La enseñanza del español a estudiantes japoneses: consideraciones lingüísticas y culturales

Abstract

The increase in the number of Japanese students learning Spanish as a foreign language highlights the necessity to know if the special needs of these kind of learners are being met in the teaching methods most used in Japan. It is also important to be familiar with what might be the most frequent problems and errors of Japanese native speakers in order to adapt or create appropriate learning materials for them. In order to have an in depth insight, we have explored the studies that have been conducted to date. This way we can gather in one document all the historical and cultural issues that we would have to consider when teaching Spanish to Japanese students and determine what approach is best suited to their profile. Thus, the aim of this paper is to provide a general overview of the current discourses and research on this topic and offer alternatives to complete the aspects that we consider are in need of further development. Our knowledge of the Japanese language will be applied throughout in order to obtain more comprehensive results. However, due to the limited extent of this paper, it is not possible to explain thoroughly all the errors that the students tend to make so we have focused only on those that are most relevant. The results indicate that the methods used nowadays are not suitable and that it is necessary to adopt a different approach, focused on the development of their communicative competence. It is also important to be aware of the cultural aspects of the Japanese society in order to understand our students and fulfil our educational duty in the most effective way.