Foreword

… multicultural education does not necessarily have to imply the study of foreign second languages but the former without the later is limited and will have difficulty in producing the results it often claims to want to achieve, i.e. tolerance, peace and cross-cultural understanding (Crozet et al., 1999). This volume of Acta Linguistica Asiatica is dedicated to the area of teaching Asian languages in non-native surroundings. It is our great pleasure to announce 9 research papers on language teaching and articulation covering a wide-area of Central and Eastern Europe. The papers show us a map of Asian language teaching sites, including secondary and tertiary education, and their background systems. In her work “Poučevanje tujih jezikov v slovenskem šolskem sistemu: prostor tudi za japonščino?”, which opens the present volume, Bronka STRAUS outlines the picture of Slovene educational system. The paper reminds us that language teaching when taught as a curricular course, must be incorporated into the country’s system. The article »Chinese as a Foreign Language in Slovene Upper Secondary Education and Outline of Curriculum Renewal«by Mateja PETROVČIČ proposes a dynamic curriculum reform in secondary education mostly but targets tertiary education as well. The next article, authored by Nagisa MORITOKI ŠKOF and named »Learner Motivation and Teaching Aims of Japanese Language Instruction in Slovenia«, discusses main aims and objectives to teaching Japanese at secondary level education, and looks into the ways of how to find the place for Japanese language teaching in Slovene language curricula. Kristina HMELJAK SANGAWA in her paper “Japanese Language Teaching at Tertiary Level in Slovenia: Past Experiences, Future Perspectives” gives an introduction to the history and contents of Japanese language teaching in tertiary education in Slovenia. Following are the two articles concern teaching Asian languages in Serbia. Ana JOVANOVIĆ’s research, entitled »Teaching Chinese at the University Level – Examples of Good Practices and Possibilities for Further Developments«, presents several cases of Chinese language teaching and articulation from primary all the way to tertiary education. On the other hand, »Current State of Japanese Language Education in Serbia and Proposal for Future Solutions« by Divna TRIČKOVIĆ’s similarly discusses the Japanese language courses and their present situation in secondary education. The author points out the need for a well-thought pick up of both the teacher and the textbook, and offers an exemplar from University of Beograd. The next two articles on teaching Asian languages in Romania concern articulation mainly. Angela DRAGAN in her work »Teaching Japanese Language in Tertiary and Secondary Education: State and Private Institutions in Romania« offers a perspective on articulation at tertiary level mainly, while on the other hand, Mariana LUNGU discusses it from the view of secondary education. The Ion Creanga National college in Bucharest is the only institution in Romania which provides Japanese language education at secondary level ongoing every year. The final article by Karmen FEHER MALAČIČ “Teaching of the Japanese and Chinese Language in Extracurricular Courses for Children, Adolescents and Adults in Slovenia” brings the story back to Slovenia in a form of a survey on teaching Asian languages as extracurricular subjects. The author considers the problems and perspectives that arise within such extracurricular course and at the same time shape language education within curricular course. Nagisa Moritoki Ško