Australia Language

AsiaRooms offers detailed information on Australia language related topics and other facts. A melting pot for varied cultures, races and faiths, Australia is home to an estimated population of 20.6 million people. Therefore, one can easily conclude that the languages of Australia are quite varied and have been brought to the continent by settlers who came here from all parts of the globe at different points of time.

The national language of Australia is English, though it is spoken as well as written in a distinct manner that differentiates it from the English spoken in other countries. It is popularly known as “Australian English”. For around 80% of the population of Australia, English is the mode of communication. Even settlers from non-English speaking countries in Australia have adopted the Australian English as their language for communication even at home.

Due to the presence of a huge Chinese population in Australia, the Chinese language is the second most common language spoken in Australia. To be very precise, around 2.1% of the Australian population speaks Chinese (2001 census). Other common languages of Australia are Italian and Greek that are spoken by 1.9% and 1.4% of Australia's population respectively.

Speaking of the indigenous languages of Australia, there were around 200 – 300 aborigine languages spoken in Australia before the arrival of the European settlers. Now only 70 of these languages survive and around 50 of them are endangered. A common indigenous language is now spoken by 0.25% of Australia's population.

Australia has also adopted a sign language known as Auslan, which is used by around 6,500 deaf people in the continent. Moreover, a big chunk of the first and second-generation settlers of Australia are bilingual.