Languages in Australia

English is the national language of Australia but Australians speak around 300 different languages, including many Indigenous languages. The 2021 census found that 72% of people speak only English at home. The most common languages spoken at home other than English were: Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese and Italian.

Multilingualism is key to Australia's multicultural future. Our Multilingual Research Centre at Macquarie University is ideally placed to take the lead in multilingualism research, being located in Australia's most multilingual city, with one of Australia's largest concentrations of language and education researchers. See the Multilingual Sydney website for publications to download, the Multilingual Sydney YouTube channel, and Multilingual Sydney on Twitter.

The Research Unit for Multilingualism and Cross-Cultural Communication located in the School of Languages and Linguistics at The University of Melbourne provides an extensive set of resources on multicultural communication in Australia.
Research Unit for Multilingualism and Cross-Cultural Communication

Read the transcript of an interview with Professor Michael Clyne, Honorary Professorial Fellow at The University of Melbourne, Emeritus Professor at Monash University, and advocate of multiculturalism and the importance of language diversity.
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/archived/linguafranca/michael-clyne-on-bringing-up-children-bilingually/3567144

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