SPEAKING IN TONGUES

The current migration trends have been linked to the number of Australian school students studying Croatian, Arabic, Persian, and Serbian languages.

The Australian Department of Education figures show that the number of primary and secondary students studying Arabic has grown from two in 1998 to 34 in 2003.

The number of pupils studying Croatian rose from 16 to 40; Serbian from 103 to 150; and Persian from 16 to 53 during the same period.

It is a matter of time before Swahili and other African languages take their rightful place in the school curriculum here.

Throughout the land, increasing number of African students are studying indigenous languages; while at the same time improving their English language skills.