As study-abroad choices shift, foreign languages find younger learners in Hyd | Hyderabad News
Hyderabad: As the US and the UK become less certain bets for higher education, Hyderabad’s classrooms are seeing a new trend: students as young as class 5 are taking up French, German and even Japanese to improve their chances of getting into colleges in alternative destinations.“While a handful of families still prefer the US, most are looking at other avenues and preparing their children accordingly,” said Bhupendra Katkam, chief operating officer of Abbacus Overseas Education Advisors, confirming that the trend is gathering pace. “Policy changes, visa uncertainty and rising costs are the biggest contributors to this shift,” he added.Language institutes in the city are also reporting growing interest from parents keen to give their children an early start.Alliance Française Hyderabad, for instance, recorded 1,200 registrations for French courses in 2025 — a large number of them children. It also works with around 10 schools, including many international schools, and partnered with three preschools this year.“We are seeing interest in French at a much younger age now. Earlier, our learners were mostly teenagers, but now we even have preschoolers. Parents want their children to start learning the language early, and we are already in the process of collaborating with more preschools,” Maud Miquau, director of Alliance Française Hyderabad, told TOI.Employment prospects are another draw. Miquau said French could widen opportunities in France, Belgium and Canada, as well as parts of Africa.The growing number of younger learners is also prompting changes in teaching methods. Prof Bhavya Sripada, a French teacher, said classes now focus on “activities and role-play, with students speaking to one another while the teacher acts as a guide, rather than simply giving them grammar rules to memorise”. She said some universities in France prefer international students to have at least B1-level proficiency, an intermediate level of language ability, even when courses are taught in English.German, too, has seen a significant rise in interest. Amita Desai, executive director of Goethe-Zentrum Hyderabad, said the institute now conducts around 9,000 to 10,000 German public examinations annually, compared with about 1,000 a decade ago. While no school in the city offered German in 2007, several do now, giving students opportunities to start learning the language earlier.“In the past three years, there has been an increase in the number of young learners. More than 90% of the young learners who are attending classes at our centre plan to pursue higher studies in Germany or work there or with German companies,” she said.While year-wise enrolment figures for Hyderabad were not available, national data points to the growing reach of German-language learning. Around 1.5 lakh school students study German across more than 600 schools, according to the Goethe-Institut.Japanese, traditionally learnt largely in higher education and the workplace, is also drawing some younger learners, though school-level teaching remains limited.“Awareness and demand for Japanese have increased in recent years. While many learners are engineers and technical professionals looking to improve their prospects with Japanese companies or secure jobs in Japan, in the past two years, we have also seen a lot of school students take up this language course,” said B Naganath, co-founder of Na Ra Japan Hub.The trend is reflected in national figures as well. The Japan Foundation recorded 52,946 Japanese-language learners in India in 2024, up 47% from 36,015 in 2021. The figures cover learners across all educational levels.For some parents, the appeal lies in keeping future choices open rather than committing to a particular destination. “Early exposure will make it easier for her to build on that knowledge later. We do not know whether she will eventually study or work abroad or stay in India, but learning the language keeps those options open,” said Mrinal Dhadula, father of a 13-year-old girl. “Some companies also value language skills, which can open up different career paths,” he added.
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