MEXT Project for the Establishment of Networked Graduate Schools in the Humanities and Social SciencesJoint Development of Professionals with Necessary Communication Design Skills for a Multilingual/ Multicultural Society

Opening New Horizons for Community Interpreting in Japan

In 2022, the Graduate School of International Cultural Studies of Aichi Prefectural University established Japan's very first "Community Interpreting Studies Course". Community interpreting is essential for ensuring that each person living in our society today has access to information and basic human rights protection.

Our course aims to train interpreters who can facilitate smooth communication in a multilingual, multicultural society across a wide range of settings, including healthcare, the legal system, government services, disaster response, education, and social welfare.

Selected as a MEXT Project, our program is designed to raise public awareness of community interpreting while developing professionals who can design and manage community interpreting as part of social infrastructure. The curriculum is enriched through collaboration with local communities and governments, as well as exchanges with overseas graduate schools that are innovators in the field.

It is our hope that this course opens new horizons for community interpreting in Japan.

Dr. Shinji Nakata, Dean of the Graduate School of International Cultural Studies of Aichi Prefectural University