A US student whose "appalling" anti-Asian and anti-Japanese rant went viral on YouTube announced she was quitting college, after receiving death threats.

The University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) undergraduate said the video had led to "the harassment of my family ... death threats and being ostracized from an entire community.

"Accordingly, for personal safety reasons, I have chosen to no longer attend classes at UCLA," added the student, in her third year studying political science, in a letter to campus newspaper The Daily Bruin.

In the YouTube clip she lashed out at the "hordes of Asian people" at UCLA. Speaking in a fake Asian language -- "Ohhhh. Ching chong ling long ting tong" -- she chastised them notably for talking on their cellphones in the library.

"In America, we do not talk on our cell phones in the library," she said in the three-minute clip, adding: "If you're gonna come to UCLA, then use American manners."

She continued: "I swear they're going through their whole families, just checking on everybody from the tsunami thing. I mean, I know, that sounds horrible. I feel sorry for all the people affected by the tsunami.

"But if you're going to go call your address book, like you might as well go outside, because, if something is wrong, you might really freak out and you're in the libary, and everybody's quiet.

UCLA chancellor Gene Block condemned the comments earlier in the week as "appalling" and said the video did not represent the views of the university community.

In her letter to the Daily Bruin Friday, the student said she was "trying to produce a humorous YouTube video," but instead "offended the UCLA community and the entire Asian culture."

"I am truly sorry for the hurtful words I said and the pain it caused to anyone who watched the video," she wrote.

"Especially in the wake of the ongoing disaster in Japan, I would do anything to take back my insensitive words. I could write apology letters all day and night, but I know they wouldn't erase the video from your memory."