A student-led campaign and organization at UCLA is working to bring back Cantonese language classes decades after the university discontinued them.
The organization Save Cantonese at UCLA, was founded by second-year student Noah Hrung, who wanted to preserve and promote the language and culture on campus. The campaign highlights the importance of linguistic diversity of Chinese students at UCLA with the hopes of working towards reinstating these language classes.
“On a personal level I do not speak Cantonese, but I think it would be great to have my heritage language here at UCLA, and more broadly, having linguistic diversity at higher education institutions is so important,” said Hrung.
Although Mandarin courses are currently offered through UCLA’s Asian Languages and Cultures Department, Cantonese has been absent from the curriculum for over 40 years. This was discovered through a club member’s research, uncovering an archived undergraduate class catalog from the 1980-81 school year. The catalog shows three introductory classes existing at that time: “3A, 3B, 3C. Basic Cantonese”, describing an introduction to “Basic grammar and culture … with emphasis on conversational patterns.” Since this last documentation, Cantonese classes have not been offered at UCLA.
While the organization’s main goal is to reintroduce Cantonese classes, Hrung said the club also focuses on building a lasting cultural space on campus. “We’re looking to build a community around Cantonese language and culture to celebrate that here at UCLA,” he said, introducing some upcoming ways to get involved. “We are going to have a Cantonese language community social, and in winter quarter, we’re planning to have a dim sum and Cantonese language general meeting in collaboration with Association of Chinese Americans!”
For Hrung, the effort goes beyond just language instruction but also representation. “It’s not just a UCLA thing,” he said. “That support for Cantonese within higher education — [it’s] disappearing. We’re reminding people that there’s still a vibrant culture and there are Cantonese individuals like myself who are definitely interested in learning the language.”
The message resonated with other students, like Natalie Pong, a second-year biochemistry student at UCLA who grew up as a fourth-generation Cantonese student in San Diego, California. Pong, interested in learning more about her own culture, became involved through the Association of Chinese Americans’ (ACA) Cantonese Language Comms, weekly gatherings where students practice speaking and learning Cantonese together.
“I feel like especially for a lot of third or fourth generation Chinese Americans, a lot of their relatives were Cantonese immigrants, so they themselves don’t know the language,” she said. “And for a lot of people similar to me, they don’t know the language and are very interested in learning that language and practicing the culture. Cantonese, especially in the world, is sort of declining in a way.”
But Cantonese isn’t the only Asian studies class that has faced threats of cessation. Filipino 4, the first intermediate installment of the Filipino language classes at UCLA, was on the brink of extinction due to low enrollment this Fall 2025 quarter. The situation presses for the need for stronger institutional support for smaller Asian languages across campus even more.
Save Cantonese at UCLA is part of a larger movement of Save Cantonese campaigns across California, with other participating universities including Stanford and UC Berkeley. At Stanford, advocates helped to secure a $1 million dollar endowment to preserve Cantonese language instruction. This momentum continued at UC Berkeley, with efforts raising $700,00 to expand East Asian Languages and Cultures courses last year. Hrung comments that this model at other institutions sets a precedent that speaks hopefully of future endeavors.
Hrung concluded by adding that the growing movement at UCLA has undoubtedly been a collaborative one. “I definitely want to be grateful to all of the fellow students, faculty, and alumni support for our cause,” he said. “It’s a collective effort to bring back Cantonese classes here, and it’s been really amazing to see how many people are supportive of not only bringing back the language classes, but more broadly, just celebrating the language and culture.”
Visual Credit: Noah Hrung
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