58-yr-old clears Japanese proficiency test

It was her will that showed the way to Medha Risbud,58,who passed the Japanese language proficiency test conducted by the Japanese Foundation.

It was her will that showed the way to Medha Risbud,58,who passed the Japanese language proficiency test conducted by the Japanese Foundation. She is the oldest student so far in the city to clear the level-4 test in the first attempt.

“It was 28 years ago that I appeared for any examination in my life. Anyway,it was fun learning again,” says Risbud who came to know the results last week.

It is definitely an achievement for a person of Risbud’s age,as Japanese is not that easy to learn. Kanji (picture script),the script of the language,is hard to grasp. Risbud did a commendable job to directly clear the level-4 test,” says Suhas Mate,president of Japanese Language Teachers’ Association,Pune (JALTAP) that facilitates the test.

Though level 5 is an easier test for beginners,Risbud had directly appeared for the level-4 test. That her daughter Shubhada and son Rahul had been to Japan several times and both knew Japanese gave her the drive to learn Japanese.

“My son resides in Japan and I visit his place often. Incidentally,his wife picked up the language quickly though it was new to her. She had no alternative as she had to live in Japan. I then thought that I should also learn Japanese… I started attending classes at the Indo-Japanese Association,where Japanese teacher Soga and others helped me a lot. My classmates were almost half my age and could grasp things easily. I believe it was my sincerity that paid off.”

Risbud has now applied for the next level of examination. “Her determination is such that she would manage to clear that too,” says son-in-law Narendra Sidhaye.

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