LANGUAGE SUPPORT FOR UZBEK PARENTS IN NAGOYA: TRANSLATING AND INTERPRETING NURSERY SCHOOL DOCUMENTS

In recent years, Japan has been witnessing a steady increase in immigration, with a growing number of minority groups such as Uzbek families settling in urban centers such as Tokyo, Chubu, and Kanto. While this demographic shift enriches Japanese society with cultural diversity, it has also brought significant challenges in educational settings where effective communication between parents and institutions is crucial. Nursery schools play a vital role in children’s first experiences of education and integration, yet migrant parents often face barriers in understanding administrative processes, official documents, and daily communication with teachers. For Uzbek mothers, who are typically the primary caregivers, these challenges affect not only their children’s well-being but also their own sense of inclusion in Japanese society. This study examines the communication challenges faced by Uzbek parents living in Japan in their interactions with nursery and preschool institutions. The research aims to identify the methods employed by parents to communicate with educational staff, the difficulties encountered in understanding official documents, and the availability and effectiveness of translation and interpreting services. A survey was conducted among 39 Uzbek women residing in the Chubu and Kanto regions over a two-week period, distributed via online Telegram groups, and consisting of twenty open-ended, yes-no, and multiple-choice questions. The results demonstrate that most participants had children enrolled in nursery schools and primarily relied on limited Japanese for communication, often supplemented by translation applications, assistance from family or friends, or gestures. Nearly half of the respondents reported problems in understanding formal and technical Japanese used in school documents, which resulted in missed deadlines, misunderstandings, and reduced parental engagement. Although some parents received translated materials, many found them only partially useful, while interpretation services were almost entirely unavailable. Parents consistently emphasized the necessity of professional interpreters, especially for newcomers and those with limited Japanese proficiency, to ensure accurate information exchange and foster trust between families and nursery staff. The findings also revealed that machine translation tools frequently fail to provide accurate translations for Turkic languages such as Uzbek, Turkish, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz due to their complex morphology and syntax, creating further barriers (Jumashukurov, 2024). The Turkic language family represents a diverse group of languages, including Kyrgyz, Turkish, Kazakh, and Uzbek. These languages are spoken by over 200 million people worldwide (Rybatzki, 2020) and are characterized by their agglutinative morphology, in which words are formed through the addition of multiple affixes to a root, each marking a distinct grammatical function. This structural feature allows for highly complex and nuanced word meanings. Historically, Turkic languages have evolved and spread across vast regions through migration, trade, and cultural exchange, particularly along the Silk Road. Although they share common linguistic roots, Turkic languages display significant diversity in terms of vocabulary, phonology, and syntax (Jumashukurov, 2024). Limited opportunities to study Japanese, constrained by childcare and household responsibilities, further restrict parents’ ability to independently access essential information. Overall, the study highlights significant communication barriers faced by Uzbek families in Japan and underscores the need for reliable translation and interpreting services in nursery and preschool contexts. Ensuring access to clear, multilingual communication not only supports parental involvement but also addresses the educational challenges brought by immigration, thereby promoting equity in early childhood education for migrant families.