Thread: What is Australias Official language? Not what you think

Originally Posted by warren9981

I don't have any issue with multilingual signage. What I do object to is being able to take the driving test in multiple languages. If you can't read English how are you going to drive and understand emergency services / roadworks directions amongst others.

Australia follows the international AA ( RAA ) signage conventions. Basically no mater what country you are in the signage is about the same. From memory I think the USA is the most deviant.

But Australia has some local signage, camel, roo, croc. But i think English is not a prerequisite to understand them.

Well the Australian Government, who I assume is elected by Australians has seen fit to carry out the Australian voters wishes ( that’s you guys) and award extra immigration points if you speak one of the following languages.

Afrikaans
Albanian
Arabic/Lebanese
Armenian* Bangla (Bengali) Bosnian Burmese Chinese – Cantonese Chinese – Mandarin
Croatian
Czech
Danish*
Dutch
Croatian
Fijian
Filipino (Tagalog)
Finnish
French
German
Greek
Hebrew*
Hindi
Hungarian
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese
Khmer
Korean
Lao
Latvian*
Lithuanian
Macedonian
Malay
Maltese
Norwegian
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Punjabi
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Sinhalese
Slovak
Slovene*
Spanish
Swedish*
Tamil
Thai
Turkish
Ukrainian
Vietnamese
Urdu
Yiddish*

In short if you can demonstrate that you speak one of the above languages then it is effectively easier ( 5 more points) to immigrate to Australia

And how many points do you get if you speak--------English !

Originally Posted by 85 county

Well the Australian Government, who I assume is elected by Australians has seen fit to carry out the Australian voters wishes ( that’s you guys) and award extra immigration points if you speak one of the following languages.

Afrikaans
Albanian
Arabic/Lebanese
...

Vietnamese
Urdu
Yiddish*

In short if you can demonstrate that you speak one of the above languages then it is effectively easier ( 5 more points) to immigrate to Australia

Now, the truth of the matter is that to gain bonus points for immigration you must be profesionally qualified as an INTERPRETER or TRANSLATOR in one of the listed languages. This relates to being a skilled migrant. The detail is here: http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/booklets/1119.pdf.

Must not let the facts get in the way of a good opportunity to bash both the Government and migrants!

Cheers
KarlB

Originally Posted by KarlB

Now, the truth of the matter is that to gain bonus points for immigration you must be profesionally qualified as an INTERPRETER or TRANSLATOR in one of the listed languages. This relates to being a skilled migrant. The detail is here: http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/booklets/1119.pdf.

Must not let the facts get in the way of a good opportunity to bash both the Government and migrants!

Cheers
KarlB

as you said "
Must not let the facts get in the way of a good opportunity to bash both the Government and migrants!"

to quote
"
To be eligible for Australian community language points you must be fluent in one of the community languages listed below.

'Fluent' means you have professional level language skills (written or oral) as evidenced by a qualification (of equivalent standard to an Australian degree) gained from a university where instruction was in one of the listed languages

or

be accredited with the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) at the professional level (translator/interpreter level). "

That means that if you have been to a 1/2 descent uni overseas you get points. OR you can sit the AUSTRALIAN NAATI exam and pass. You would only do this if you are already living in Australia and do not have a degree from where you came from.

IT does NOT mean as stated by the previous poster that you ONLY get points if you are a qualified INTERPRETER or TRANSLATOR, that’s bollocks

Skilled – Independent (Residence) visa (subclass 885)

Originally Posted by UncleHo

And how many points do you get if you speak--------English !

that’s my point

NONE

So you get points if you have a degree. you get and extra 5 points ( you need 120) if you went to uni in a non English country

There is another area where you can get points for passing a certain level of English. The points and pass mark is moved up and down by the government every now and again.
The catch with this is that some one from and English country has no requirement to sit this exam. and receives a stand amount of points ( i think 15) HOWEVER some one who passes this exam can actually get more points than a native English speaker. add this to if they come from a country on the list and they can be 10 points ahead, add to that if there spouse can also pass, have another 5 ( i think)

No there is no point in having more than 120 points, its not a race. Hit 120 and your in. But more points means you could be a bit older or not be so high in some other area.

NB the news papers bash Kiwi immigrants ONLY when Asian immigration numbers are high, like in 2000

Originally Posted by 85 county

as you said "
Must not let the facts get in the way of a good opportunity to bash both the Government and migrants!"

to quote
"
To be eligible for Australian community language points you must be fluent in one of the community languages listed below.

'Fluent' means you have professional level language skills (written or oral) as evidenced by a qualification (of equivalent standard to an Australian degree) gained from a university where instruction was in one of the listed languages

or

be accredited with the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) at the professional level (translator/interpreter level). "

That means that if you have been to a 1/2 descent uni overseas you get points. OR you can sit the AUSTRALIAN NAATI exam and pass. You would only do this if you are already living in Australia and do not have a degree from where you came from.

IT does NOT mean as stated by the previous poster that you ONLY get points if you are a qualified INTERPRETER or TRANSLATOR, that’s bollocks

Skilled – Independent (Residence) visa (subclass 885)

You are correct. I misinterpreted the document, and apologise for my accusation. However, you would have to agree, there is a BIG difference between simply speaking the language, as you asserted in your original post, and actually having a qualification at least equivalent to an Australian university degree, where instruction was in that language.

Cheers
KarlB

Originally Posted by KarlB

You are correct. I misinterpreted the document, and apologise for my accusation. However, you would have to agree, there is a BIG difference between simply speaking the language, as you asserted in your original post, and actually having a qualification at least equivalent to an Australian university degree, where instruction was in that language.

Cheers
KarlB

I agree, ill also add that you post would have been quite easy to make if you are not used to reading immigration stuff or read it quickly.

The next bit
"'Fluent' means you have professional level language skills (written or oral) as evidenced by a qualification (of equivalent standard to an Australian degree) gained from a university where instruction was in one of the listed languages".
Although I would agree with your comments. the Australian immigration when qualifying your degree look at years studied, and number of hours per week and number of weeks.
In short any bit of paper will do.
I know and have known Many English teachers in other countries who are not native English speakers. Often there oral English is so bad that we end up conversing in there native language. But a forren English teacher will get maxim points with out testing

A rather strange way of doing things where most other countries want your degree and transcripts and to have then assessed. Australia only assesses trades people at just over 400 bucks a pop.

Worse a bricklayer from for example say Pakistan is a walk in but a welder from England is basically unemployable unless they do a bunch of welding tests. Which every pommy welder I know has passed with ease.

In short Australian immigration is easy. NZ immigration is much harder as is England’s, Canada even worse. Australia is NOT the first choice for Most immigrants is just where they have been accepted.