And Rhrosty, even the Chinese know this. I recently heard (from a friend who's son went to China to teach English) that there is a stupidly large number of Chinese people learning English - I cannot recall the exact number but it was tens or even a hundered of million. Having a total of ten million Australians learn Chinese can't compare.

I'm a scientist and work with people from nearly all races/countries. There are many Chinese people who come and work in Western laboratories. At the moment I am directing the training of a more senior MD/PhD Chinese scientist, whose English skills are quite poor. This causes some difficulties, however the reason that he is learning english, and I am not learning Mandarin (although I'd like too) has nothing to do with the number of people or geography of our countries. It has to do with the fact that we are a more technologically more developed country with higher standards of education. If it were the Chinese that had the best researchers in the world (and one day they might), then I would have to learn Mandarin to gain top quality training. I think this story is relevant to all aspects of society.

Speaking as someone who has lived in various parts of China for several years, speaks the language reasonably fluently and can read and write a fair amount, I've got to say I disagree with the author's stance - which is strange, given that I do think Australia needs to take language teaching more seriously, but evidently not to the extent that the author believes.

This statement was where it started to go wrong:

"Australians are largely illiterate in the eyes of the Chinese."

Really? Most Chinese only speak one language. Sure, English is taught in schools and colleges throughout the country, but once most students graduate, their language skills atrophy (that is, if they ever reached anywhere near fluency in the first place).

Most Chinese don't speak English, nor do they regard Australians as illiterate - how could they? We speak, read and write our own language just fine. So the central premise here is flawed.

I don't think Mandarin needs to become a central plank of our education system, we ought to be learning a variety of languages and be giving students the choice of what to learn.

I do agree that the best way to learn is outside the mainstream education systems - hell, if you want to learn the language go there, find work and learn within China. It's much cheaper and ultimately more practical. In the event that you need qualifications, there's the nationally recognized HSK test which provides a more universal measure of someone's mandarin skill than a degree from any particular institution.

I don't agree that the language should be taught through songs, though I do agree that the first step in learning should be via listening and speaking rather than written concepts.

I don't think it is all that important that we learn the language of
a country on the other side of the world.
Also if their writing is so effective why do Chinese children first
learn to read and write using Latin characters ?

I think the time would be better spent on maths and science.

You are absolutely right about Australia's illiteracy.

However literacy about Asia / China can't be gained by a study of the Chinese language for reasons suggested in 'Asia literacy for Beginners is not Good Enough'
http://cpds.apana.org.au/Teams/Articles/Babes.htm#beginners

Rather a more sophisticated sort of understanding is needed as suggested in 'A Strategic Approach to Asia Literacy'
http://cpds.apana.org.au/Teams/Articles/Babes.htm#23_3_11

Unless this is done Australians (and Europeans and Americans) will continue to stumble around in their dealings with East Asia - as suggested in 'Economic and Geo-political Risks from Asia-illiterate Policy Making'
http://cpds.apana.org.au/Teams/Articles/Babes.htm#AddendumC

Interestingly, I am in Cambodia (living here), learning Khmer... Sue sa day (Hello)

That aside, it's interesting, the Khmer people mostly know English as a second language, no matter their French colonial background and many of them are madly learning Russian, Chinese and Korean, many in hope of getting a job over there, due to the xenophobia of many westerners to allowing others into their country. This place is swarming with those three ethnicities in the business sphere and with Westerners in the backpacker sphere (heaven help me). It's staggering the amount of money "Russia" and "China" pour into the place, staggering, not aid but in business.

Mathematics aside, anyone who has travelled widely in will tell you, English is the universal language, regardless of what the French think. I have met several TEFL teachers, backpackers with no qualifications at all (aside from graduating high school), who have been paid VERY well in China to teach the Chinese "English", I think the Chinese recognise this as well.