Australia needs real policies and financial support for the learning of a second language and not tokenistic gestures, says Greek Australian lecturer Dr Anthony Dracopoulos.
Speaking at a function for the annual ‘Dionysios Solomos’ students awards, organised by the Greek Festival of Sydney, Dr Dracopoulos said “the noble efforts of the community to enable students to continue with the study of Modern Greek at the highest level – at the University – are not enough”.
“We need the government to develop policies and to support financially the learning of a second language.
“Statements such as the one expressed by the current Prime Minister – ‘Australians should be in a position to communicate with their neighbours’ – cannot function as the foundation stone for a language policy.
“Communication with the other is only the beginning, it is not an end in itself,” said the Greek Australian lecturer at Sydney University’s Department of Modern Greek.
In supporting the learning of another language, he said “it opens up a new world from which we can draw symbols, images, concepts, with which we can enrich our own world and create new ideas”.
“Learning another language is not a luxury but a necessary condition for inclusion. By learning another language one learns to self-reflect and therefore one develops as an ethical human being, since every moral stance is connected with being able to place oneself in the position of the other.”
Dr Dracopoulos applauded the incentives of the Greek Orthodox Community of NSW and said that more such initiatives are needed to recognise the efforts of students who learn another languages, and in this instance Modern Greek.