Just Four Years of Japanese Language Study takes Sammy to International Heights

Release Date: 27-Jul-2011 | Go Back

Roseville College Year 12 student, Hing Yan “Sammy” Choy has received a Special Judges Prize while representing Australia at the 16th Japanese Speech Award in Tokyo, Japan, last weekend.

Sammy, who won the Senior High School Division of the 2010 Australian National Final Japanese Language Speech Content, travelled to Toyko last week as one of 15 finalists from 14 countries to participate in three days of preparation for the official contest, which was held on 24 July.

"I began learning Japanese with the help of a private tutor when I was 13-years old," says Sammy, now 17-years old, who joined the Japanese language program at Roseville when she moved to Australia the following year. "Many people are surprised that I was originaly motivated to learn another language because I wanted to understand Japanese computer games!"

While in Tokyo, the elite group of students spoke with each other in Japanese and, instead of facing a language barrier, found they could connect easily over common interests.

"The experience was wonderful. I was very luck to travel to Tokyo for the contest, and especially to represent Australia and my school," Sammy adds. Although her focus is now on her pending HSC exams, Sammy feels prepared. In addition to Japanese, she is studying Visual Arts and Maths Extension 2, and hopes to pursue studies in Visual Communication next year.

Roseville College HSC students have achieved well in language studies in recent years, especially in French and Japanese. Roseville College Japanese teacher, Mrs Hiromi Goulding insists she won’t take the credit for Sammy’s achievement, "Sammy’s success is largely due to the passion she has for using the language; not just learning it... She also enjoys the cultural nuances, such as humour, that are an important part of mastering a language".

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Photograph: Roseville College Year 12 student Hing Yan "Sammy" Choy.

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