Just 7.6% of students

in their final year of school are studying a foreign language according to a report in today's paper. It also says the most "popular" languages are Japanese, Chinese and Spanish while Indonesian has a very low 3.7% retention rate. This is not like Europe where 96% of students are still studying one or more foreign languages in their final year at school.

I can go a little further and say that many of those who are studying a foreign language here are students who speak that language at home. The vast majority of them will be Chinese.  That is why they are studying Chinese.

Language learning is not seen as important here. We are too far away from Europe for European languages to be seen as important. Migrants from Europe have integrated by learning English. Their children spoke the language of their parents at home and sometimes went to "Greek school" or Italian classes but the language was almost lost by the next generation. They did not see it as necessary.

There are desultory attempts to teach a second language to primary school students in some schools but what is taught depends on a teacher being available, how enthusiastic they are and whether they have the support of the school and the parents. My observations suggest that there is very little language actually taught. I find children cannot even respond to a basic greeting.

Asian languages are very different from Indo-European languages and I have always been of the opinion that teaching them in school is a waste of time unless you are prepared to dedicate many more hours than is usual. The amount a child can learn in the time devoted is simply not worth the time or the effort unless the child is exposed to the language at home. 

I was talking to a friend recently. She was born in Holland and admits "I only speak three languages". Only three? I can speak only one. Oh I can try and make myself understood in more than one, understood at a very simple level. I can read more than one but it is because my job demands it. I am entirely self taught and native speakers of any language other than English would be tearing their hair out at my attempts to say anything. Still I can do that much and I am aware it is far more than most people around me. It has not been easy but it has been essential. 

I think this is where the problem lies. Another language is not essential in this country. If someone does not speak English then the attitude is "well learn English". I myself believe permanent residents of this country should learn English but I look on it as essential for their independence, well being and safety. I am happy for them to retain their first language as well but not for them to expect special consideration if they make no effort to learn English. It is what I would see as being expected of me if I went to live in another country where the first language was not English. 

Right across Asia English is the common language. Business is conducted in English. There is no expectation that you will speak Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese or anything else. If you have taken the trouble to learn some polite phrases that will be well received but speakers of those languages know they are seen as "difficult".  The only problem with all this is that it does mean we are lazy about language learning - and arrogant too.

There is also the intense concentration on science and maths and technology. Students are not even studying English. It shows.

Learning a second language also requires learning another way of thinking. For that reason alone I believe all children should learn at least one other language. If you come from a family where a second language is spoken at home then make it that language if you can but make learning a second language as important as learning the language of mathematics or coding.  We will have better scientists if they can speak another language as well.  

"I have no more earth to cling to"

 are the words of Yosef Wiener. He was a Holocaust survivor. He must have thought he had seen the worst only to lose more members of his family in the equally brutal events of October 7th in Israel. "I am at the end of my strength" he wrote, "I have no more earth to cling to." 

He died without seeing peace between Israel and its neighbours.

I know too many people who lump all Israelis together and blame all of them indiscriminately for what is happening between them and their neighbours. I know people who tell me, "Well, they have no right to be there. They have stolen the land from...."  

I do not agree with the way some Israelis have taken over yet more territory and displaced other people who also have the need of a home and a homeland. It might surprise some people to know there are many Israelis who feel the same way.

It might surprise some people to know that I know Israelis and Palestinians who are friends, whose children and grandchildren are friends. They visit each other. They have shared meals together. They support one another. 

It might surprise some people to know that Hamas and Hezbollah do not have the universal support or approval of people in Gaza and Lebanon. The support and approval of these groups is actually low. These terrorists are feared  not just by Israelis but inside Gaza and Lebanon as well. People forget that Lebanon was a majority Christian country not that long ago. It was a wealthy, stable country too. Islam has done Lebanon no favours. Extreme Islam has done the region no favours. Ultra-orthodoxy has done Israel no favours.

 As someone else recently put it, "Just because you are offended does not make you right". It just leaves old men with no more earth to cling to when they die. 

 

Fly there - if you can

because it is a long journey by road.

Those of you who live Elsewhere will be largely unaware of how big this country is. We take visitors into the "rural" areas close to the city and they think "aren't the farms a long way apart". We think "aren't they close together". For us "a long way apart" can mean hundreds of kilometres not five or six.

The looming fuel shortage is making people who live in those areas very conscious of their isolation. For them, and those of us who once lived there, it is seen as a very real problem. At the best of times you do not simply "hop in the car" to go shopping or get to the doctor or dentist or drop the kids at school. Going somewhere means using fuel and fuel is expensive. Working the farm which will give you the income to buy the fuel also means using the vehicles which use fuel. 

