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Su-Lin Tan

Australia’s waning commitment to Asian language education is jeopardising its regional influence, academics and analysts warn – with participation in language courses plummeting over recent decades, despite policies meant to boost proficiency.
“Languages study has continued to deteriorate at alarming levels”, Australian education experts Louisa Field, Rachel Wilson and Ken Cruickshank revealed in a recent paper. This is in spite of broad recognition that mastering regional tongues is vital for Australia’s economic and geopolitical interests.
The academics’ research, which analysed the take-up of language courses over a two-decade period, found “little to no improvement” since a 1994 national push to prioritise four key Asian languages: Japanese, Mandarin, Korean and Indonesian.
This failure to nurture cross-cultural understanding is now drawing scrutiny from Australia’s neighbours.
At a recent Singapore forum, regional analysts pointedly questioned the depth of Australia’s Asia literacy and its fading influence in Southeast Asia.
I think Australia has a slight problem, and that’s understating it
William Choong, political analyst
“For Australia to understand Southeast Asia and vice versa, there needs to be a mutual understanding on both sides,” said ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute senior fellow William Choong at the May forum, organised by the think tank and the Australian High Commission in the city state.
Few Australian universities offer Southeast Asian language programmes, Choong noted, and less than one in five of the 32,000 Australian undergraduates studying abroad under the government’s “New Colombo Plan” educational outreach initiative are learning these languages.
“I think Australia has a slight problem, and that’s understating it,” he said, adding that understanding the region’s languages is vital to grasp the economic nuances and geopolitical undercurrents shaping the Southeast Asian mindset.
Australia’s language-skills deficit is symptomatic of its broader retreat from active regional engagement. The ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute’s latest “State of Southeast Asia” survey showed the country’s economic and political influence in the region was now negligible.

But this appears to be less about language gaps, and more about Australia positioning itself as a support country for US-led security initiatives, according to Joanne Lin, an associate senior fellow at the institute and one of the authors of the survey, who also attended the May forum.
“Many in the region may not feel that Australia is genuinely interested in the security of all regional countries, apart from its concern about the rise of China,” she said.
Australia’s academic and policy elites have long recognised the vital importance of Asian language mastery. But their repeated promises to remedy the situation, from the 2012 “Australia in the Asian Century” white paper to the more recent “Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040”, have yet to yield meaningful results.
Unless that changes, Australia risks watching its regional relevance continue to fade.
‘Monolingual mind’
Australia’s High Commissioner to Singapore, Allaster Cox, acknowledged that perceptions of Australia’s strategic influence in Southeast Asia were tied to its economic engagement. He emphasised that increasing Southeast Asia cultural literacy was key to realising opportunities in the region, as outlined in the 2040 strategy.
Cox said Australian students would be more inclined to study Asian languages if they saw it as beneficial to their careers. To that end, a new Asean-Australia Centre launched this month to promote greater Southeast Asian cultural understanding. Additionally, the Australian government has put in place various grants and exchange programmes to support Asian language learning.
However, the problem is not a lack of awareness in Canberra, but rather a lack of tangible results despite decades of interest in Asia, according to leading Australian academic Hugh White, emeritus professor of strategic studies at the Australian National University.
“Governments have not really been serious about fixing the problem,” White said. The barriers to Australians embracing Asian languages were “deep” and would require “a more fundamental rethink of Australia’s place in the world”, rather than piecemeal policy initiatives.
While language mastery on its own did not determine the depth of Australia’s influence, it was a sign the country “has lost touch with the region” and saw less of its future in Asia, White said.
Australia’s relations with our neighbours will in future no longer be mediated by the English-speaking great powers that have dominated the region for so long
Hugh White, strategic studies professor
“To put it bluntly, Australians will only start taking Asian languages seriously, rather than relying on English to get by, when they understand that Australia’s relations with our neighbours will in future no longer be mediated by the English-speaking great powers that have dominated the region for so long,” he said.
Despite government pledges for change, the Asian Studies Association of Australia painted a grim picture, noting that Asian language learning and teaching have continued to stagnate. Many educational institutions teaching Asian languages have seen significant divestment in recent decades, particularly in Indonesian and Japanese. “Currently, the Australian government does not have a dedicated strategy or policy in relation to the study of Asian languages in Australian schools and universities,” said Rebecca Cairns, the ASAA’s teachers’ representative.
The association has long lamented the growing gap in Australia’s language learning, expressing deep concern over the recent closures of Hindi, Indonesian, Chinese and Japanese programmes at several universities. Consistent declines in Asian language enrolments at both the secondary school and university levels were highlighted in the research by Field, Wilson, and Cruickshank.

Another analysis of Indonesian language learning published last year in The Conversation found that the number of Australian universities offering such studies had almost halved since 1992.
As countries like China increase their investments in developing Indonesian language skills, the analysis warned that Australia risks falling behind if it maintains a “monolingual mind” and the perception that English is sufficient for communication in Asia.
It found piecemeal initiatives attempting to justify language learning through narrow “economic interests” had failed to resonate with students - despite Australia’s “transactional” embrace of Asia that views the region primarily through a mercantile lens, as noted by Field, Wilson and Cruickshank.
What can be done?
Australia’s education department says it is committed to improving language education, but the data paints a mixed picture.
In 2022, nearly half of Year 12 students studying languages focused on those from Asia – a positive sign. However, overall language enrolment remains low, with only 8 per cent of students electing to study any language.
Enrolment trends are also uneven, with languages from South and Southeast Asia like Indonesian seeing declines since 2005, while enrolments for East Asian languages like Mandarin have risen slightly to 767 students, from around 600 two decades ago.
Martine Letts, the group chief executive of Asialink, Australia’s national centre for engagement with Asia, says the country must ensure its commitment to enhancing Asia literacy is prioritised alongside economic objectives in the 2040 strategy. She suggests that Australian employers can support this effort by actively championing greater Asia literacy among their workforce.
But real progress will only happen once Australia reassesses its place in the world, strategic studies professor White argues. Unless Canberra stops clinging to the old US-led world order and learns to accept the emergence of a new, Asian-led regional dynamic, meaningful change will be difficult to enact.
“Will Australia ever grapple with this new reality? I think so, eventually, but only when a new generation of political leaders reanimates Australia’s commitment to finding its place in Asia rather than in the Anglosphere,” he said.


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Australians’ lack of Asian language mastery is undermining their homeland’s influence. Change will require a ‘fundamental rethink’


Australians’ lack of Asian language mastery is undermining their homeland’s influence. Change will require a ‘fundamental rethink’.


Australia’s ‘monolingual mind’ widens its isolation from Asia

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Australians’ lack of Asian language mastery is undermining their homeland’s influence. Change will require a ‘fundamental rethink’

Australians’ lack of Asian language mastery is undermining their homeland’s influence. Change will require a ‘fundamental rethink’