Learning a foreign language and identity

Study of the stories of Syrian learners of the Japanese language

Abstract

This study examines how Syrian learners of the Japanese language perceive Japanese in the context of an ongoing conflict, and how the Japanese language supported their effort to establish their identities. The study analyses the interviews of the two Syrian Japanese language learners held several times between 2011 and 2020. By examining the respondents’ opinions and recollections the study finds that the Japanese language was viewed as “the symbol of peace, which is antithetic to conflict”, “the tool to make life worth living” and “component for their identities as “new oneself”.