Yesterday morning I was waiting at the pedestrian lights near the library and I watched the cars going along the road which leads to the CBD.  Car after car after car had just one person in it. There they were cosily tucked into their transport. One person was drinking from a takeaway container - his breakfast perhaps? Another was - illegally - on his phone. They were ignoring the fact that at least four different bus routes use sections of that road. They were ignoring the fact there is a train line that, even stopping at five more stops after the local station, takes just thirteen minutes to get into the city.  No, they would be paying for fuel (and all the other expenses) and parking...and they would be using the fuel which we should be keeping for people in rural areas. 

It is unlikely those driving their cars would even think of this. They would be intent on getting home easily when work finished for the day or telling themselves that the walk at the other end was too much. They would be "picking up the kids" and "going to the gym" or any number of other things.

Out in the country all this gets infinitely more difficult and there are even more problems if you are ill. Rural areas do not have all the services the city has. People need to get to the city for consultations with specialists, for treatment. It is an expensive business and it is time consuming. The plane flights from the most distant points of the state are an essential part of the service. Cut the flights out and some people will have no access to essential health services. Cut the flights down and you might still be able to access the services but it will be even more inconvenient (and possibly more expensive) than before. The airlines do not want to provide the services because, even using small planes, they are running at a loss. Yes, you may be ill and feeling dreadful but it is not the role of the airline to see you get to your appointment.  

Food is more expensive out there. The variety in the (much smaller) supermarket is not as great. Quite likely there is nowhere to buy the shoes your child needs for school. That has to wait until you visit the nearest "big" town. When we lived in remote areas my mother would buy things in bulk and they had to last until the next trip back to the city.

The government is trying to tell us that our fuel supplies are adequate, that there is no need for rationing. As someone said to me yesterday, "That's enough for me to believe we are running short and the government should bring rationing in." I hope he is wrong.

I am thankful I can still use pedal power.  

  

There will be a bail hearing today

where an attempt to have this country's most decorated soldier released from custody. It should succeed but it may not. If it does not then we can be even more certain than before that this case is politically motivated.  

Yes, someone who is accused of murder must face court. It is the manner in which the case against that person is handled which is of concern here. Somewhere out there a journalist is probably congratulating themselves on what they have managed to achieve. They have brought down a hero. They have succeeded in having a defamation case thrown out. They have caused endless time and trouble to be devoted to the alleged actions of someone who has faced more life and death situations than the journalist can even dream about.  The journalist no doubt sees themselves as the "hero" now.

The media has gone headlong into reporting all this. There have been claims of "innocence" and "guilt" and all sorts of conspiracy theories flying through the ether and on the air.

There are some things which can be said. The first of these is that the bail hearing should bring about a release from custody. It may not but it should. It should because this person is not a flight risk. If bail is not granted then he could remain incarcerated for years before the matter comes before the court again. The prosecution may argue that the evidence against him is too strong for that. It will be interesting to see which way that goes.

The defence may also try and argue that, if he remains in custody, he needs to be transferred to his home state. That is where it could get very interesting. 

There are politics involved in this case. The manner of this man's arrest was highly political. The media was tipped off. He was arrested outside his home state even though multiple reports suggest he offered to attend a police station on more than one occasion. That the offer was not taken up by the prosecution and that he was not arrested in his home state strongly suggest there are other factors at play here.

When this matter goes to trial the charges do not allow him to elect to be tried by judge alone. It must be a jury trial. When the jury is being chosen only three potential jurors can be dismissed. The questions which can be asked of jurors are also limited. While the jury is supposed to be chosen randomly from the electoral roll there is, simply because of the population mix, a much higher chance of a jury who will not be sympathetic. Add that to the very high media coverage which has already occurred and finding a neutral jury is almost certainly impossible. Both prosecution and defence will be aware of this. 

People have asked why this has not been tried by "court martial". The answer to that is that a court martial does not try criminal cases and the charges are criminal charges. 

I am not a potential juror. I live in another state. I can and will say that a "fair" trial may not be possible here. It may not be possible for a number of reasons. The most important of these is that nobody can remember clearly anything which happened so far back. Unless there is physical evidence and witnesses to that evidence are available then a case can fail. The "but all the other men are saying..." argument fails here.  It fails because people do not remember. They make believe they do. They will not be "lying" as such. They simply will not be telling the truth because their memory is not reality.

Would I grant bail? Yes, I would.  

Learning English

is essential if you are to become part of the community in this country. Like it or not English is the official language. 

Yes, English is a difficult language to learn. If you come from another country and you have not had the opportunity to get much of an education it might be very difficult. It still needs to be done.

There was criticism in the media and elsewhere when the leader of the current Opposition said policy would be to require people to learn English if they wanted to become citizens of this country. They would need to do this along with accepting the "values" of this country and doing that by formally signing a document. 

Apparently this is not seen as acceptable. One of my neighbours actually considers it to be "racist" and "Islamophobic". When I tried to point out that learning English actually increases the safety and well being of individuals he responded with the well worn "this country is multicultural and people have the right to use their own language". 

