4725.0 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing: A focus on children and youth, Apr 2011
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 23/05/2012 Reissue
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CULTURE, HERITAGE AND LEISURE: SPEAKING ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER LANGUAGES This article is part of a comprehensive series released as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing: A focus on children and youth. Note: In this section 'children' refers to people aged 3–14 years. The terms 'youth' and 'young people' refer to people aged 15–24 years. Data presented are from the ABS National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey, 2008 (cat. no. 4714.0).
Language is not only a form of communication, it is also a way of expressing and maintaining culture, knowledge and identity. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages convey unique meanings and are central to the survival of cultural knowledge (Endnote1). SPEAKING ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER LANGUAGES Of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and youth in 2008:
Overall, children and youth were less likely than those aged 25 years and over to speak an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander language (13% compared with 22%). 2.1 ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER LANGUAGE USE BY REMOTENESS, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 3–24 years—2008 (a) Difference between non-remote and remote areas is statistically significant. (b) Difference between non-remote and remote areas is not statistically significant. Source: 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey Changes over time In the 2002 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS), information about children aged 0–14 years was not collected. This means comparisons between 2002 and 2008 can only be made for youth. Of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth in 2002 (82,700 people), 18% could speak an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander language, including 11% who spoke one of these languages as their main language at home. By 2008, there had been a significant decrease in the proportion of Indigenous language speakers to 13%, including 9% who spoke one of these languages as their main language at home. LEARNING AN ABORIGINAL OR TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER LANGUAGE In 2008, around one in five (21%) children and 8% of young people, who did not already speak an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander language as their main language at home, were learning to speak one. Children and youth in remote areas were more likely than those in non-remote areas to be learning an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander language (33% compared with 12%). Of the 29,400 children who were learning an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander language, many had the opportunity to do so at the school they were attending (41%) and/or were being taught by a parent (40%).
ENDNOTES 1. Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, National Indigenous Languages Survey Report 2005, Commonwealth of Australia, <www.arts.gov.au>
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