Chinese language in Australia

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Australian Chinese
A sign in English and Chinese at Fortitude Valley railway station in Brisbane
RegionAustralia
Native speakers
1,022,481 (all varieties) (2021)[1]
Sino-Tibetan
Chinese
Pinyin
Chinese Braille
Language codes
ISO 639-3–

The Chinese language is the second-most spoken language in Australia.

Australia has more Chinese people per capita than any other country outside Asia. In the 2021 census, 1,390,693 Australians identified themselves as being of Chinese ancestry, representing 5.5% of the national population. In the same census, 980,555 Australians indicated that they mainly spoke either Mandarin or Cantonese at home, representing 4.0% of the national population, making it the second-most spoken language in Australia after English. The Chinese language is an important part of the Chinese Australian identity.[2]

Education[edit]

Further information: Chinese as a foreign language

Chinese is a widely taught second language in Australian schools,[3] and is one of the languages mentioned in the Australian Curriculum.[4] However, the vast majority of students studying the language are Chinese. Chinese is widely considered a relatively difficult language for native English speakers to learn.[5] Other foreign languages such as French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese and Spanish are much more commonly learnt and understood by non-Chinese students than Chinese is.[6]

The main variety of Chinese taught in Australian schools is Mandarin. In 2017, Mandarin was the fourth-most taught foreign language other than English. It was the most taught foreign language at schools in New South Wales and Tasmania, while it was the third-most taught at schools in Queensland and the Northern Territory.[7] In 2021, Mandarin became the most taught foreign language in Victorian schools, with 19.6% of Victorian language students studying the language.[8] However, the vast majority of Australian schools that offer Mandarin as a subject are located within major metropolitan areas, where foreign languages are less commonly studied as elective subjects, and those who do study a foreign language as an elective often study French, German, Indonesian, Japanese or Spanish, or (in many schools) an Indigenous language.

The relatively poor diplomatic relations between Australia and China (especially the ongoing trade war between the two countries), as well as the COVID-19 pandemic,[9] have negatively impacted the study of the language in Australia, given that the majority of Australians often hold very unfavourable views of the Chinese government.[10][11][12][13][14][15] A small but somewhat influential minority of Australians who openly hold racist and xenophobic views have also negatively affected the Chinese language and culture in Australia.[16] Historically, the Chinese language was never taught in Australia due to racist views held by many Australians, as well as the White Australia Policy.

Media[edit]

News[edit]

One of the first Chinese newspapers in Australia was the Chinese Times, which was published in Melbourne in 1902, moving to Sydney in 1922 and ceasing publication in 1949.

Modern Chinese newspapers and online publications also exist, including the Australian Chinese Daily, Sameway Magazine and Vision China Times.

Online news websites and news broadcasts on television and radio also exist in Chinese, with ABC News[17] and many SBS News[18] airing Chinese-language news broadcasts. SBS WorldWatch, a television channel airing world news bulletins in over 30 languages, airs two local news bulletins in Mandarin and Arabic (the two most spoken languages in Australia) live on television across Australia.[19]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the daily English-language press conferences held by then-New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian and NSW Health, which were broadcast live on television to provide updates and statistics about the pandemic in the state, were translated into many languages, including both Mandarin and Cantonese.[20]

Demographics[edit]

Varieties[edit]

Number of Australians who speak a Chinese variety at home, as of 2021[1]
Variety Speakers %
Mandarin 685,263 2.7%
Cantonese 295,292 1.2%
Min Nan[a] 20,059 0.1%
Hakka 9,140 0.0%
Chinese, nfd[b] 8,539 0.0%
Wu 4,183 0.0%
  1. ^ Including Hokkien.
  2. ^ Not further defined. Refers to respondents who nominated Chinese as the main language they spoke at home, but did not specify which variety they most commonly used.

References[edit]

Look up Category:Australian Chinese in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
  1. ^ a b "Language used at home | Australia | Community profile". profile.id.com.au.
  2. ^ Shen, Chunxuan; Jiang, Wenying (2021-01-02). "Heritage language maintenance and identity among the second-generation Chinese-Australian children". Bilingual Research Journal. 44 (1): 6–22. doi:10.1080/15235882.2021.1890650. ISSN 1523-5882. S2CID 233665156.
  3. ^ "Chinese | Asia Education Foundation". www.asiaeducation.edu.au. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  4. ^ "Context statement". www.australiancurriculum.edu.au.
  5. ^ Slavich, Rod Neilsen, Michiko Weinmann, Sophia (2021-03-19). "'Too foreign, difficult and suspicious': Discourses of Chinese language learning in Australia". Asian Studies Association of Australia. Retrieved 2024-02-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ "Why don't Australians study Chinese? | East Asia Forum". 2016-10-21. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  7. ^ "Which Languages Should Australian Children be Learning". www.abc.net.au. March 24, 2017.
  8. ^ Heffernan, Madeleine (2021-11-07). "Mandarin secures spot as most popular language to learn at school". The Age. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  9. ^ Matters, EduResearch (2020-10-04). "Politicisation of teaching Chinese language in Australian classrooms today". EduResearch Matters. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  10. ^ Center, Pew Research (2023-07-27). "1. Views of China". Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  11. ^ Tyler, Melissa Conley (2021-07-08). "Can Taiwan rely on Australia when it comes to China? New poll shows most Australians don't want to send the ADF". The Conversation. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  12. ^ "Majority of Australians support defending Taiwan against invasion: survey". South China Morning Post. 2022-06-29. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  13. ^ "Australians are losing trust in the US, a new poll shows". SBS News. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  14. ^ Institute, Lowy. "China: economic partner or security threat - Lowy Institute Poll". Lowy Institute Poll 2023. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  15. ^ Institute, Lowy. "China as a military threat - Lowy Institute Poll". Lowy Institute Poll 2023. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  16. ^ Lee, Jane (2023-10-01). "'What if there was a war?' Chinese Australians wear the scars after bitter years of hostile rhetoric". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  17. ^ "ABC中文". www.abc.net.au. 2024-02-08. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  18. ^ "SBS中文". SBS Language (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  19. ^ Quinn, Karl (2022-05-20). "Australian news in Mandarin and Arabic? It's about to hit free-to-air TV thanks to SBS". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  20. ^ "Daily Covid-19 press conference to be translated into Arabic and Vietnamese". Multicultural NSW. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
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