USA The USA has the most universities outside the region with a large range of Southeast Asian languages. All of the 'SEASSI consortium' schools offer most of the main languages of the region and also have a comprehensive SE Asian Studies Program. They are:
University of Hawaii, Cornell University, University of Washington, Michigan State University, Northern Illinois University, Ohio University, University of California Berkeley, University of California Los Angeles, University of Michigan, and University of Wisconsin, Madison. Additionally, the University of Oregon, Arizona, Yale, and BYU also have some SE Asian language courses. And, some other schools on the west coast sometimes offer a course in one language such as Vietnamese or Thai.
Canada Shamefully, there is not a single university in Canada which offers even several of the main languages of the region. One might expect the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, to do so, being on the west coast and being home to a number of SE Asian immigrants.
Australia Universities in Australia concern themselves with Indonesia. Most of the major universities (more than 12) offer Indonesian courses; however, that number along with enrollment has steadily declined in the last decade. Australian National University (ANU), Centre for Continuing Education also teaches Thai, Vietnamese, and Khmer, but not others. Vietnamese is taught at Victoria University in Melbourne.
UK The ''School of Oriental and African Studies' (SOAS) at University of London is the only one with a comprehensive program. It offers Burmese, Thai, Khmer, Vietnamese, Malay, Indonesian. It does not offer any Filipino languages. Leeds University teaches Thai.
Japan Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS) offers all the major languages of the region. Kanda University of International Studies (Kanda Gaigo Daigaku) in Chiba teaches Indonesian, Thai, and Vietnamese. A few other universities, such as Chiba University, offer a single course such as Indonesian.
Singapore (Yes, I realize Singapore is not 'outside' the region.) The National University of Singapore (NUS), Centre for Language Studies (CLS) teaches Thai, Malay, Indonesian, and Vietnamese. It is the only university in the region that teaches multiple languages of ASEAN. The university previously offered the general public a wider variety of other Southeast Asian languages through their 'Extension' school (NEX), but they stopped doing so, for whatever reason, and despite numerous complaints.
When I started following this in the mid 90s, I thought it was fairly sad that there were only a half dozen US universities involved with the languages of SE Asia; as you can see, the situation in other countries is even worse. Again, the only thing that makes sense if you are really intent on learning one of these languages is to come to SE Asia and do so in-country at a language school and with a tutor. Our Recommended Schools page has a list of schools you can contact.
University of Hawaii, Cornell University, University of Washington, Michigan State University, Northern Illinois University, Ohio University, University of California Berkeley, University of California Los Angeles, University of Michigan, and University of Wisconsin, Madison. Additionally, the University of Oregon, Arizona, Yale, and BYU also have some SE Asian language courses. And, some other schools on the west coast sometimes offer a course in one language such as Vietnamese or Thai.
Canada Shamefully, there is not a single university in Canada which offers even several of the main languages of the region. One might expect the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, to do so, being on the west coast and being home to a number of SE Asian immigrants.
Australia Universities in Australia concern themselves with Indonesia. Most of the major universities (more than 12) offer Indonesian courses; however, that number along with enrollment has steadily declined in the last decade. Australian National University (ANU), Centre for Continuing Education also teaches Thai, Vietnamese, and Khmer, but not others. Vietnamese is taught at Victoria University in Melbourne.
UK The ''School of Oriental and African Studies' (SOAS) at University of London is the only one with a comprehensive program. It offers Burmese, Thai, Khmer, Vietnamese, Malay, Indonesian. It does not offer any Filipino languages. Leeds University teaches Thai.
Japan Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS) offers all the major languages of the region. Kanda University of International Studies (Kanda Gaigo Daigaku) in Chiba teaches Indonesian, Thai, and Vietnamese. A few other universities, such as Chiba University, offer a single course such as Indonesian.
Singapore (Yes, I realize Singapore is not 'outside' the region.) The National University of Singapore (NUS), Centre for Language Studies (CLS) teaches Thai, Malay, Indonesian, and Vietnamese. It is the only university in the region that teaches multiple languages of ASEAN. The university previously offered the general public a wider variety of other Southeast Asian languages through their 'Extension' school (NEX), but they stopped doing so, for whatever reason, and despite numerous complaints.
When I started following this in the mid 90s, I thought it was fairly sad that there were only a half dozen US universities involved with the languages of SE Asia; as you can see, the situation in other countries is even worse. Again, the only thing that makes sense if you are really intent on learning one of these languages is to come to SE Asia and do so in-country at a language school and with a tutor. Our Recommended Schools page has a list of schools you can contact.
