Australia is becoming an alarmingly monolingual nation, and this trend needs to be reversed, according to Dr Alfred Vincent, who taught Modern Greek Studies at the University of Sydney for 25 years. His comments were part of a presentation at the inaugural FAROS Alliance Symposium, held at La Trobe University in Melbourne last Sunday.
The symposium brought together representatives from schools, universities, and community organisations to discuss efforts to promote the Greek language in Victoria, across Australia, and internationally. Attendees also proposed strategies to combat the declining use of Greek in the Australian diaspora.
Several speakers emphasised the critical role parents and grandparents play in passing on the language.
One compelling example came from Vasso Zagalis, whose Greek father, the late George Zagalis, insisted on speaking Greek at home. Despite having an Australian mother, Vasso not only became fluent in Greek but also ensured her own children learned the language.
“We have an unwritten rule in our house: we only speak Greek,” she said.
This commitment extended to enrolling her children in a local Greek primary school during a family stay in Greece.
Some speakers stressed the need for a unified and strategic campaign to promote the Greek language in Australia, suggesting that the FAROS Alliance take the lead.
Recently, FAROS became a formally recognised nonprofit organisation dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and expansion of the Greek language.
The Alliance’s leadership includes Professor Joseph Lo Bianco as president, Giota Stavridou as vice-president, Dionysia Diakodimitriou as secretary, and Vasso Zagalis as treasurer.
Dr Stavroula Nikoloudi and Eva O’Hehir serve as assistant secretary and treasurer, respectively.
The organisation’s mission received a significant boost with the donation of approximately $12,500 from the “Speak Greek in March and Beyond” campaign.
This initiative, launched in Melbourne in 2015 by Sakis Zafiropoulos, later inspired the establishment of International Greek Language Day on February 9, 2017.
The symposium attendance was satisfactory with good participation from educators including numerous Greek language teachers in Victoria.