No, they do not have that right. The first language of this country is English. It is the language which allows us to function as a society. Yes it is possible to do what my sister's late mother-in-law did. P...learned very little English. She relied on her husband and her children to deal with many things. She shopped in the supermarket where there were Greek speaking check out assistants. She was a dressmaker by profession - and a very, very good one - but it did not mean she needed to speak English. Most of her clients were Greek speakers. With Middle Cat she spoke a mixture of Greek and English. She did the same with me. Middle Cat went to Greek classes and understood far more than I did. I did not go to Greek classes and would guess what she was trying to tell me from the context. That is changing now. My nephews understand some Greek but last Christmas nobody was speaking Greek. The next generation will probably not understand any at all. 

I have a smattering of this language and that language and I understand more than I can say in more than one language but I do not speak a second language. Had I moved to a country where English was not the first language I would have made every effort to learn the other languages. It would have been something I saw (and still see) as essential. It is a safety issue. It is a mental health essential.  I consider myself very fortunate my own first language is one which is so widely spoken and understood. 

I am concerned, very concerned, when people come up with phrases like "diversity, equity and inclusion" and suggest people should not need to learn English when they come here. It is divisive. It is not equal. It excludes. 

"I'm frightened she's going to die!"

I was on the train yesterday and the child opposite me, a girl of about fourteen, was having a conversation with someone on the phone. It was impossible not to hear it. She knew I could hear it.

She was relating a story to someone of how she had come back from school one afternoon last week and found her mother collapsed on the floor, bleeding and only semi-conscious. It would be a terrifying situation for anyone to be in, let alone a girl of that age. She kept her head sufficiently well to call an ambulance and her mother is apparently currently in intensive care.

The police took over at that point and she is currently in the care of people she does not know. This is not working well. It rarely does. She was close to tears as she spoke.

When the conversation was finished she glared at me, obviously furious that I had been able to hear it. I was almost going to say nothing at all but then I decided to say something,

"If you want to swear at me go ahead."

She swore, fiercely and fluently but quietly. She told me what an awful person I was to listen in on a private conversation and how I could not possibly understand how she was feeling. 

Then, suddenly, she stopped.  

"It's my station," she told me and then, "Thank you so much for letting me do that. Thank you. Thank you."

She actually managed a lopsided attempt at a smile and rushed off the train.

All I can do now is hope that she will be able to cope with whatever comes next. 

I suppose someone will ask, "Why didn't you just ask, "Are you okay?" The answer to that is that it was perfectly obvious she was not okay. I didn't think that question would have been right at all. I didn't really think about what I told her but now I know I was giving her permission to be rude to a stranger who dared to think she was not okay. In a way I am glad her station came when it did because I have no idea what I would have said or done next.  

Did I do the right thing? Should I just have "shut up"? Phone calls used to be conducted in the privacy of our own homes. I was reminded of the old "party line" calls that were possible when we lived in remote areas. The Senior Cat had to "book a call" if he needed to talk to someone in the Education Department in the city. (This was so nobody else could listen in to the conversation.) It all seems so strange now when people conduct their business quite openly.

I just hope that young girl's mother recovers and they can be together again. 

Twenty million dollars being spent

on advertising the fuel issues facing this country is apparently seen as justified by the government. The fact they also managed to get a major advertising campaign underway so quickly is also a curiosity.

It will of course have nothing to do with the fact that the initial report on anti-Semitism is due out shortly and there is also a judgment being brought down on a gender issue. It will have nothing to do with the arrest of a person of interest.

Mmm... perhaps I should start again. The initial report on anti-Semitism will quite possibly not contain much at all. The terms were written in a way which is supposed to keep much of what perhaps should be discussed from being discussed at all. It would lead into some very dangerous territory for the government. I hold no great hopes for the final report either. There are areas where the government, any government, will not dare to go - and certainly not go if they do not want to lose votes.

Gender issues are also tricky. How do you keep those who are so good at getting media attention happy? Give them what they want even when it means denying others theirs? Do you follow science or belief? An advertising campaign relating to fuel just might help to deflect attention.

And the arrest of that person of interest? Make it as public as possible. Look at the wonderful job we are doing of bringing criminals to face court. 

My Jewish friends feel nothing will come of the report into anti-Semitism. I hope they are wrong but worry they are right. My gay and lesbian friends are concerned about the way gender is being treated. They would like to get on with their lives without having to worry about "gender transition" issues and being treated as if they are the ones at fault here.

And it would be good if all the "lawyers" out there would actually study the law. Yes, there are some very real concerns at the way the matter is being conducted. There should be a bail hearing on Friday and we may actually know more then. At some point I will also state some facts. 

As one of those men told me a couple of days ago we need "support, not suppression". The advertising campaign is being served to us as support when it is actually suppression.