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 2009

Enrollment level, institution level, and language	1965	1970	1974	1980	1986	1990	1995	2002	20061	2009	Percent change
											1965 to 1974	1974 to 1986	1986 to 1995	1986 to 2006	2006 to 2009
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
Number of language course enrollments
All levels, institutions, and      languages	1,059,258	1,153,747	946,389	924,352	1,003,548	1,185,555	1,138,772	1,397,253	1,577,810	1,682,627	-10.7	6.0	13.5	57.2	6.6
Undergraduate	—	—	904,498	892,290	970,382	1,149,713	1,100,095	1,360,538	1,536,840	1,644,390	†	7.3	13.4	58.4	7.0
2-year institutions	—	—	154,466	—	162,881	228,420	236,702	350,297	366,282	417,448	†	5.4	45.3	124.9	14.0
4-year institutions	—	—	750,277	—	807,084	920,092	863,393	1,010,297	1,170,558	1,226,481	†	7.6	7.0	45.0	4.8
Graduate	—	—	41,892	32,062	33,269	35,628	38,677	36,715	40,970	38,237	†	-20.6	16.3	23.1	-6.7
American Sign Language	—	—	—	—	—	1,602	4,304	60,781	78,829	91,763	†	†	†	†	16.4
Arabic	911	—	2,034	3,471	3,417	3,683	4,444	10,584	23,974	35,083	123.3	68.0	30.1	601.6	46.3
Chinese	3,359	—	10,576	11,366	16,892	19,427	26,471	34,153	51,582	60,976	214.9	59.7	56.7	205.4	18.2
French	371,735	358,617	253,208	248,307	275,235	273,143	205,351	201,979	206,426	216,419	-31.9	8.7	-25.4	-25.0	4.8
German	213,909	201,928	152,119	127,015	121,065	133,594	96,263	91,100	94,264	96,349	-28.9	-20.4	-20.5	-22.1	2.2
Greek, Ancient2	19,495	16,643	24,283	22,132	17,806	16,414	16,272	20,376	22,849	20,695	24.6	-26.7	-8.6	28.3	-9.4
Hebrew3	8,093	—	22,371	19,290	15,669	12,966	13,127	22,802	23,752	22,052	176.4	-30.0	-16.2	51.6	-7.2
Italian	22,950	34,236	33,048	34,796	40,904	49,843	43,760	63,899	78,368	80,752	44.0	23.8	7.0	91.6	3.0
Japanese	3,505	—	9,604	11,516	23,457	45,830	44,723	52,238	66,605	73,434	174.0	144.2	90.7	183.9	10.3
Korean	82	—	87	365	875	2,375	3,343	5,211	7,145	8,511	6.1	905.7	282.1	716.6	19.1
Latin	38,038	28,452	25,167	25,019	25,038	28,178	25,897	29,841	32,191	32,606	-33.8	-0.5	3.4	28.6	1.3
Portuguese	3,040	—	5,072	4,894	5,071	6,118	6,531	8,385	10,267	11,371	66.8	#	28.8	102.5	10.8
Russian	33,818	36,369	32,522	23,987	33,945	44,476	24,729	23,921	24,845	26,883	-3.8	4.4	-27.1	-26.8	8.2
Spanish	310,015	386,709	361,911	378,960	411,499	534,182	606,286	746,267	822,985	864,986	16.7	13.7	47.3	100.0	5.1
Other languages	30,308	90,793	14,387	13,234	12,675	13,724	17,271	25,716	33,728	40,747	-52.5	-11.9	36.3	166.1	20.8
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	20,427,711	72.7	22.3	14.1	42.0	15.0
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	17,565,320	†	22.7	13.3	40.6	15.7
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	7,521,405	†	37.5	17.4	39.3	15.4
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	10,043,915	†	13.4	10.2	41.6	15.9
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	2,862,391	†	19.7	19.0	51.0	11.2
											Change in percentage points
Number of language course enrollments      per 100 students enrolled
All levels	17.9	13.4	9.3	7.6	8.0	8.6	8.0	8.4	8.9	8.2	-8.6	-1.2	#	0.9	-0.6
Undergraduate	—	—	10.3	8.5	9.0	9.6	9.0	9.5	10.1	9.4	†	-1.3	#	1.1	-0.8
2-year institutions	—	—	4.5	0.0	3.5	4.4	4.3	5.4	5.6	5.6	†	-1.1	0.8	2.1	-0.1
4-year institutions	—	—	13.9	0.0	13.2	13.7	12.8	13.1	13.5	12.2	†	-0.7	-0.4	0.3	-1.3
Graduate	—	—	2.9	2.0	2.0	1.9	1.9	1.6	1.6	1.3	†	-1.0	#	-0.4	-0.3

—Not available.

†Not applicable.

#Rounds to zero.

1 In 2006, a few 2-year institutions reported a total of 226 graduate course enrollments (86 in Spanish and 140 in American Sign Language). In this table, these 226 enrollments are shown as undergraduate enrollments in 2-year institutions; these enrollments are not included under graduate enrollments.

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 1990 and later years, includes only “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. (See Appendix A: Guide to Sources for details.)

SOURCE: The Modern Language Association of America, Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2009, Table 2c; and MLA historical enrollment data, 1958-70, 1971-86, 1990-98, and 2002-09, retrieved July 21, 2011, 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 2010, Enrollment component. (This table was prepared July 2011.)