Why Asia skills?

In June 2010 alone almost 700,000 Australians travelled overseas. Nearly 250,000 (or 40 per cent) were headed for an Asian country; a five-fold increase on 20 years ago.

‘Whether you want to be a doctor, or work in the not-for-profit sector, in the arts, in law or in finance, whatever discipline... the benefits of Asia literacy are so immense because so many roads lead to, or go through, Asia.’

– Christian Bennett, Marketing Director 

A longstanding curiosity

There have always been Australians interested in the people who live and work in other countries in our region. This dates back centuries to when there was lively trade in trepang (or ‘sea cucumber’ among other names) and other items between the Indigenous Australians who lived in Arnhem Land and people who lived on the islands in what is now called Indonesia. Batavia (now Jakarta) and Singapore were important way stations and contact points during the colonial phase of our history. In the early 20th century, the teaching of Asian languages and studies in our schools and universities evolved even as the White Australia policydeveloped.

Ever closer relationships

Today, the White Australia policy is little more than a historical relic. The extraordinary expansion of trade and commercial relationships between Australia and Asian countries, the fundamental changes in the nature and ease of travel and communication, and the profound shift in patterns of migration mean that we are embedded in our regional geographical context as never before.

But there is also considerable evidence that the curiosity and interest of Australian people has contributed to this process.

From July 2009 to June 2010 Australian residents made just under 7 million short-term trips overseas, double the number of such movements a decade ago. The most popular destination was New Zealand but Indonesia was close behind with Thailand included in the top four. The number of Australians visiting China has increased dramatically in the last decade, and this traffic has been both ways.

Enhancing the experience

The Asia skills described here will enhance and enrich the experience of travel and encourage the traveller and others to be more alert to the nature and diversity of their own community. Life opportunities can only grow from this process.

It is rare that an in-country experience does not stimulate questions and speculation about the nature of the culture, history and environment of the host nation. There is nothing like first-hand experience to make those questions real. The cliché about the value of travel is that it broadens the traveller’s perspectives. As with many clichés this is founded in truth.

Interpersonal relationships

The opportunity to develop one-to-one personal connections is an important factor in this regard. Intercultural harmony and tolerance on a larger scale grow from increasing numbers of interactions and relationships like these. Our international neighbours shift from being a faceless and threatening ‘horde’ to people we know. When situations of stress arise as they inevitably do, a far more effective basis for discussion and negotiation exists. We are more likely to be able to share information about and solutions for common problems. Perhaps the most obvious examples at present are environmental issues, but there are dozens of other topics where we will get a better result if we work together.

The skills and knowledge developed through the experience of living in another country are, of course, applicable to living in multinational, multicultural Australia today. Thoughtful curiosity, sensitivity, willingness to suspend judgement, awareness of your own cultural proclivities and those of others are increasingly essential tools for living in all countries – home or away. These attributes will bring new and amplified life opportunities.

More

• View all videos.
• See our user-friendly resource (PDF: 3.5MB) for ideas, activities and interview synopses.
• Find out more about Asia skills on the myfutures website.