Mirroring the state of the troubled Japanese economy, Harvard students have flooded out of elementary Japanese language classes over the past three years.

Between calender years 1991 and 1994, total enrollment in Japanese Aab, Ba and Bb plummeted from 237 to about 132, according to figures from the East Asian languages and civilizations department.

But the number of students taking elementary Chinese language classes almost doubted in the same period, from 136 in calendar year 1991 to about 237 for 1994.

Professors say the fluctuations are clearly linked to the economic and political fortunes of the two nations. Professor of the Practice of Japanese Language Wesley M. Jacobean said enrollment in first-year Japanese classes almost seems to fluctuate with the Nikkei, Japan's stock market.

"Enrollment peaked in 1991, the climax of Japan's economic growth and then the bubble burst," Jacobsen said. "The clientele has shifted to Chinese, which may have something to do with the prospects of that economy."

Nationally, the number of college students taking Japanese declined between 10 and percent after 1990, according to Yasuaki Kaneda, director of the Japanese Foundation Language Center in California.

"Enrollment goes down due to the economy," he said.

Reversed Trends

The decline of interest in Japanese language, and the dramatic rise of Chinese, are fairly recent trends.

Between 1985 and 1991, Japanese elementary language enrollment at Harvard grew from 208 to its 1991 high of 257. In the era of such books as "Japan as Number One," the classes were booming with the economy.

Nationwide, there was a 100 percent increase in the number of college students taking Japanese language classes between 1985 and 1990, Kanada said.

"The Japanese language was the most highly-grown in the United States," Kaneda said.

Meanwhile, interest in Chinese language has fluctuated over the past decade, culminating in the recent surge.

In 1985, 157 student took Chinese Aa, Ba and Bb. By 1969, the number was up to 188, but that dropped to 167 in 1990, and 136 in 1991.

"The number of students dropped... as results of the [1989] Tiananmen Square massacre, but as the situation stabilized and U.S.-China relations grew, we had a big increase," said Professor of the Practice of Chinese Language Thomas C. Bartlett'61.

Interest in Chinese language has not always been linked to the nation's economy.