Table 311.80.

Number and percentage distribution of course enrollments in languages other than English at degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by language and enrollment level: Selected years, 2002 through 2016

Enrollment level and year	Total, all lan-guages	American Sign Language	Arabic	Chinese1	French	German	Greek, Ancient2	Hebrew3	Italian	Japanese	Korean	Latin	Portu-guese	Russian	Spanish	Other languages
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17
All levels
Number of enrollments
2002	1,395,807	60,781	10,584	34,333	201,985	91,100	20,376	22,774	63,899	52,238	5,211	29,841	8,385	23,921	745,215	25,164
2006	1,575,838	79,744	23,987	51,560	206,019	94,146	22,827	23,739	78,176	65,410	7,146	32,164	10,310	24,784	822,148	33,678
2009	1,673,566	92,068	34,908	61,797	215,244	95,613	20,033	22,665	80,322	72,357	8,449	32,446	11,273	26,740	861,015	38,636
2013	1,561,131	109,651	32,855	62,280	197,679	86,782	12,848	19,824	70,982	66,771	12,256	27,209	12,407	21,979	789,888	37,720
2016	1,418,206	107,399	31,165	54,515	175,667	80,594	10,684	15,500	56,743	68,810	13,936	24,866	9,827	20,353	712,608	35,539
Percent change in    enrollments, 2006 to 2016	-10.0	34.7	29.9	5.7	-14.7	-14.4	-53.2	-34.7	-27.4	5.2	95.0	-22.7	-4.7	-17.9	-13.3	5.5
Percentage distribution of    enrollments
2002	100.0	4.4	0.8	2.5	14.5	6.5	1.5	1.6	4.6	3.7	0.4	2.1	0.6	1.7	53.4	1.8
2006	100.0	5.1	1.5	3.3	13.1	6.0	1.4	1.5	5.0	4.2	0.5	2.0	0.7	1.6	52.2	2.1
2009	100.0	5.5	2.1	3.7	12.9	5.7	1.2	1.4	4.8	4.3	0.5	1.9	0.7	1.6	51.4	2.3
2013	100.0	7.0	2.1	4.0	12.7	5.6	0.8	1.3	4.5	4.3	0.8	1.7	0.8	1.4	50.6	2.4
2016	100.0	7.6	2.2	3.8	12.4	5.7	0.8	1.1	4.0	4.9	1.0	1.8	0.7	1.4	50.2	2.5
Undergraduate level
Number of undergraduate    enrollments
2002	1,359,164	60,660	10,053	33,394	197,385	88,301	14,344	17,247	62,860	51,308	5,100	28,796	7,898	23,151	735,281	23,386
2006	1,534,756	78,976	23,044	50,356	201,309	91,078	16,413	17,474	77,182	64,568	6,909	31,125	9,833	24,030	811,225	31,234
2009	1,635,992	91,233	34,131	60,632	211,077	93,147	15,363	17,053	79,567	71,694	8,097	31,399	10,839	26,136	849,547	36,077
2013	1,526,365	107,010	32,213	60,996	194,542	84,923	9,931	14,816	70,338	66,209	11,599	26,272	11,893	21,370	780,766	33,487
2016	1,388,974	105,574	30,619	53,248	172,906	78,959	8,154	11,844	56,109	68,331	13,738	23,834	9,468	19,829	704,774	31,587
Introductory courses4	1,158,715	94,938	26,550	40,654	142,648	65,103	6,502	9,125	50,934	57,616	11,409	20,954	7,169	15,052	584,686	25,375
Advanced courses4	230,259	10,636	4,069	12,594	30,258	13,856	1,652	2,719	5,175	10,715	2,329	2,880	2,299	4,777	120,088	6,212
Percent change in undergraduate    enrollments, 2006 to 2016	-9.5	33.7	32.9	5.7	-14.1	-13.3	-50.3	-32.2	-27.3	5.8	98.8	-23.4	-3.7	-17.5	-13.1	1.1
Percentage distribution of    undergraduate enrollments
2002	100.0	4.5	0.7	2.5	14.5	6.5	1.1	1.3	4.6	3.8	0.4	2.1	0.6	1.7	54.1	1.7
2006	100.0	5.1	1.5	3.3	13.1	5.9	1.1	1.1	5.0	4.2	0.5	2.0	0.6	1.6	52.9	2.0
2009	100.0	5.6	2.1	3.7	12.9	5.7	0.9	1.0	4.9	4.4	0.5	1.9	0.7	1.6	51.9	2.2
2013	100.0	7.0	2.1	4.0	12.7	5.6	0.7	1.0	4.6	4.3	0.8	1.7	0.8	1.4	51.2	2.2
2016	100.0	7.6	2.2	3.8	12.4	5.7	0.6	0.9	4.0	4.9	1.0	1.7	0.7	1.4	50.7	2.3
Graduate level
Number of graduate enrollments
2002	36,643	121	531	939	4,600	2,799	6,032	5,527	1,039	930	111	1,045	487	770	9,934	1,778
2006	41,082	768	943	1,204	4,710	3,068	6,414	6,265	994	842	237	1,039	477	754	10,923	2,444
2009	37,574	835	777	1,165	4,167	2,466	4,670	5,612	755	663	352	1,047	434	604	11,468	2,559
2013	34,766	2,641	642	1,284	3,137	1,859	2,917	5,008	644	562	657	937	514	609	9,122	4,233
2016	29,232	1,825	546	1,267	2,761	1,635	2,530	3,656	634	479	198	1,032	359	524	7,834	3,952
Percent change in graduate    enrollments, 2006 to 2016	-28.8	137.6	-42.1	5.2	-41.4	-46.7	-60.6	-41.6	-36.2	-43.1	-16.5	-0.7	-24.7	-30.5	-28.3	61.7
Percentage distribution of    graduate enrollments
2002	100.0	0.3	1.4	2.6	12.6	7.6	16.5	15.1	2.8	2.5	0.3	2.9	1.3	2.1	27.1	4.9
2006	100.0	1.9	2.3	2.9	11.5	7.5	15.6	15.2	2.4	2.0	0.6	2.5	1.2	1.8	26.6	5.9
2009	100.0	2.2	2.1	3.1	11.1	6.6	12.4	14.9	2.0	1.8	0.9	2.8	1.2	1.6	30.5	6.8
2013	100.0	7.6	1.8	3.7	9.0	5.3	8.4	14.4	1.9	1.6	1.9	2.7	1.5	1.8	26.2	12.2
2016	100.0	6.2	1.9	4.3	9.4	5.6	8.7	12.5	2.2	1.6	0.7	3.5	1.2	1.8	26.8	13.5

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 includes the Biblical Hebrew category in addition to Modern Hebrew and Hebrew; other reported categories are excluded.

4 Introductory courses are first- and second-year courses. Advanced courses are third- and fourth-year courses.

NOTE: This table shows course enrollments, not 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 indicated, totals for specific languages do not include classical, religious, or regional dialects. Degree-granting institutions grant associate’s or higher degrees and participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. Some data have been revised from previously published figures.

SOURCE: The Modern Language Association of America (MLA), Language Enrollment Database, selected years, 2002 through 2016, retrieved May 30, 2019, from http://www.mla.org/about_search_flsurvey. (This table was prepared May 2019.)