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 2016

Enrollment level, institution level, and language	1965	1970	1974	1980	1986	1990	1995	2002	2006	2009	2013	2016	Percent change
													1965 to 1974	1974 to 1986	1986 to 1995	1995 to 2006	2006 to 2016
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
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	1,575,838	1,673,566	1,561,131	1,418,206	-8.5	6.0	13.5	38.4	-10.0
Undergraduate	---	---	904,419	892,275	970,007	1,149,655	1,100,103	1,359,164	1,534,756	1,635,992	1,526,365	1,388,974	†	7.3	13.4	39.5	-9.5
2-year institutions	---	---	154,713	162,716	161,683	227,625	233,123	337,304	364,980	393,050	343,245	288,741	†	4.5	44.2	56.6	-20.9
4-year institutions	---	---	749,706	729,559	808,324	922,030	866,980	1,021,860	1,169,776	1,242,942	1,183,120	1,100,233	†	7.8	7.3	34.9	-5.9
Graduate	---	---	41,891	32,062	33,166	35,810	38,669	36,643	41,082	37,574	34,766	29,232	†	-20.8	16.6	6.2	-28.8
American Sign Language	---	---	---	---	---	1,602	4,304	60,781	79,744	92,068	109,651	107,399	†	†	†	1,752.8	34.7
Arabic	911	1,324	2,034	3,471	3,417	3,683	4,444	10,584	23,987	34,908	32,855	31,165	123.3	68.0	30.1	439.8	29.9
Chinese1	3,359	6,265	10,662	11,405	17,002	19,510	26,504	34,333	51,560	61,797	62,280	54,515	217.4	59.5	55.9	94.5	5.7
French	371,747	358,494	253,135	248,303	275,132	273,116	205,351	201,985	206,019	215,244	197,679	175,667	-31.9	8.7	-25.4	0.3	-14.7
German	213,909	201,766	152,113	127,015	120,920	133,594	96,263	91,100	94,146	95,613	86,782	80,594	-28.9	-20.5	-20.4	-2.2	-14.4
Greek, Ancient2	19,495	16,543	24,283	22,132	17,806	16,414	16,272	20,376	22,827	20,033	12,848	10,684	24.6	-26.7	-8.6	40.3	-53.2
Hebrew3	8,093	16,567	22,371	19,290	15,669	12,966	13,083	22,774	23,739	22,665	19,824	15,500	176.4	-30.0	-16.5	81.4	-34.7
Italian	22,950	34,236	33,048	34,793	40,904	49,824	43,760	63,899	78,176	80,322	70,982	56,743	44.0	23.8	7.0	78.6	-27.4
Japanese	3,505	6,620	9,604	11,516	23,454	45,830	44,723	52,238	65,410	72,357	66,771	68,810	174.0	144.2	90.7	46.3	5.2
Korean	82	101	87	365	875	2,375	3,343	5,211	7,146	8,449	12,256	13,936	6.1	905.7	282.1	113.8	95.0
Latin	38,038	28,422	25,167	25,019	25,038	28,178	25,897	29,841	32,164	32,446	27,209	24,866	-33.8	-0.5	3.4	24.2	-22.7
Portuguese	3,040	5,065	5,072	4,894	5,071	6,118	6,531	8,385	10,310	11,273	12,407	9,827	66.8	#	28.8	57.9	-4.7
Russian	33,818	36,369	32,522	23,987	33,945	44,476	24,729	23,921	24,784	26,740	21,979	20,353	-3.8	4.4	-27.1	0.2	-17.9
Spanish	310,012	386,617	361,911	378,952	411,376	534,143	606,286	745,215	822,148	861,015	789,888	712,608	16.7	13.7	47.4	35.6	-13.3
Other languages	5,692	54,850	14,301	13,195	12,564	13,636	17,282	25,164	33,678	38,636	37,720	35,539	151.2	-12.1	37.6	94.9	5.5
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	17,754,230	20,313,594	20,376,677	19,846,904	72.7	22.3	14.1	24.5	11.8
Undergraduate	---	7,368,644	8,798,728	10,475,055	10,797,975	11,959,106	12,231,719	14,257,077	15,179,591	17,464,179	17,476,304	16,874,649	†	22.7	13.3	24.1	11.2
2-year institutions	---	2,318,956	3,402,732	4,525,097	4,679,548	5,240,083	5,492,098	6,529,198	6,513,303	7,522,581	6,970,644	6,092,418	†	37.5	17.4	18.6	-6.5
4-year institutions	---	5,049,688	5,395,996	5,949,958	6,118,427	6,719,023	6,739,621	7,727,879	8,666,288	9,941,598	10,505,660	10,782,231	†	13.4	10.2	28.6	24.4
Graduate	---	1,212,243	1,425,001	1,621,840	1,705,536	1,859,531	2,030,062	2,354,634	2,574,639	2,849,415	2,900,373	2,972,255	†	19.7	19.0	26.8	15.4
													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	7.1	-8.2	-1.2	#	0.9	-1.7
Undergraduate	---	---	10.3	8.5	9.0	9.6	9.0	9.5	10.1	9.4	8.7	8.2	†	-1.3	#	1.1	-1.9
2-year institutions	---	---	4.5	3.6	3.5	4.3	4.2	5.2	5.6	5.2	4.9	4.7	†	-1.1	0.8	1.4	-0.9
4-year institutions	---	---	13.9	12.3	13.2	13.7	12.9	13.2	13.5	12.5	11.3	10.2	†	-0.7	-0.3	0.6	-3.3
Graduate	---	---	2.9	2.0	1.9	1.9	1.9	1.6	1.6	1.3	1.2	1.0	†	-1.0	#	-0.3	-0.6

---Not available.

†Not applicable.

#Rounds to zero.

1 Includes Cantonese and Mandarin.

2 The apparent drop in Ancient Greek from 2009 to 2013 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 2013. In previous surveys, these languages may have been reported under the category Ancient Greek.

3 Hebrew was reported as a single category prior to 1986 but in multiple categories beginning in 1986. For 1986 and later years, includes the Biblical Hebrew category in addition to Modern Hebrew and Hebrew; other reported categories 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 (MLA), Language Enrollment Database, selected years, 1965 through 2016, retrieved May 30, 2019, 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 Colleges and Universities" surveys, 1970 through 1985; Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), "Fall Enrollment Survey" (IPEDS-EF:86-99); IPEDS Spring 2001 through Spring 2018, Fall Enrollment component. (This table was prepared May 2019.)