Articles

“Language skills and cultural sensitivity will be the currency of this new world order.”
— General Peter Cosgrove, speaking to a conference concerned with the state of Languages learning in Australian schools, 30 May 2002.

Why Study Languages?

According to www.languagesopenthedoor.edu.au (a federal government languages advocacy initiative):

• Languages open the door to a bigger world!
• The obvious reason is to enable more effective communication with the non-English-speaking peoples of the world.
• In learning a new language, students can learn things that they can learn in no other way.
• Second language learning can be an important aid to the development of literacy and generic cognitive and life skills.
• Second language proficiency opens career opportunities for students that wouldn’t otherwise exist.
• Second language proficiency is valuable to students for many of their own personal reasons.
• Internationalisation and global connections are becoming more common through schools.
• Our children need to be ready for a global future and all the challenges that this brings.

In Their Own Words

"Being multilingual has opened up many career avenues for me around the globe within my chosen areas of food, wine, tourism and fashion. I found learning another language at a young age particularly valuable; it has made it much easier for me to pick up other languages subsequently." — Olivia Stratton, Master of Gastronomy, TV Presenter, former Miss World Australia, and Languages Champion.
	"Learning another language at school and then cementing it through an overseas exchange gave me a skill that has benefited me my entire life - I can't imagine what I would be doing without it." — Dr James Bradfield Moody, CSIRO Scientist, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and Languages Champion.
"There is no faster and more conclusive way to prove to a foreigner that you are dedicated and truly interested in them than speaking their language. There are few skills that have such value in today’s global marketplace." — Major Michael Stone, East Timor peace negotiator Australian Defence Force, and Languages Champion.