Layag, Volume 3, No. 1 ® Psychology Department, De La Salle University, Manila, 1998 1 NIHONGO NO BENKYOO: LEARNING STRATEGIES AND MOTIVATION OF FILIPINO LEARNERS OF JAPANESE LANGUAGE Richard DLC Gonzales Psychology Department De La Salle University, Manila Abstract This article discusses the reasons why Filipino university students are learning Japanese as a foreign language. Two motivational orientations were used to study their motivation to learn the language. Two learning strategies were also used to identify their learning strategies. Respondents of this study include students from seven universities in Metro Manila enrolled during the school year 1996-97. A survey questionnaire was utilized to gather the data. Results show that Filipino learners of the Japanese language are instrumentally motivated and they use direct strategies in learning the language. Some implications to foreign language learning are suggested. Japanese language or Nihongo is not recent and new in the Philippines and among Filipinos. The learning of Japanese language in the country came very much earlier than the Japanese invaders during the World War II. Saniel (1994) wrote that it was in the 1920s when the Japanese language was first introduced to Filipino students. This decade, she added, also marked the advent of scholarly relationship between Filipinos and Japanese intellectuals. Certainly, the more remarkable event that ushered in the learning of the Japanese language was the brief occupation of the Japanese government in the country in the 1940s. Government officials as well as members of the Filipino elite families who went to school that time were obliged to learn and use the language. In the Philippines, language learning is necessity because of the presence of a native or first language, a second language, and foreign language. There are about 80 regional languages spoken in the country, which most children learn them at home. There are even instances where a mother’s native language differs from that of the father’s native language and a child is obligated to learn both parents’ languages. The Filipino language, commonly referred to as Tagalog, is mandated as national language, on the other hand, is another ‘must learn’ language among Filipino students. In school, the English language, which is regarded as the second language of Filipinos, is the medium of instruction along with the national language. In addition to these, some colleges and universities require some students of selected courses to