Excellence in languages is one of the reasons that the University of Hawai'i was listed in America's 100 Best College Buys 1999 . An editorial in the October 29, 1999, Honolulu Star-Bulletin began by quoting the book: "The University of Hawai'i at Manoa is a public research university with an outstanding academic reputation. While many colleges and universities talk about returning to the basics, UH at Manoa never left them." It then singled out three particular strengths of the curriculum at UHM, mentioning that undergraduates are required to study world civilizations, Hawaiian or a foreign language, and master a number of writing-intensive courses.

Foreign languages are taught in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, that houses the largest Japanese program in the US, the Department of Languages and Literatures of Europe and the Americas, and the Department of Hawaiian and Indo-Pacific Languages and Literatures. The College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature (LLL) also houses the Departments of English, Linguistics, and Second Language Studies (formerly English as a Second Language). The latter is widely regarded as the premier second language acquisition research program in the world. Besides supplying multilingual Hawai'i with most of its teachers of English as a Second Language, its large (100+) MA program attracts second language teachers from around the world to develop their skills with researchers and second language teacher educators who are internationally famous. In addition, the doctoral program in second language acquisition prepares junior scholars to be the researchers and academics of the future.

The University of Hawai'i, more than any other institution in the US, places extraordinary emphasis on Asia and the Pacific. There are only five goals articulated in the University's current ten-year Strategic Plan. They focus on 1) quality, 2) access, 3) diversity, 4) responsible management, and 5) "Strengthening the University as the premier resource in Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific affairs and advancing its international leadership role." The strength of UH language programs is evidenced by the fact that UH houses one of the three original National Foreign Language Resource Centers (NFLRCs) funded by the US Department of Education in a nationwide competition. The UH NFLRC has continued to be among the most highly ranked centers in successive competitions. The excellence of Hawai'i's NFLRC is built upon innovative research, teacher training, and materials development, particularly as it relates to languages of Asia and the Pacific.

Samples of Public Service Announcements (PSA) are available in WAV format:

Click here to access the full text of the Languages 2000 report as an Adobe Acrobat document for online reading/printing. If you do not already have an Acrobat PDF reader on your computer, you may download one for free from the Adobe website.

If you would like a print version (with photos, etc.) of this report, please contact Jim Yoshioka.