Harvard offers Tagalog course for first time in its history

The Harvard University Asia Center is located in the Center for Government and International Studies, South Building. WEBSITE

For the first time in its history, Harvard University is offering a Tagalog language course starting the 2023-24 academic year.

The Department of South Asian Studies secured funding to hire a preceptor in addition to two who are already teaching Bahasa Indonesian and Thai. Tagalog is the fourth most spoken language in the United States.

The department’s Asia Center raised financial support for three-year term appointments for each preceptor and are renewable for up to five additional years, reported The Harvard Crimson.

“We’re very excited and hopeful that these positions will be a game-changer in terms of the Asia Center’s long-term mission to build Southeast Asian studies at Harvard, as well as the university’s engagement with the region,” Harvard Asia Center Executive Director Elizabeth K. Liao told The Crimson.

Eleanor V. Wikstrom ’24, co-president of the Harvard Philippine Forum and a Crimson Editorial chair, said getting Tagalog offered has been one of the goals for “as long as HPF has been in existence.”

Wikstrom, who wrote an op-ed in The Crimson in 2021 criticizing the lack of offerings in the Tagalog language at Harvard said she met resistance to her advocacy efforts and questions about the value of learning Tagalog.

Eleanor V. Wikstrom ’24 and Marcy C. Antonio, co-presidents of the Harvard Philippine Forum: Getting Tagalog offered has been one of the goals for “as long as HPF has been in existence.” FACEBOOK

“We’re working against a historical memory that is actively erasing the understanding of the importance of the Filipino-American relationship,” Wikstrom added.

HPF Co-President Marcky C. Antonio ’25 hoped that securing Tagalog course offerings at Harvard will spur more academic exchanges between Harvard and the Philippines.

“I think there’s also this sense that we need to make sure we teach this right — not only Tagalog language, but Filipino culture as a whole,” he told The Crimson.