Study of Chinese, Korean increasing / High schools lead the way in hope of deepening friendship with neighbors

More and more high schools are offering language lessons in Chinese and Korean, with many hoping this will help deepen friendship with the countries.

About 30,000 students are currently taking courses in these two languages at more than 800 high schools, according to the Education, Science and Technology Ministry.

Chinese and Korean have become more popular at high schools than French or German, the main foreign languages aside from English that have been studied at schools since the Meiji era (1868-1912).

A ministry survey found 553 high schools were teaching Chinese in 2005--about three times the 1995 total of 192. In the same period the number of high schools offering Korean almost quadrupled from 73 to 286.

However, the number of high schools teaching French or German has not increased so rapidly. The number offering French increased from 147 to 248 in the same 10-year period, and the number holding German classes grew from 75 to 105.

The National Center for University Entrance Examinations added Chinese in 1997 and Korean in 2002 as examination subjects in addition to English, French and German, which have been studied since the organization was established in 1977.

After English, students this year primarily took Chinese in their entrance examinations, followed by Korean, French, and German.

"As economic and cultural exchanges with China and South Korea are flourishing, schools emphasizing education for international understanding have chosen to allow their students to learn the languages of our neighboring countries," a ministry official said.

The majority of high schools teaching Chinese and Korean offer classes as an optional subject once or twice a week, and reportedly use textbooks independently produced by a group of teachers.

The Tokyo metropolitan government-run Hibiya High School is known as a fast-track school and both Korean and Chinese are taught to its second-year students.

"I think studying the languages will be useful in my future work," a student taking Chinese said.
A student studying Korean said, "I want to be able to read difficult characters."

"Those who open their minds can grow as people," school Principal Naoomi Nagasawa said.
The Tokyo metropolitan government-run Roppongi High School takes in students that have played truant from or dropped out of other schools.

Since its establishment in 2005, it has offered courses in Chinese and Korean, reasoning that students who found English tough may put up less resistance to languages with a script that does not use the Roman alphabet.

In areas where many Chinese and Koreans with permanent residency in Japan reside, many high schools offer courses in those languages in a bid to deepening understanding between students with different backgrounds.

"People are increasingly learning the languages of our neighboring countries from a young age and this helps foster cooperation and friendship between the people of these countries," said Kayoko Nakano, the secretary general of The Japan Forum, a group that promotes foreign language education at schools.
(Jul. 12, 2007)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070712TDY02005.htm