Future depends on Asian languages
posted: 10th June 2009.
Australians risk being marooned in the dated jobs and industries of the 20th century unless a $11.3 billion mass Asian language literacy plan is acted on within a generation, according to Michael Wesley, a leading expert on international relations. Ahead of today's Sydney launch of a report documenting "a precipitous decline" in the study of languages at universities, Professor Wesley said it was not enough to rely on a fluent elite to project Australia's interests in the region.