, as well as planning language education programs that contribute to the advancement of language education, including collaboration in language education within and outside of the university.
Director, Language Education CenterTERASAKI Ichiro
Hello, everyone. I have been serving as the Director of the Language Education Center since April 2026, concurrently with my role as Executive Vice President for Education at Nagoya University. My academic background is in experimental condensed matter physics, and I am a member of the laboratory of Physics in the Graduate School of Science. Although my field differs significantly from language education, I am grateful for the generous support of all Center members as we work together to advance our mission.
Nagoya University is committed to becoming a truly world-class institution, with internationalization at the core of this vision. To advance internationalization, it is essential both to encourage Japanese students to study abroad and to welcome talented students from around the world.
For students considering studying abroad, language barriers often present a significant challenge. The Language Education Center is committed to providing high-quality foreign language education, enabling students to pursue overseas opportunities with confidence. Additionally, international students at Nagoya University come from a wide variety of countries and have diverse backgrounds in Japanese language learning. Our Center offers comprehensive Japanese language support tailored to each student's needs, helping them acquire the language skills necessary for academic success.
Language education today stands at a crossroads. With the rapid development of generative AI, real-time translation is becoming increasingly accessible. Smartphone-based translation of signs and advertisements, as well as automatic translation of short social media posts, has already reached practical levels. In such an environment, one may naturally ask: Why study languages at all? I believe that language forms the foundation of culture and shapes the very framework of human thought. As Professor Masako Watanabe notes in her book "What Is Logical Thinking?" (Iwanami Shinsho), ways of thinking are not universal but are deeply rooted in each language and culture. Learning a language enables forms of intercultural exchange that go far beyond simple machine translation.
Whether in foreign language education or Japanese language education, language learning plays an indispensable role in helping students develop the skills they need to succeed at university. Strengthening the institutional foundation for language education is therefore essential, and the establishment of this Center represents an important step in that direction. At the same time, no single organization can address all challenges alone. Collaboration and the sharing of expertise with other universities facing similar issues are equally vital. I sincerely request the continued cooperation and support of all our partner institutions and stakeholders as we work together to enhance language education at Nagoya University and beyond.
