The Declining Of Asian Languages
Asian languages can be heard in all major Australian cities. If you go to Sydney or Melbourne it is obvious that Asian people are very well integrated into Australian society. Like many other major cities worldwide you can find a bustling Chinatown, showcasing some amazing food and products. Because Australia is situated closest to South East Asia, specifically countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, China and Japan, they are the nations which usually conduct the majority of trade with Australia.
Australia has been trading with these countries for a considerable time period which has resulted in the organic migration of thousands of Asian people to Australia. They are a key piece in the jigsaw puzzle of the nation representing the countries which matter most to Australia, their significant trading partners.
Due to this migration of people over generations you might expect the volume of Asian language speakers and perhaps translation services to increase, however the first major study of Asian languages in Australian schools in over a decade illustrates decreasing participation rates in spite of the Rudd Government's $62 million four-year program to reverse the trend.
The research from the Asia Education Foundation at Melbourne University confirms a continuing and dramatic drop in how many students studying Indonesian, Japanese, Korean or Chinese.
Indonesian is faring the worst and might disappear at year 12 level by 2020, the study warns.
Japanese is also tapering significantly, while growth in Korean and Chinese is coming from native or heritage speakers.
Overall, huge numbers of students drop Asian languages completely before year 12.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd again this week stated to make every effort to improve Asian literacy, which several specialists say has virtually collapsed.
What hasn't been addressed is why this is taking place? How can there be this kind of decline in speakers of Asian languages when they perform an integral part in the economy?
It is a challenging question to answer and there is no right or wrong. You will find various factors which we can speculate about, for example, possibly children of Asian families that are brought up in Australia don't see the requirement to speak their parent's language because they consider themselves more Australian than Asian.
Another possibility could be that because there are so many Asian people learning the English language, which is the global language of business there is simply no requirement for English to Chinese translation .
Explaining why this is happening in Australia is tough to answer with any certainty. What is obvious is that if things continue in this particular direction, the ability for effective Asian language translation in Australia may suffer.
Australia has been trading with these countries for a considerable time period which has resulted in the organic migration of thousands of Asian people to Australia. They are a key piece in the jigsaw puzzle of the nation representing the countries which matter most to Australia, their significant trading partners.
Due to this migration of people over generations you might expect the volume of Asian language speakers and perhaps translation services to increase, however the first major study of Asian languages in Australian schools in over a decade illustrates decreasing participation rates in spite of the Rudd Government's $62 million four-year program to reverse the trend.
The research from the Asia Education Foundation at Melbourne University confirms a continuing and dramatic drop in how many students studying Indonesian, Japanese, Korean or Chinese.
Indonesian is faring the worst and might disappear at year 12 level by 2020, the study warns.
Japanese is also tapering significantly, while growth in Korean and Chinese is coming from native or heritage speakers.
Overall, huge numbers of students drop Asian languages completely before year 12.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd again this week stated to make every effort to improve Asian literacy, which several specialists say has virtually collapsed.
What hasn't been addressed is why this is taking place? How can there be this kind of decline in speakers of Asian languages when they perform an integral part in the economy?
It is a challenging question to answer and there is no right or wrong. You will find various factors which we can speculate about, for example, possibly children of Asian families that are brought up in Australia don't see the requirement to speak their parent's language because they consider themselves more Australian than Asian.
Another possibility could be that because there are so many Asian people learning the English language, which is the global language of business there is simply no requirement for English to Chinese translation .
Explaining why this is happening in Australia is tough to answer with any certainty. What is obvious is that if things continue in this particular direction, the ability for effective Asian language translation in Australia may suffer.
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This article has been written by the author, Alex Blaken. Should you require any more top graduate school please visit his graduate school resources!