The Cairns Post – Ruz Pulley 
“TRAVELLING the world and working overseas has never been easier, but when it comes to learning a foreign language, most Australians simply can’t be bothered. While many European countries make it compulsory for students to learn at least one or two foreign languages, Australian students only need to learn English. As a result, the number of Year 12 students graduating with a foreign language has dropped from 40 per cent in the 1960s to 12 per cent today. This is despite Australia being one of the most linguistically diverse nations in the world with 150 living indigenous languages and more than 350 languages spoken in Australian homes and workplaces. The monolingual mindset — that we should concentrate on English and not waste time learning other languages — wasn’t evident at James Cook University during the school holidays.(more)