Language training to aid Japan-bound nurses hurdle gap

19 November 2013

Seeking to continuously help Filipino nurses and care workers who are bound for Japan hurdle the language gap, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) announced a new series of language and culture training for them.

The fresh batch of 37 nurses and 150 care workers will undergo training under the Preparatory Japanese Language Training, a program jointly managed by the governments of the Philippines and Japan to facilitate their settling down and acculturation in their areas of deployment and boost their chances of passing the difficult licensure examination.


This will be the sixth batch of nurses and care workers, who will soon leave to seek permanent jobs under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).

“Living in a new culture is hard enough. Being challenged by an alien language makes the task even daunting,” Secretary Joel Villanueva, TESDA director general, said at the opening ceremony of the language training for the new batch on November 19 in Taguig City.

“I have no doubts about the skills of our nurses and care workers, and I hope that in their future workplaces in Japan, they can be the paragon of what the Filipino workers are,” he said.

Joining Villanueva in the event were Labor Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz, TESDA Deputy Director General Irene Isaac, Philippine Overseas Employment Agency deputy administrator Liberty Casco, Japan Ambassador to the Philippines Toshinao Urabe, and Japanese Language Training program head Yoo Fukazawa.

In a number of cases, the language barrier has played a role in foiling the dreams of Filipinos seeking permanent jobs as nurses and care workers in Japan. The licensure examination, one of the requirements to be certified, is given in Japanese. Only a few have passed the examination.

“TESDA sees this training as a significant intervention for Japan-bound Filipino nurses and care workers because this arms them with the basics of the language,” Villanueva said, adding that “learning the language is one of the best ways to understand one’s culture.”

The language training program was launched in early 2011, and since then, it has become a requirement for all Japan-bound nurses and care workers to take it.

Japanese and Filipino trainers give the special Nihongo (Japanese language) lessons, along with culture orientation, to the workers.

Christine Joy Montoya, who was in the early batch of candidate nurses who took the training, had urged her fellow nurses to take full advantage of the opportunity to learn the Japanese language and make this their armor to reach the finish line.

Under the JPEPA, Filipino candidates must possess 12 months of language training, six of them to be completed before they leave their country and the next six upon arrival in Japan.

The nurses and care workers come to Japan first as trainees. After finishing the six-month language course, they are assigned to hospitals and health care facilities where they go through a period of job training. After completing this, they can take the national exam to qualify as permanent workers.

Nurses are given up to three times to take the national exam, while care workers can take it in their third year of training in Japan.