Courses and Events - Contests

For a calendar of upcoming events, see our What’s On page.

• JaLaChamp
• Japanese Speech Contest for University Students

JaLaChamp – Japanese Language Championship for Young Learners UK

The Japanese Language Championship for Young Learners UK (JaLaChamp) is a contest for primary and secondary school students studying Japanese in the United Kingdom, and consists of two categories: a speech category, and a video category where students are asked to create an original video using Japanese. The aim of this contest is to encourage students to share with us their thoughts and viewpoints, as well as fully show us their creativity and have fun challenging themselves by entering this contest and using their Japanese. Secondary school students studying Japanese as a foreign language who have lived in Japan for less than six months are eligible for the speech category; whereas students studying Japanese including those who speak Japanese at home or have lived in Japan for over six months are eligible to apply for the video category.

• The Guidelines, Poster, and outline video for JaLaChamp 2024 is available from here.
• The JaLaChamp 2024 Programme is available here.
• Our report of the JaLaChamp 2024 Finals Day is available here.

Please follow our official YouTube account for videos from JaLaChamp 2024.

Japanese Speech Contest for University Students

The Japanese Speech Contest for University Students is co-organized by the British Association for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language (BATJ) and the Japan Foundation, London, and has been held annually since 2006. The event provides an opportunity for university students from the UK and Ireland to demonstrate their Japanese speaking skills. Please follow our What’s On page for information on the next University Speech Contest including application details and the date for the Finals Day.

You can find reports from previous University Speech Contest Finals Days here. Please also follow the links below for videos from previous University Speech Contest Finals Day. 19th (2024), 18th (2023), 17th (2022), 16th (2021), 15th (2020), 14th (2019), 13th (2018), 12th (2017)

Related Event! SOAS University of London and the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO London) hold the Sir Peter Parker Awards for Spoken Business Japanese. For more details, please see here. (Please note that this event is not run by The Japan Foundation, London)

Related Event! The JAL Foundation and the Japan Society hold the World Children’s Haiku Contest in the UK. For more details, please see here. (Please note that this event is not run by The Japan Foundation, London)