Table 311.70.

Course enrollments in languages other than English compared with total enrollment at degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by enrollment level, institution level, and language: Selected years, 1965 through 2013

Enrollment level, institution level, and language	1965	1970	1974	1980	1986	1990	1995	2002	2006	2009	2013	Percent change
												1965 to 1974	1974 to 1986	1986 to 1995	1995 to 2006	2006 to 2013
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17
Number of language course enrollments
All levels, institutions,       and languages	1,034,651	1,153,239	946,310	924,337	1,003,173	1,185,465	1,138,772	1,395,807	1,575,715	1,673,543	1,562,179	-8.5	6.0	13.5	38.4	-0.9
Undergraduate	—	—	904,419	892,275	970,007	1,149,634	1,100,103	1,359,145	1,534,590	1,636,016	1,527,415	†	7.3	13.4	39.5	-0.5
2-year institutions	—	—	154,713	162,716	161,683	227,625	233,123	337,304	364,857	393,060	343,367	†	4.5	44.2	56.5	-5.9
4-year institutions	—	—	749,706	729,559	808,324	922,009	866,980	1,021,841	1,169,733	1,242,956	1,184,048	†	7.8	7.3	34.9	1.2
Graduate	—	—	41,891	32,062	33,166	35,831	38,669	36,662	41,125	37,527	34,764	†	-20.8	16.6	6.4	-15.5
American Sign Language	—	—	—	—	—	1,602	4,304	60,781	79,708	92,072	109,577	†	†	†	1,752.0	37.5
Arabic	911	1,324	2,034	3,471	3,417	3,683	4,444	10,584	23,987	34,908	32,859	123.3	68.0	30.1	439.8	37.0
Chinese1	3,359	6,265	10,662	11,405	17,002	19,510	26,504	34,333	51,559	61,797	62,251	217.4	59.5	55.9	94.5	20.7
French	371,747	358,494	253,135	248,303	275,132	273,116	205,351	201,985	206,014	215,244	197,757	-31.9	8.7	-25.4	0.3	-4.0
German	213,909	201,766	152,113	127,015	120,920	133,594	96,263	91,100	94,147	95,628	86,700	-28.9	-20.5	-20.4	-2.2	-7.9
Greek, Ancient2	19,495	16,543	24,283	22,132	17,806	16,414	16,272	20,376	22,831	20,040	12,917	24.6	-26.7	-8.6	40.3	-43.4
Hebrew3	8,093	16,567	22,371	19,290	15,669	12,966	13,083	22,774	23,739	22,656	19,824	176.4	-30.0	-16.5	81.4	-16.5
Italian	22,950	34,236	33,048	34,793	40,904	49,824	43,760	63,899	78,176	80,322	71,285	44.0	23.8	7.0	78.6	-8.8
Japanese	3,505	6,620	9,604	11,516	23,454	45,830	44,723	52,238	65,403	72,359	66,740	174.0	144.2	90.7	46.2	2.0
Korean	82	101	87	365	875	2,375	3,343	5,211	7,146	8,449	12,229	6.1	905.7	282.1	113.8	71.1
Latin	38,043	28,422	25,167	25,019	25,038	28,178	25,897	29,841	32,164	32,444	27,192	-33.8	-0.5	3.4	24.2	-15.5
Portuguese	3,040	5,065	5,072	4,894	5,071	6,118	6,531	8,385	10,310	11,273	12,415	66.8	#	28.8	57.9	20.4
Russian	33,818	36,369	32,522	23,987	33,945	44,476	24,729	23,921	24,770	26,753	21,962	-3.8	4.4	-27.1	0.2	-11.3
Spanish	310,012	386,617	361,911	378,952	411,376	534,143	606,286	745,215	822,094	861,008	790,756	16.7	13.7	47.4	35.6	-3.8
Other languages	5,687	54,850	14,301	13,195	12,564	13,636	17,282	25,164	33,667	38,590	37,715	151.5	-12.1	37.6	94.8	12.0
Total enrollment at degree-granting       institutions
All levels	5,920,864	8,580,887	10,223,729	12,096,895	12,503,511	13,818,637	14,261,781	16,611,711	17,758,870	20,313,594	20,375,789	72.7	22.3	14.1	42.0	14.7
Undergraduate	—	7,368,644	8,798,728	10,475,055	10,797,975	11,959,106	12,231,719	14,257,077	15,184,302	17,464,179	17,474,835	†	22.7	13.3	40.6	15.1
2-year institutions	—	2,318,956	3,402,732	4,525,097	4,679,548	5,240,083	5,492,098	6,529,198	6,518,291	7,522,581	6,968,739	†	37.5	17.4	39.3	6.9
4-year institutions	—	5,049,688	5,395,996	5,949,958	6,118,427	6,719,023	6,739,621	7,727,879	8,666,011	9,941,598	10,506,096	†	13.4	10.2	41.6	21.2
Graduate	—	1,212,243	1,425,001	1,621,840	1,705,536	1,859,531	2,030,062	2,354,634	2,574,568	2,849,415	2,900,954	†	19.7	19.0	51.0	12.7
												Change in percentage points
Number of language course enrollments       per 100 students enrolled
All levels	17.5	13.4	9.3	7.6	8.0	8.6	8.0	8.4	8.9	8.2	7.7	-8.2	-1.2	#	0.9	-1.2
Undergraduate	—	—	10.3	8.5	9.0	9.6	9.0	9.5	10.1	9.4	8.7	†	-1.3	#	1.1	-1.4
2-year institutions	—	—	4.5	3.6	3.5	4.3	4.2	5.2	5.6	5.2	4.9	†	-1.1	0.8	1.4	-0.7
4-year institutions	—	—	13.9	12.3	13.2	13.7	12.9	13.2	13.5	12.5	11.3	†	-0.7	-0.3	0.6	-2.2
Graduate	—	—	2.9	2.0	1.9	1.9	1.9	1.6	1.6	1.3	1.2	†	-1.0	#	-0.3	-0.4

—Not available.

†Not applicable.

#Rounds to zero.

1 Includes Cantonese and Mandarin.

2 The apparent drop in Ancient Greek from 2006 to 2009 may be attributed to changes in reporting. Some premodern Greek language categories, such as Koine Greek and Old Testament Greek, were reported for the first time in 2009. In previous surveys, these languages may have been reported under the category Ancient Greek.

3 For 1986 and later years, includes Hebrew, Modern Hebrew, and Biblical Hebrew; other reported categories of Hebrew courses are excluded.

NOTE: The number of course enrollments is not the same as the number of students studying a given language; a single student majoring in a language may be enrolled in more than one class in that language. Unless otherwise noted, enrollments do not include those in classical, religious, or regional dialects of the language. Data through 1995 are for institutions of higher education, while later data are for degree-granting institutions. Degree-granting institutions grant associate's or higher degrees and participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. The degree-granting classification is very similar to the earlier higher education classification, but it includes more 2-year colleges and excludes a few higher education institutions that did not grant degrees. Some data have been revised from previously published figures.

SOURCE: The Modern Language Association of America, Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2013, Table 2d; and MLA historical enrollment data, selected years, 1965 through 2013, retrieved April 14, 2016, from http://www.mla.org/about_search_flsurvey. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Opening Fall Enrollment in Higher Education, 1965; Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), "Fall Enrollment in Institutions of Higher Education" surveys, 1970 through 1980; Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), "Fall Enrollment Survey" (IPEDS-EF:86-95); and IPEDS Spring 2003 through Spring 2015, Fall Enrollment component. (This table was prepared April 2016.)