Keep Japanese A Level

As Asia's influence grows, we need to show the world that Asia has diverse cultures and language. It should not be the case that the only one big power dominates it all. Keep Japanese A level ! That is the one of the best ways for Brits to know Asia has many facets in culture.

Many young people are interested in Japan and studying the Japanese Ianguage. I teach Japanese GCSE and A' level to students attending several different schools locally. Having an extra language qualification is useful for their university applications and potential future career choosing, particularly when this language is something as unusual as Japanese. Some of the students are considering studying Japanese at degree level and/or taking up employment in Japan. It is of vital importance to them that the A' level qualification is continued.

My daughter loves Japanese and got A* in her GCSE last year and is currently studying AS Japanese once a week at school along with her GCSE's. No qualifications means no funding can be accessed by her school to teach the subject. She wants to take the full A level but the school is now stopping classes in July 2016. My daughter wants to do an engineering degree so the fact that Japanese was offered in her school provided the opportunity to learn this language that she would not have otherwise had, and her additional language skills may be a useful asset to a future employer. Please re-instate Japanese (as a foreign language) 'A' Level. Japanese is in the top 10 languages most needed for the UK's national security, international trade and international relations... according to British Council report: https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/languages-for-the-future-report.pdf The ministry for education should be funding in school teaching of these minority languages top down as a priority. At a conference in Europe this year this UK situation re languages provision was described as disastrous.

What's the point in taking down perfectly suitable languages? How are we supposed to progress as a people without the means to properly communicate with our piers from other ethnic backgrounds when they haven't had the chance to learn our language?

Much of the challenge is in getting kids to pay attention at school in the first place. Many kids are interested in Japanese culture as a result of food, comic books and video games. If this leads to taking Japanese A level, some kids will be able to gain an extra qualification that can be used for university entrance, and maybe develop an interest in languages and other cultures that can be taken across to other more 'economically useful' languages like Chinese - although, as the 3rd largest economy in the world, Japan isn't exactly bereft of economic opportunities.

Both Japanese and English speaking children will be a great asset for both the UK and Japan as they are now. Please keep A-level and GCSE!

I would love to study this and it would be a shame to get rid of it as they have already gotten rid of my goals to get a, a level in anthropology and if they get rid of this it will make it so much harder to get the qualifications I've dreamt of since being a child. plus just because there might not be a lot of people who pick this subject does not mean that there is no one at all that want to do it. plus they are meant to be changing and making exams harder so that this generations education can get better, but what is the point in that if they do not even make it so that we can get the qualifications we want?

Japanese is an essential language for the modern world....please save it!

Both my children did Japanese and it has opened all sorts of foods for them.

I am Japanese brought up in the UK. I took both GCSE and A'level Japanese when I was at school 25 years ago. It was a great opportunity and a great challenge for me to take these exams. I passed both exams with grade A and I'm still proud of the result of these exams. I would like to offer the same opportunity to my children and make them feel proud of their heritage. Please keep both GCSE and A'level Japanese for our future heritage language speakers!!

Please safe Japanese language

Japan is the 3rd biggest economy in the world. We should continue with teaching Japanese

Love languages, have tried Mandarin, but not Japanese. It is still very useful to the world.

Japanese culture and its language are very unique in the world and worthy to deeply learn and understand so as to preserve them.

No reason to get rid of it in my opinion. Evidently there are thousands here who would like to keep it.

Given the huge interest in Japan and Japanese culture among young people, removing the option to do an A-level in Japanese language studies is short-sighted and clearly based on bottom-line financial criteria alone.

I've studied several languages and Japanese is the best brain exercise. It is totally absorbing and would switch a lot of kids on to languages.

I am 14 years old and study Japanese at GCSE. I was incredibly disappointed to learn that it would not be possible to learn this language at A-Level standard because of what a great language and culture Japan has. I deeply hope that this decision changes very quickly so I and others are able to learn it.

I'm Japanese and have two daughters between English husband. A leval and GCSE Japanese are the standards they can challenge and motivation to achieve here by learning Japanese at Sat Japanese school. Japan has a lot of technologies and Japanese companies are now eager to hire more skilled foreign students and keeping this helps chances of employment of students learning Japanese. I work for UK company whose mother company is Japanese and although English is the common language, speaking Japanese is an advantage.

Japanese is an incredible and important language, some young people will be highly enthused by the prospect of studying Japanese A level. Taking the course away will surely effect many people's futures and career paths