Japanese language education in Thailand

Japanese language education in Thailand formally dates back to the 1960s, when Thai universities began to establish Japanese language courses. A 2006 survey by the Japan Foundation found 1,153 teachers teaching the language to 71,083 students at 385 institutions; the number of students increased by 29.5% compared to the 2003 survey.^[1][2] As of 2021, according to the Japan Foundation, 183,957 people were learning Japanese in Thailand.^[3][4][5]

Standardised testing

JLPT examinees in Thailand

Year	City	Examinees by Level
		L1	L2	L3	L4	Total
2009[6]	Bangkok	958	2,993	4,591	4,952	13,494
	Chiang Mai	65	315	597	964	1,941
	Songkla	4	35	78	261	378
	Khon Kaen	12	129	379	435	955
	Total	1,039	3,472	5,645	6,612	16,768
2008[7]	Bangkok	754	2,704	4,356	5,037	12,851
	Chiang Mai	64	239	639	910	1,852
	Songkla	1	18	80	220	319
	Khon Kaen	8	94	316	406	824
	Total	827	3,055	5,391	6,573	15,846
2006[8]	Bangkok	700	1949	3100	3900	9649
	Chiang Mai	52	202	628	1021	1794
	Songkhla	4	37	89	291	463
2005[9]	Bangkok	633	1616	2416	3456	8121
	Chiang Mai	56	164	409	1120	1749
	Songkhla	7	41	122	293	463
2004[10]	Bangkok	434	1280	1940	2719	6373
	Chiang Mai	35	170	333	798	1336
	Songkhla	2	33	94	180	309
2003[11]	Bangkok	380	1188	1773	2735	6076
	Chiang Mai	27	151	273	746	1197
2002	Bangkok	Data missing
	Chiang Mai	Data missing
2001[12]	Bangkok	211	681	1198	1774	3864
	Chiang Mai	18	61	157	303	539
2000[13]	Bangkok	194	696	960	1338	3188
	Chiang Mai	15	70	130	238	453
1999[14]	Bangkok	152	544	811	1174	2681
	Chiang Mai	24	45	120	205	394
1998[14]	Bangkok	-	-	-	-	2175
	Chiang Mai	-	-	-	-	289

The Japanese Language Proficiency Test is offered in three cities in Thailand; at first, it was just offered in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, but an additional test site was added in Songkhla in 2003.^[11] The Level 4 examination, aimed at beginning students with 150 contact hours of construction, is the most widely attempted; numbers of examinees decrease at higher levels. The number of examinees nearly quintupled between 1998 and 2006.^[14][8] Bangkok is the only city in Southeast Asia in which JETRO's Business Japanese Proficiency Test is offered. In 2006, 232 candidates attempted the examination; their performance, measured by the proportion of examinees who were assessed as having each of the six possible levels of business Japanese proficiency, was similar to the average for examinees in all countries outside Japan. Thai students formed 13% of all candidates attempting the examination outside Japan.^[15]

See also

• Japanese as a foreign language
• Education in Thailand
• Language education