-Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services
All Australians should celebrate the diversity of the more than 200 languages spoken in Australia as the world celebrates in 2008 the International Year of Languages, according to Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services, Laurie Ferguson.

'The United Nations has declared 2008 the International Year of Languages,' Mr Ferguson said, 'which provides an excellent opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate this diversity of languages we enjoy in Australia. Linguistic diversity is the foundation of cultural diversity.'

While English is Australia's national language, more than 200 languages are spoken in the community.

'In addition to the languages other than English spoken by migrants who have settled in Australia, there are more than 60 different languages spoken by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians,' the parliamentary secretary said. 'In 2006, the five most commonly spoken languages other than English were Cantonese/Mandarin (2.3 per cent of the population), Italian (1.6 per cent of population), Greek (1.3 per cent) and Arabic, including Lebanese (1.2 per cent).

'The Australian Government recognises the importance of maintaining and supporting a diversity of languages and encourages all levels of government, community organisations and private business to adopt strategies to communicate with all Australians.

'We aim to achieve fairer and more accessible government services and programs through the Accessible Government Services for All strategy, which encourages services to be responsive to the individual needs of clients.

'The International Year of Languages provides a timely reminder that all services should recognise the principle of equitable access for all,' Mr Ferguson added.

Interpreters should be used to ensure accurate communication between people who have different language needs because:

effective professional practice requires both parties to have a clear understanding of each other in times of crisis or stress, a person's second language competency may decrease, and all Australians have the right to access services freely available to English-speaking Australians - irrespective of their ethnic background and first language preference.

The government's Australia-wide Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) is a service for people who do not speak English and for English speakers who need to communicate with them. TIS is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week (telephone 131 450) for any person or organisation in Australia requiring interpreting services. The government also jointly owns the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters Ltd (NAATI) with the state and territory governments of Australia.

Source: http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/parlsec/media/media-releases/2008/lf08001.htm