Language is a fundamental communication
tool without which no social interaction can
take place. The importance of language—and language differences—is often underestimated, especially in a largely monoglot, English-speaking country such as Australia. Promoting Asian languages has been an educational policy goal since the 1990s, with mixed success. Levels of interest have remained stubbornly low in this regard. Of the approximately 70,000 students enrolled in the NSW Higher School Certificate
in 2014, only 2.2% studied Japanese, 1.3% studied Chinese and 0.3% studied Indonesian (PricewaterhouseCoopers 2014, p.16). A significant increase in uptake will be difficult to achieve, unless we make foreign language learning compulsory or provide positive incentives for learning them.
Many Australians believe that they do not need to learn other languages because of the status of English as a lingua franca, including throughout Asia. However, evidence shows that monolingual English speakers are at a significant disadvantage when engaging in a world where others are