Asian Language Crisis Grips Australia(3/3)

"for example, I learned Japanese in high school, went on an exchange in Year 10, so when I was 16, and found that the Japanese students of my age had a much greater proficiency in English than I did in Japanese. So in that sense it almost discourages you."

Classmate Rob Tyson blames Australia's geographicalisolation for declining interest in foreign languages.

"There's a big difference between speaking it in class and having conversations with other people learning and then being able to spend a lot of time in a country where I have the ability to practice that conversationally, so it's not the same as being in Europe where you could pop across to France or you've got that inter-action or in some of the Asian regions where there is such a difference in dialect."

About 70 percent of Australia's major exports go to Asia and the government of Prime Minister John Howard has been keen to develop closer economic, diplomatic and security ties with Asia.

Academics say that as Asia becomes one of the world's economic powerhouses, Australia needs to improve its language skills if it is to take full advantage of the business opportunities on its doorstep" class="hjdict" word="doorstep" target=_blank>doorstep.