Is Australia Guilty of “Linguistic Paranoia”?

Having taught languages to children and young adults in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, I was very interested in an article that I read yesterday by Misty Adoniou, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Canberra.

The article considers whether Australians have “linguistic paranoia” and, as a country, is happy to be multicultural but remains largely monolingual.
(The definition of paranoia: unjustified suspicion and mistrust of other people.)

We now teach languages to thousands of 2-12 year olds across Australia in six states and our team of passionate and highly enthusiastic linguists continue to promote the benefits of early language learning – particularly for the young brain.

We consider ourselves to be “creating global citizens” and over the last ten years the climate has been slowly changing. Australians can no longer consider themselves cut off from the rest of the world. To compete, with advantage, on a global platform, Australian children need to be exposed to at least one other language – and the younger they start… the better!

By Nickie Race-Jones
Director
LCF Fun Languages Australia