The 2006 survey showed that 2.98 million people in 126 countries (not including Japan) were studying Japanese.  They were taught by 44,321 teachers in 13,639 schools and other institutions.  These figures have grown steadily since 1973, and represent substantial increases since the previous survey in 2003:  in the last three years, the number of Japanese language learners has increased by 26.4%, with a 33.8% increase in the number of Japanese language teachers.  Japanese is now taught in six more countries than in 2003, with students now recorded in Montenegro, Oman, Qatar, Uganda, the Gabon and the Central African Republic.

Most learners of Japanese – 61.5% – are concentrated in East Asia.  The same area hosts 54.7% of all teachers worldwide, and 42.9% of institutions where Japanese is taught.  South-East Asia and Oceania have the next highest numbers, with the combined Asia and Oceania regions making up 90.5% of all learners outside Japan.  The figures for the Oceania region were 13.4% of learners, 7.8% of teachers and 14.6% of institutions.  These results are not surprising, given the relative proximity of East Asia and Oceania to Japan, compared with the Middle East and Africa, which had the lowest figures.

The highest numbers of Japanese language learners were found in Korea (30.6%), China (23.0%) and Australia (12.3%); with these three countries alone accounting for two-thirds of all learners outside Japan.  With 366,165 learners counted, this is the second time in a row that Australia has been ranked third in the world in terms of the number of students studying Japanese.  It is particularly interesting that Australia, with a population of less than one-sixth that of China, has just over half the number of Japanese language learners found in the world’s most populous nation.  Most learners of Japanese in Australia, however, are beginners at primary school level, with relatively few progressing to senior study and fluency in Japanese.  In China and Korea, more students are motivated to study Japanese to fluency in order to improve their university entrance scores and future employment prospects.  More than 50% of learners in China were studying Japanese at higher education level.

Worldwide, slightly less than 60% of all Japanese language learners were in primary or secondary school,  and 25% in higher education.  Non-school students accounted for the remaining 15% of all learners worldwide.

The top three reasons given for learning Japanese were to gain knowledge of Japanese culture, to be able to communicate in Japanese, and because of an interest in the language itself.  At higher education levels, many learners indicated that they were motivated to study Japanese in order to find employment, to study overseas, or to increase their knowledge of Japanese politics, economics and society.

Focusing on Japanese language teachers, the 2006 survey showed that approximately 70% of teachers outside Japan are non-native speakers of Japanese, and that just over 40% of institutions where Japanese is taught have at least one native-speaker on their teaching staff.  This figure decreases to 20% of institutions at primary and secondary level.  The student to teacher ratio at primary and secondary level was 135:1, with an average of 1.7 teachers per institution.  The ratio improved at higher education levels, with 45:1 students to teachers, and an average of 5.2 teachers per institution.

Among the problems and concerns that were raised by teachers were a lack of teaching materials (40% of institutions), a lack of information about teaching resources and methodology (30%), and the inadequacy of facilities and equipment (30%).  At primary and secondary level, teachers also singled out low levels of interest from some students and a lack of information about Japanese society and culture as areas of difficulty.

The 2006 survey was conducted over a four-month period from November 2006 to March 2007.  A full report of the results will be published by the Japan Foundation during 2008, with a summary to be available on the Japan Foundation’s website.  The Japan Foundation uses the information gathered from this survey to allocate resources and funding, and to further its language programmes and policies.

The Japan Foundation would like to thank all teachers, students and institutions that participated in the 2006 survey.  The next survey is currently planned for 2009.

Population figures sourced from CIA – The World Factbook, http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html . Retrieved 7 December 2007.