Australia's ignored Asia literacy

By measuring the number of people who speak Asian languages at home, census data is also a good indicator of Asian cultural literacy.

Although the connection will not hold in all cases, there is a good chance that someone who speaks an Asian language at home will have a familial connection to the language, and as a result, will likely have some level of Asian cultural literacy.

Australia's large store of Asian cultural literacy is not just a potential asset to those with existing familial connections to Asian cultures.

Multiculturalism means widespread interaction between different cultural groups in families and neighbourhoods.

The 2006 Census data shows that the spouses were of different ancestries in 30% of all couples, and that the rate of intermarriage has been increasing with each successive generation regardless of ethnic background.

Australia also has comparably low levels of residential segregation. Recent research suggests Australians are more likely to be living in mixed neighbourhoods than their British, Canadian, and in particular, US counterparts.

In Australia's healthy multicultural society with its high levels of interaction between cultures, Asian cultural literacy is being acquired by osmosis.

By importing Asia literacy through immigration, Australia has avoided the need for costly large-scale Asian studies programs.

Even if the pre-eminence of English in Asia and the rest of the world is ignored, Australia's multicultural composition alone means the often alarmist tone of the contemporary debate about Asia literacy is unwarranted.

With a multicultural society that is naturally Asia literate, Australia is well-placed to prosper in the Asian Century.

Benjamin Herscovitch is a Policy Analyst at the Centre for Independent Studies, and author of the forthcoming publication, Australia's Asia Literacy Non-Problem.