National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia
Language and communication
Effective communication is vital to the economic and social life of any society. It is particularly important in a nation of diverse cultural and linguistic heritages such as Australia. English is our national language and it is critical - for the individual, for society and for our collective prosperity that every Australian be given the opportunity to master it.
At the same time Australians live in a society and in a world where languages other than English are spoken every day. These languages embody and communicate a different consciousness, a distinctive culture, another world, which we can share. The monolingual speaker, whether of English or of any other language, is impoverished in comparison with those who speak more than one language.
In 1788 about 250 distinct Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, including 700 dialects, were spoken throughout Australia. Today, not more than 20 Aboriginal languages can be classified as 'healthy'.
These surviving languages need to be accorded a pre-eminent position. It is through the preservation of spoken language that the cultural integrity of Aboriginal Australians can be maintained and developed, and it is incumbent on Governments to recognise the special status of Aboriginal languages.
Australians also speak more than a hundred other languages - each day in the home, the street, the school, the shops and the workplace. it is in the interests of all that Australians be allowed to maintain and develop their first language and cultural tradition.
A different level of respect, tolerance and acceptance of cultural difference - of individuality - is achieved if those who do not speak languages other than English value them sufficiently to learn them. Language learning has many rationales - intellectual and economic included - but the promotion of cultural understanding is one of the most important.
In a society comprising people from many cultural traditions - some of whom may have an imperfect grasp of English, others of whom may never have experienced living in an unfamiliar culture - there is an ever-present potential for misunderstanding and conflict.
Different perceptions, values and modes of behaviour can contribute to social tension. There is an obligation on both sides to try to understand the other - an obligation on those born into and on those who choose to live in such a mixed society. There is a need for opportunities to develop cross-cultural understanding particularly among people who have always lived within a single cultural framework.
Multicultural policies therefore seek to ensure that all Australians have the opportunity to acquire and develop proficiency in English, to speak languages other than English, and to develop cross-cultural understanding.
Issues
Objectives
Achievements
National Agenda Initiatives
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