Nearly 3 Million People Studying Japanese Overseas

English is well known to be the common world language. In Japan, English is a requisite subject for students from elementary through to high school age. Some students start learning English from as early as kindergarten. Chinese, Korean, French and Spanish are also popular foreign languages to study besides English. On the other hand, the number of people studying Japanese overseas is on the increase.

According to research carried out about Japanese language institutions overseas by the Japan Foundation (research period: November 2006 to March 2007), the number of people who are studying Japanese outside Japan was approximately 2.98 million in 133 countries and regions. The number of institutions teaching Japanese abroad increased to 13,639, up 11.6% from when previous research was carried out in 2003.

The reasons mentioned by people studying Japanese abroad were found to be “to gain knowledge about Japanese culture,” “to be able to communicate in Japanese” and “have an interest in the Japanese language itself.” The increasing number of Japanese learners seems to be a result of the growing number of young people overseas who are becoming attracted by popular aspects of Japanese pop culture such as manga and animations.

The number of Japanese learners in Korea comes in top with 910,000. Second is China with 680,000, and third is Australia with 370,000. Looking at where people are learning Japanese, East Asia – including Korea and China – makes up 61.5%, more than half of all the regions surveyed. This is followed by South East Asia with the percentage of 14.8%. Then Oceania – including Australia and New Zealand – with 13.4%.

Nearly 60% of all Japanese learners (approximately 1.7 million) study the language during their elementary and secondary school education (this is comparable to elementary, junior and high school in Japan.) The number of institutions teaching Japanese at elementary and secondary level in Korea is 2,473 and the number of students of the Japanese language is 769,034. In China, the numbers are 337 and 76,020 respectively. At the higher education level, however, the number of learners in China ranks above that of Korea.

NISHIHARA Suzuko, a professor at the College of Culture and Communication at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University, states that learning other languages is crucial for juniors because it is like watching yourself in a mirror in that “whatever the motive is, language education that is meaningful to child development is expected.”

Textbooks and Information Lacking Overseas
The number of people studying Japanese outside the school education system is greatest in China, which has 2.4 times more people doing so than in Korea. These two countries are followed by Thailand, Viet Nam, Brazil and the United States. The number of Japanese language learners in higher education is highest in China with 407,603 people, followed by Korea, the United States and Thailand.
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The number of teachers on the whole reached 44,321, a 33.8% increase from 2003. On the other hand, there are problems being found in the teaching of Japanese including “lack of appropriate teaching textbooks,” “lack of information about teaching methods,” and “lack of information about Japanese culture,” and “lack of facilities” to teach Japanese.

There has also been an increase in the number of people who are studying Japanese for business purposes as the Japanese economy has grown. Recently, China and India are taking turns in that respect, and people’s interest in Japan has been waning. The level of popularity of the Japanese language, nevertheless, is increasing. The number of people either residing long term or staying in Japan temporarily is increasing rapidly as well.

This shows that Japan has earned a certain level of global appraisal not only based on economic standards, but cultural aspects as well. The objective of the Council on Fiscal and Economic Policy: “to have the number of Japanese learners reach 3 million by 2010” has almost been achieved. Japanese language education itself could be a good money making business now. If it grows at its current rate, the objective of reaching “5 million learners, if possible” could be achieved in the near future.

Arthur BINARD, an American poet living in Japan says, “Language education actually requires a craftsman’s skill, proceeding with the grasping of each one of the learners’ real needs.” People should perhaps take heed of the warning that the spreading of Japanese education too far in a macro perspective may become a pitfall. We look forward to the appropriate growth and spread of Japanese education in the future.

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