Another great article by the Hon Julie Bishop MP. Making it compulsory for students to learn a foreign language from any early age is a step in the right direction for Australia's place in the interconnected and inter dependent world. Linguistic skills need to be highly valued by students, parents and employers. Significant effort needs to be made in communicating this value and in helping Australian firms to better utilise these skills.

It is hoped that the Australian Government will find funding for a diverse range of languages including Macedonian which is now not available at University level.

Hi Julie, this is an interesting article on several levels and having worked in some 29 countries I can relate to these issues.

The three key issues for me would be the “need” for languages, the cultural value and the weighted value of the resources required.

In terms of needs Europe is very unique. The pan-European trade and employment created by the EU has driven much broader linguistic skills but in my experience, on a much smaller scale that many might have anticipated. Basically most just “get by”.

Canada and the US probably only need bi-lingual to cover French and Spanish respectively however, these are driven primarily by socio-domestic issues rather than for trade purposes.

In Australia we are perhaps motivated by trade with the emerging economies of Asia. But we have to recognize that these nations depend upon trade with the developed world and will drive much harder than us to acquire multi-language skills, their growth depends on it.

Culturally no language can prepare us to relate effectively. A business presentation to Indonesians by a “round eye” cannot be effectively conducted without the supply of red and green tokens. They won’t answer interactively even if you do speak their language.

In South Korea there is little business conducted in the office during business hours. They take you out for dinner and drinks, get you pie eyed and get the contracts out.

In any event from a business perspective, we were sent to a school in Cincinnati before going on assignment, within a month we were speaking the lingo.

The student resources used for languages should replace something and not add to the overall load.

In a comprehensive series of essays called “The Corruption of the Curriculum” written during 2007 by authors such as Frank Furedi, Shirley Laws, Michele Ledda, Chris McGovern, Simon Patterson, Alex Standish, Robert Whelan and David Perks. The conclusion of these authors, all of whom are experienced teachers, is that the curriculum is being drained of intellectual content in favor of promoting political issues such racism, the environment and gender.

Please dump these first.

Thanks.

I made both my daughters learn French. It had nothing to do with learning a new language. It had everything to do with teaching them grammar. The only way students can now learn the principles of grammar is by studying a foreign language.

As a bilingual person and a school teacher of many years experience I agree with Julie Bishop. Study of at least one foreign language should be made compulsory from the earliest age possible (kindergarten or pre-school) and it should be done on a daily basis in possibly two half hour sessions. The culture of Europe or China/Japan will then be appreciated and our citizens will become more tolerant and informed. Later the study of literature and history in English will have more meaning to students.

As aptly explained by another writer to these pages, grammar will become easier to understand and a better level of literacy will ultimately be attained by Australian students.

THE LIGHT

Learning another language does not make you more aware of the financial system which ensalves you.It is just another distraction which takes the focus off the really important issues like liberty of the individual.

Agreed Arjay.

Should there be good opportunities for kids to learn second languages? Yes. Strongly promoted? Yes. Pushed down their throats? No. Compulsory? No.

My only question is did Julie give her speech to the Indonesians in English or Indonesian?

ARJAY we do not need to be enslaved by the financial system. The whole point of education is to enlighten the whole individual to give them an inner life with the ability to escape the materialistic chains that bind us in our society. Students will be able to look deeply at issues that involve them and the whole of humanity. The knowledge of more than one language enables individuals to be able to think, ponder and talk about more than sport, porn, cars, shopping and reality television.

THE LIGHT

If only nine per cent of final year high school students now are doing a foreign language, that is grievous. How we short-change ourselves in cultural awareness and self-awareness - both of our own culture and indeed of our own language.

I teach Russian and speak also several other languages. I encouraged my daughter to do one European language (she chose French) and one Asian language (Japanese) through high school and college, and she went on to degrees in Asian Studies (Japanese) and Law.

Being able to speak another language is an essential part of being culturally literate. Sure, languages are practical means to an end in trade (though how many of us are engaged in that?), but their key value is in making us more reflective and better able to take qualitative decisions based on deeper understanding of other cultures.

I would like to see these foreign languages form the key area of concentration in Australian schools and universities:
*French, Spanish, German and Russian,
*Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian and Korean.

I speak five of those plus English. It is a matter of grief to me that the ANU, where I did honours in Russian Language and Literature and Political Science, stopped teaching Russian a few years ago, and I think there are now only three or four universities in Australia still teaching Russian.

