Japanese and Chinese lead language learning trends in WA state

By Mahlon Meyer
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

Kaoru Ohta had never seen the likes of it.

His first-year Japanese language students asked him about “Kintsugi.”

That is an ancient technique of fitting together broken pottery with gold powder. 

Kaoru Ohta

Ohta—a teaching professor from Japan—had never even heard of it himself.

And his students were Americans.

“Kintsugi is very exotic, and very few people know about it,” he told the Northwest Asian Weekly. “But it is an important example that the driving force that is motivating students to study Japanese these days is culture.”

And what a force it is.

The University of Washington (UW), where he teaches, has capped enrollment for first-year Japanese at just under 300 students.

It is one of the largest humanities courses at the UW.

From obsession to career hopes

This is just one of the many mysteries that characterizes language learning in our state. On one hand, Washington ranks fourth highest in the nation, in per capita interest, in studying foreign languages, with Japanese and Chinese at the top of the list, according to Rustic Pathways.

On the other, students sign up for these courses for the oddest and often less than obvious reasons.

From high school to college, interest can come from cultural obsessions, as at the UW, to hopes for a career in business, to fascination in personal ancestry.

An uncertain history

But each has a twist one would not expect.

Take Japanese.

Before the 1980s, many students were of Japanese ancestry, according to Ohta, who at the time was teaching at UCLA. But then Japan had an economic boom. Classes surged. Regularly there were 300 students in first-year. These students were interested in business, in capitalizing on the economy of Japan.

Then enrollment fell around the turn of the century. But soon, culture became a draw.

In the early 2000s, as Pokémon and other cultural avatars spread, enrollment picked up.

Today, most students are interested in anime and manga.

The UW anime club has screenings every week and its members dress up like their favorite characters, with young women in short skirts and mouths gaping open in surprise and young men in martial arts poses or simply wearing animal costumes.

And, as if to underscore that it is culture, not business, that drives students’ fascination, trade with Japan has declined at a record level in this state.

The story of one high school: business and friendship

In the Issaquah School District, the trend seems to be different. 

“The reasons why students want to learn another language are very diverse, and parents’ suggestions are one of the reasons,” Zoe Jiang, the Chinese teacher at Skyline High School, told the Northwest Asian Weekly.

Zoe Jiang (third from left) when she was honored as the 2018 Washington Association for Language Teaching Teacher of the Year (Photo from The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction)

There, many parents want their kids to be multilingual. But it’s often for business purposes, particularly given the profile of many parents who live there—IT workers, businesspeople, and the relatively affluent.

Take the Chinese program taught by Jiang.

A few parents have even inquired if the weakening of the strategic and commercial relationship between the U.S. and China means their kids should opt out of her class.

At the same time, students often stay in the class not only because of the many cultural activities she offers, but because the nature of language study—and perhaps particularly Chinese with its emphasis on community—encourages friendships.

“There was this one student who came in with zero background,” she said. “He was really struggling. But he made a lot of Chinese friends. They love him.”

Whenever he sees her outside class—often walking with his Chinese friends—he waves at her exuberantly and yells, “Jiang Laoshi! Jiang Laoshi,” meaning Teacher Jiang.

Her eyes grow a little deeper in color and a little wet as she talks.

Culture and communication

In both the UW Japanese classes and high school Chinese classes at Skyline, most of the kids are Asian.

This is in contrast to the demographics at the UW overall, where most students are white but Asian and international come close (the top three, numerically, are: 34% white; 24% Asian; 14% international).

It is also in contrast to those of the Issaquah School District (43% white; 34% Asian; 10% Latino).

One difference, however, is that even the Asian students at the UW are primarily taking Japanese for cultural reasons, said Ohta, such as fascination with anime.

Not so at Skyline.

“While many Asian students whose home languages are not Chinese are interested in Chinese culture, many of the students with Chinese ancestry are taking it to communicate with a grandparent or other family member,” said Jiang.

For those students who come into class with experience in speaking and listening in Chinese, Jiang gives them extra reading material and writing practice.

Post-pandemic woes

The story in the Northshore School District is different—and seems to reflect the slightly different demographics of the district (50% white; 24% Asian; 13% Latino).

There, you have a slightly broader spectrum of students, Latino, Asian, and white among them, taking Japanese, according to teachers.

Despite a massive budget shortfall—which is emblematic of school districts in general after the pandemic—Japanese language classes are going strong. Mostly.

Some Japanese language teachers, who asked for anonymity to shield them from any potential friction with administrators, were somewhat apprehensive about how many hours they would be hired to teach in the coming years.

Still, that is the fate of many teachers, particularly post-pandemic.

A district spokesperson said that the allotment of teaching hours depends on interest by students, which waxes and wanes.

Learning Japanese after a hate crime

At Inglemoor High School (IHS), the entire community rallied when its Japanese teacher was attacked in a hate crime in 2021, according to the administration.

“The violent attack against Inglemoor’s former Japanese teacher left our local community reeling. She was one of our Northshore family, and IHS students, staff, and families were deeply affected,” Carri Campbell, executive director of media for the Northshore School District, said in an email. “The IHS community wrapped around her, including providing meals and a phased return to work, etc. To support her gradual return, a substitute Japanese teacher was hired to provide instruction while she was recovering. Due to the nature of the injuries and related health impacts, our former educator returned in a phased manner.”

Still, despite the hiring of a substitute, who is still teaching there, the program is slated to be phased out.

“The hate crime didn’t result in a loss of student enrollment. Student enrollment was already on a steep decline prior to the pandemic and attack—both at the school and in the Japanese program,” Campbell told the Northwest Asian Weekly.

“Prior to the pandemic, it became clear that Inglemoor would need to reduce its offerings from six to five languages—and at the time, the Japanese program was enrolling under 30 students in the 100-level course. This isn’t enough students to sustain full enrollment at the higher course levels. . . .The drop in enrollment was already occurring prior to the attack.”

Just don’t tell that to the anime club at the UW. Although they’re bursting at the seams, they always take in anyone who’s interested.

Mahlon can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.