As Australia embraces a global future, we face a growing skills shortfall: the ability to understand and operate in languages and cultures other than our own.
Australia’s location, size and economic and social makeup mean that we will always be a global nation. Australia has the second-highest proportion of its people living and working abroad in the world. Long-term trends show a steady internationalisation of our society and economy. Australia is becoming increasingly integrated into the dynamic region to its north. New, Asian powerhouses are rising. As China’s and India’s influence spreads, and Japan and Indonesia become major players, our region will increasingly conduct its business in the languages of the big Asian powers, and be shaped by their mind-sets and preferences1.
In this context, we face a serious skills crisis. Australia is lagging further and further behind comparable nations in the international skills of its people. At the core of our continued prosperity and security as a global nation must be a capacity to understand and operate in languages, cultures and mindsets other than our own. Over three-quarters of Australians speak English only2 – making Australia the third most monolingual developed nation in the world.
Footnotes
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- Languages of the internet
- Goldman Sacs projection of ten top economies in 2050
- Languages of the internet