Incidentally, there will also be a specialist need for speakers of Arabic, but I certainly wouldn't support that being given any general priority.

It is all very well to espouse the virtues of a second language, but I wonder how this sits amongst all the other things that our kids should be learning, and aren’t.

I’d say that environmental studies, real economics and energy balances, sustainability and the human psychology behind the achievement of a sustainable society and the reasons why we aren’t doing it, are far more important things than a second language.

I’m sure other posters could think of different things that they think are more important.

In fact, the more I think about it, the less significant learning a second language seems to be.

I believe it's absolutely vital that australians speak a second language. Especially languages which are spoken by the new invaders. The problem is to get people into such countries to learn the mentality because although extremely helpful, just speaking a language is not enough.

expose young people to new horizons.

Yes, but exposure alone is not enough. Just look at how many young Australians do get such exposure but do they come back enlightened ?
I'm having serious doubts when I see their behaviour on the news. I think those who misbehave should be fined upon their return home. It is their idiotic behaviour that gets broadcast all over the world . Stupidity is the easiest to exploit. No wonder so many think Australia is a pushover & they line up at the piers of Indonesia to board fishing boats. It's all interlinked.

*If elected to government, the Coalition will work with the States and Territories with the aim of making it compulsory to learn a foreign language from 7 years of age or earlier.*

I strongly disagree with Julie on this one and I think it would be a huge mistake. I say this as somebody who speaks fluent German as well as some French. Teachers spent years trying to force me to learn French out of a textbook. I hated every minute of it, its a great way of putting kids off school completely. Eventually I did learn French, but that was by living in Paris for a couple of years.

Living in Europe, where language can change within a few km, is quite different to the situation in Australia. You are comparing apples with oranges.

Who should learn foreign languages in Australia? Those with a natural aptitude for it and those who will need those languages in their future careers. For the rest it will be a complete waste of time and effort, a great reason for kids to bunk school, because the simply can't see the point or the forced indoctrination.

Full agreement from me Yabby.

<< Living in Europe, where language can change within a few km, is quite different to the situation in Australia. >>

Absolutely.

<< Who should learn foreign languages in Australia? Those with a natural aptitude for it and those who will need those languages in their future careers. >>

Again, absolutely!

It would be a terrible mistake to make it compulsory. If you are made to do something when you don’t have the aptitude or the interest and can’t see a lot of point to doing it, it can cause a huge backlash against the system. We could end up disadvantaging some kids who would be prevented from pursuing the studies they wanted to by being forced to spend their time learning a second language.

We need freedom of choice. Not compulsion!

Ludwig,
Ditto !

I too disagree with Julie's thrust for compulsory teaching of another language, for the following reasons:

1. I took my undergraduate learning in the 1950s and am necessarily unilingual.
2. Looking back I don't consider that I have missed out on cross cultural communication effectiveness. I have always had adequate interpreters available for my work and leisure. To me the important dynamism of communication is meaning and understanding, whatever the medium.
3. My understanding is that the most effective period of language skills acquisition is from birth to about six years of age, an absorption process rather than translation process that occurs during the formal education period.
4. Australians don't understand or use English effectively now, so why burden the populace with a second or third language to mishandle.

I do agree with the principle of teaching other language to the populace, as English is far too efficient as an international language and is therefore precipitating the demise of many marginal languages. To extrapolate, it might eventually lead to universal acceptance and usage, to the total exclusion of all others on a practical level.

Yabby says "Who should learn foreign languages in Australia? Those with a natural aptitude for it"... Well, that would be every human since the capacity for language is one aspect which sets us apart from other beasts and fowls... An interesting statistic to ponder 66-75% of the world's people are at least bilingual (roughly 3 out of 4) - monolingualism isn't the norm and we shouldn't be fooling ourselves that it is...

*Well, that would be every human since the capacity for language is one aspect which sets us apart from other beasts and fowls*

Ah Matjabsa, but the devil is of course in the detail. There is a huge difference between growing up bialingual as a young child, as I did to learn German and English, living in a country where one is surrounded by another language and learns it from tv, everyday life etc, and trying to learn a language by learning from a school text book and trying to remember it all parrot fashion, often for no good reason.

On average women seem to be better at learning new languages, compared to men.