Seize chance to lead in languages

Being multilingual offers economic, social and literacy benefits, says Greg Barns

TASMANIA is essentially a monolingual culture. But if the state is to truly embrace its economic and social potential this needs to change.

The reality is that we live in a region where many of those we seek to attract as investors, visitors and migrants do not use English as a first language. Whether it is Chinese businesses wanting to buy into agriculture, Indian families seeking to migrate or tourists from Europe, the fact is that the vast majority do not speak English at all or not fluently.

Our education system needs to ensure all students are multilingual. This is an important component in the context of the longer-term vision the Mercury has been devoting discussion to in the lead-up the state election this year.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand is having this very discussion for similar reasons. A push by the opposition National Party, but with the aim of having the Labour and Coalition parties that are in government support it, “would require every primary and intermediate school to offer at least one second language from a list of at least 10 “national priority languages”, according to the New Zealand Herald yesterday.

In Tasmania, fewer than 12 per cent of people speak a language other than English. In New Zealand the figure is 19 per cent. In other words both places are worryingly lacking in diversity of language.

Why does this matter? Because being able to speak more than one language helps create a more tolerant society, greater innovation and a more productive community. There is a good deal of research indicating that multilingualism improves brain capacity.

Gabrielle Hogan-Brun, a researcher in this space, observes that “evidence is growing that proves cognitive benefits for bilinguals, such as that they can end up with improved attention, intelligence, and better verbal and spatial abilities.”

A survey in 2012 by The Economist Intelligence Unit of 570 executives found twothirds of them said that having a multilingual workforce boosted innovation.

There is also the fact that Tasmania, like New Zealand, needs to reach out to the world if it is going to be economically secure in this century. Attracting population and investment is easier when there is language awareness of the other.

The New Zealand proposal would see languages such as Mandarin, French, Spanish, Japanese and Korean as priority languages in schools. This is sensible given trade links, although one might also include Hindi and Arabic in that list given the economic and demographic rise of India and the Arab world.

Some might argue in Tasmania the focus in education should be on improving literacy skills in English before turning students into multilinguists. Remember that Tasmanian literacy rates are poor and among the lowest in Australia. There is no doubt, however, that if Tasmania were to adopt the sort of approach being pushed in New Zealand literacy in English and greater competence in other areas of education would result.

A report by the Education Department in the US state of Connecticut in 2007 collated studies on the link between better education outcomes and teaching of other languages. The findings included: A 1999 “study of 13,200 third and fifth graders in Louisiana public schools [which] revealed that, regardless of race, gender or academic level, children taking foreign language classes did better on the English section of the Louisiana Basic Skills Test than those who did not”; a 1991 study showing “a high positive correlation between foreign language study and improved reading scores for children of average and below average intelligence”; and two studies from 1968 and 1990 indicating “foreign language learners have better listening skills and sharper memories than their monolingual peers.”

The benefits of Tasmania taking a lead in Australia on

language learning are not difficult to articulate – even more so considering that New Zealand is a direct competitor for investment in a range of sectors. In agriculture, particularly dairy products, tourism, forestry, aquaculture and technology New Zealand and Tasmania have similar profiles. So it is critical we look at what the New Zealanders are doing to enhance their competitive advantage.

However, perhaps the greatest benefit for Tasmania in moving from being a depressingly monolingual, culturally narrow society to one where it is routine for the community to speak a number of languages, and to celebrate the culture that goes with each language, is that the urgent need to increase population will be an easier task.

Politicians in Tasmania routinely come up with plans for population growth – the Hodgman government did so recently – but the missing element is always the cultural issue.

In other words, would a multilingual community where children are supported to learn that the world is not simply an Anglo-sphere be a more tolerant and liberal place and therefore more attractive to newcomers?

Being able to speak more than one language helps create a more tolerant society, greater innovation and a more productive community