Inner city students in New York learn Japanese as their 3rd language

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Sarge at 10:19 PM JST - 20th March

They'd best start learning Chinese, the language of their future masters.
TheMarion at 10:51 PM JST - 20th March

My Caucasian son graduated from Harvard and accepted a Professorship at the International Christian University at Mitaka, Japan where he has been teaching Japanese history for the past 28 years. His children grew up in Japanese schools and today his children handle four languages including Chinese. Anyone can go to ICU and during their stay the will learn Japanese. Graduates from ICU are accepted all over the world and are in demand in all the Asian countries. I feel that learning Japanese anywhere is a definite step in the right direction. One of my grand-children is working for Honda in China and his brother is also proficient in Chinese and has found work in Russia and now in the USA (Colorado) I have a saying that if you speak two lanuages, you can earn two paychecks.
francisco3269 at 12:02 AM JST - 21st March

I can't comment on how japan really is because I don't live there and have never been there. I do know that from what I read about the culture and the history, to me it seems like such an interesting and beautiful culture. I would love to visit Japan one day, and learn first hand what it's all about. I'm currently taking on-line japanese courses in order to learn the language. It willbe my third language. It's actually easier than I thought. I was raised learning both english and spanish. I hear so much that japan is not too keen on outsiders but I really hope that's not the case. I fully embrace the language and the culture and I hope that when I do go I will be accepted as someone trying to embrace the culture and not just another gaijin ;-)
lat at 07:32 AM JST - 21st March

francisco3269, Im sure youll have a good trip once you come here;however, if you ever decide to live here in the future, make no mistake, you will be treated as just another gaijin after awhile. Simply put, Japan is not an open-minded country and the society here is very sick and detached from the rest of the world.
xamarikku at 12:21 PM JST - 21st March

What... I mean... Where is the news in this? Is this strange or extraordinaire in any way? Japanese is my 5th language. 3rd and 4th to some of my friends. I dont get it. Is this because this "news" is from America?
DeepAir65 at 10:24 PM JST - 21st March

missed opportunity - they should have learnt a useful language for the future like Chinese
tuneintokyo at 08:57 AM JST - 22nd March

yeah right. most kids in the USA can't even speak their 1st language properly.
spudman at 09:20 AM JST - 22nd March

lat- when are you leaving? people are free to exercise their right to leave anytime they like. I hope these kids come to Japan and enjoy the experience.
Apsara at 09:23 AM JST - 22nd March

In New Zealand and Australia Japanese has been taught at high schools for over 20 years (I was learning it at school back in 1988), and it is by far the most popular foreign language to learn. It somehow suddenly becomes a big deal when a school in the US starts offering it though... I agree with xamarikku- this is not strange or extraordinary in any way. One thing I disagree with is that the kids will be tri-lingual when they graduate- you do not come out of a high school course fluent in a language. They will have a grasp of basic Japanese, which does not make them trilingual.
HARUHI at 01:34 PM JST - 22nd March

How is this a big deal? I mean other countries offer japanese too. Good point Apsara. BTW my 3rd language too, not fluent though.
lat at 08:13 PM JST - 22nd March

Spudman - Im exercising my right to leave really soon actually, thanks for caring! Its making me teary-eyed now :).

I hope people have good experiences too, but I think there are a lot of really naive people out there who think too highly/positively of Japan and dont realize the other side of reality here. Japan has a really positive image in the world right now due to its pop culture/technology achievements, and thats great, but I dont think its an accurate or comprehensive portrayal of the country. Sorry if Im bursting your bubble by giving my 2 cents, but Ive lived here for several years, so Im exercising my other right, and thats my right to give an informed opinion ;).
FryingMonkey at 09:13 AM JST - 23rd March

In my opinion it is great no matter which language they are learning. The expansion of the mind should never cease. And as far as "lat" goes, I do hope where you are headed you will find happiness, from the sounds of it Japan is not where you belong. Sorry to hear that and さいおなら!
saborichan at 11:22 AM JST - 23rd March

trilingual, from a few years in school? Wow! That's some school. That means I'm bilingual now, I guess?
saborichan at 11:28 AM JST - 23rd March

As for why this is 'news', the inference is, I suppose, that students learning Japanese (gasp) and foreigners taking an interest in Japan (gasp) are things of note. Maybe the fact that all Japanese "learn" English in school makes their exposure to some amount of westerness a given, but that's not necessarily the case in reverse.

I'm glad these kids are discovering something new. Being made to learn Japanese in junior high in Australia, I was tickled by this new 'code' I had begun to learn, and thrilled to be able to do something my peers couldn't. That satisfaction of taking meaning from what was once noise hasn't abated over the years. But just remember kids: real skills first, then language as a tool to transmit those skills.
Hiashi at 08:21 PM JST - 23rd March

I don't see the big news either, I mean Anime and Manga is growing fast in the US, so they are probably just building on those thoughts. And I agree that you should not be that naive to expect that everyone will accept you, no matter what country you move to. But be hopeful for those who do, and hopefully be able to experience the totally new and exciting culture that exists there, that not even the natives might be aware of. But as has been said, the only big news here is that you could learn japanese in high school and that there is no other alternative. In Sweden there already are a number of schools in which you can learn Japanese. But this is a good thing, to learn and experience a language so different, sparking interest in a land that are so different is a good way to go, not only for the students and USA but is a good way for many countries to go and hopefully some understand that Globalization is a good thing in many ways.