BARCELONA--"Kiritsu, rei, chakuseki," a student said in a classroom on a recent day, prompting others to stand up, bow and sit at the beginning of the class.

It could be a classroom at any school in Japan, but it was a scene at Montserrat Roig High School, located near Barcelona.

When the students bowed and sat, teacher Sergi Garces ClaraMunt cheerfully asked them: "Minna genki?" (How are you, everyone?).

The institution is one of five public schools in Catalonia, an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, that started offering a Japanese language course as an elective for junior high school students from the new academic year that began in September.

Even those who participate in promotional activities to spread the Japanese language in the country are surprised by the unprecedented popularity.

At the Montserrat Roig school, 17 second-year junior high school students attend the class.

On Oct. 18, the students learned greetings in Japanese.

Using a study material for conversational lessons with manga-style illustrations, the students practiced words and phrases commonly used in daily life, such as "konnichiwa" (hello) and "arigato" (thank you).

Until last year, the school had only taught French, ancient Greek and Latin as elective foreign language courses, while English is offered as a mandatory subject.

But since this year, Japanese has been added as an elective for second-year junior high schoolers, with half of them, or 60 students, learning the language.

The institution is also planning to offer the course for students in other academic years from the next school year.

"It's difficult, but I want to play the video game 'The Legend of Zelda' in Japanese some day," said Aniol Pascuol, 13.

According to the Japan Foundation, although Madrid promotes the use of Japanese, the language had never been officially adopted as a compulsory education course in Spain.

But in Catalonia, the five public schools officially adopted Japanese as an elective in September, two years after another public school began teaching Japanese on a trial basis.

One of the underlying reasons for the growing acceptance of the language is that those who watched "Dragon Ball" and other Japanese TV anime shows as children in the 1990s have become parents themselves, leading to a greater understanding of Japan.

According to a survey conducted by the foundation in 2021, the number of Japanese learners in Spain was 9,383, following on the heels of France, Britain and Germany in Europe.

Spain overtook Germany in the number of Japanese learners per population.

"It has become normal for students to be exposed to Japan through manga and anime," said Yolanda Cardenas, principal of Montserrat Roig High School.

ClaraMunt was also fascinated by Japanese cartoons after seeing the "Mazinger Z" robot anime show on TV when he was young.

Although ClaraMunt is an English teacher, he also has taught Japanese classes from this year because he can speak the language.

"Catalonia has been a place that has historically flourished in Mediterranean trade and is culturally open to take an interest in countries far from it, such as Japan," said Yasushi Sato, consul general of Japan in Barcelona.

IMPORTANCE ON PRACTICAL LEARNING

Meanwhile, there is another factor that is contributing to the spread of the Japanese language outside Catalonia.

Japanese language education has developed over the years, incorporating the European standards for foreign language education.

In 2010, the Japan Foundation decided to follow the Common European Framework of Reference for Language (CEFR), under which comprehensive foreign language skills, including listening, speaking, reading and writing, are divided into six levels, to classify the proficiency level of Japanese.

The foundation also incorporated the CEFR's important idea, in which learners are encouraged to set the goal of finding out what and how much can be done by using a language, into the learning of Japanese.

It has made efforts to develop a new learning method known as "Can-do" to move from the conventional grammar-centered approach and provide a more practical, communication-based teaching method. 

Having incorporated the European standards, Japanese language education is now associated with the Japanese government's policy of accepting foreign workers.

Under the specified skilled worker program started in 2019 to permit long-term employment and residency in Japan, foreign workers are required to be proficient in Japanese to a certain degree to obtain the new residency status.

The Can-do system has taken root as an effective, world-class learning method for Southeast Asians and other foreigners seeking employment in Japan to study the language.