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Asian languages

Asian languages

Building a National Languages Campaign: An Interim Progress Report

The Languages and Cultures Network for Australian Universities (LCNAU)’s National Languages Campaign was born out of a desire to help reverse the decline in language learning by Australian university students. Indonesian is something of the canary in the coalmine in this context—a leading indicator, so to speak—and I am aware that not all languages taught […]

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Why are you learning Japanese? Vietnamese university students’ perspectives on work and life between Vietnam and Japan

This post is based on an article published in the Asian Studies Review. The full article can be read here and is currently available open-access to all readers. Why do Vietnamese university students learn the Japanese language? Until now, issues of language teaching in higher education have been studied mainly in relation to English and/or

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Investing in the future of Asian language literacy in Australia by learning from the past

The Australian Consortium for “In-Country” Indonesian Studies (ACICIS) — the organisation I head up — is here today as the direct result of previous Australian Government policy choices and public investment in Asian language education. Australia has done Asian language education well in the past. We could do it better again in the future if

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Are ‘advanced’ Japanese language programs sustainable? A look at Australia, New Zealand and Singapore

Economic, strategic and cultural connections to Japan have never been stronger and more students across the breadth of our education system, primary through to tertiary, continue to be interested in studying Japanese. But what, beyond Demon Slayer and Pokemon, motivates them and how can that knowledge help universities to build effective and engaging language programs?

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The state of Indonesian language in Australian universities: the past 20 years.

A recent volume tracing ‘the journey of Australia’s first Asian language’ (Thomas, 2019) finds that, while successive Australian governments have identified Indonesia as Australia’s most important neighbour and as a key to Australia’s prosperity and security, this recognition has not sustained interest among Australians in studying the language. For the last two decades, the study

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