Asian languages are dying in Australian schools. Here are the big ideas to save them

Two Australian universities offer Hindi language courses. Seventeen Australians finished honour-level Chinese-language studies in the five years to 2021. Only 500 of Australia’s 1 million domestic university students are studying Indonesian. Priority Asian languages – Mandarin, Indonesian, Japanese and Hindi – are studied by 3.3 per cent of year 12 students.

Australia is second-last in the OECD for language studies in year 10, and sits well below the OECD average for speaking multiple languages (38 per cent of Australians v the average of 68 per cent).

These statistics speak to a dire problem – Australians have all but abandoned Asian languages, presenting a major challenge to sovereign capability in the face of today’s increasingly complex geopolitical environment.

A lack of language capabilities also undermines national security, removes business opportunities and weakens bilateral relationships in government and business.

“Asia capability is now a vital sovereign capability. You would not know this to look at our schools, our universities or our businesses,” says a standing committee report released on Tuesday.

“As a result, the institutions that build Australia’s Asia capability now face an existential crisis.”

Attempts by previous governments to tackle the problem have all tanked. These have included deeming Asian studies a priority in 1988, setting a target for all tertiary students to study an Asian language by 1995, a $62 million cash injection in 2009 and creating opportunities for all students to learn a priority language under the Gillard government’s white paper.

Sydney Institute for Community Language Education and University of Sydney Professor Ken Cruickshank said Asian languages had a “low status” as they were not part of the state curriculum.

“The Commonwealth come up with great policies and programs but don’t run one school. States control languages and language curriculum and there’s no continuity between them,” he said.

The perceived difficulty of Asian languages – despite Indonesian being on par with French for English speakers to learn – as well as concerns about the impact on an ATAR also factor into the decline.

Tuesday’s report proposes significant structural changes to address this. “The time has come for a different approach. The costs of inaction are no longer a matter for future parliaments.”

The committee has made a series of recommendations that go to the heart of the education system, including five guaranteed bonus ATAR points for year 12 students who learn an Asian language that is new to them, bilingual high schools, and teaching scholarships for people specialising in priority languages.

It also recommends changes including reviews of the visa system for would-be language teachers, an intensive program allowing existing teachers to specialise in a priority language, and a 10-year National Asia Capability Strategy to track participation in Asian languages across schools.

“Something has to give, or languages will die,” Cruickshank said.

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