Family ties and culture are at the centre of Victorians turning back to learn their ancestral languages

For most people, learning a second language is about ordering another round when travelling, but for an increasing number of Victorians, it’s about connecting with their family and culture.

Victorians are increasingly reconnecting with their culture and families through learning their ancestral languages.

Cary Douros has never been able to speak to his grandmothers.

Not properly at least. Not so they understand him, his personality, the things that really make him tick.

“I could understand what they were asking me, but I couldn’t articulate my thoughts or my sense of humour,” he says.

“There was definitely an element of frustration.”

While he’d learnt Modern Greek as a five-year-old — signed up by his parents — Cary dropped formal study of the language in high school.

Modern Greek is one of the 46 languages offered in high schools across the state but it’s not the most common.

The international language of French is by far the most taught but Japanese, Chinese, Italian and German are also popular choices.

That’s despite the top six languages other than English reportedly used in more than 10 per cent of Victorian households being Mandarin, Vietnamese, Greek, Punjabi, Arabic and Italian.

But VCE enrolments are dropping in many of the more traditionally taught classical languages despite the government knowing “how important it is for students to have language programs included in their education”.

“Schools and education settings — especially language programs — are powerful vehicles for inclusion and social cohesion,” an education department spokeswoman says.

“(The programs) play a vital role in enabling students and their families to learn more about histories and cultures.”

Almost a decade after high school, Cary decided his relationships with his grandmothers needed to change.

He’s one of thousands of Victorians with culturally diverse backgrounds turning back to learn their ancestral languages.

Conversational classes are helping Cary Douros speak with his grandmothers. Picture: File image.

Inspired by a bilingual friend overseas, Cary returned to structured classes in March last year.

“(My friend had) been studying French in Paris intensively and was conversing with native French speakers so easily,” he says.

“I admired (the skill) in my friend and I recognised I definitely had the same opportunity to do that — I owed it to myself.”

But it wasn’t the classes that helped him improve as much as two hours of intense conversation.

And when it comes to writing — having done Ancient Greek in VCE where the structure of the language is very similar, even if the spoken word is not — he’s learning in a more “self-guided” way.

“I’ll look up the rules of conjugation and grammar and consume a lot of media,” he says.

New forms of technology are helping too.

ChatGPT, for example, has been a useful tool in deciphering when to use certain words.

“(Greek) is a very unique language, there are so many little exceptions and idiosyncrasies,” he says.

“It’s hard sometimes to be across all of them unless you’re constantly reading and speaking it, and it’s often poorly explained in English.”

But language is more grammar rules and vocabulary.

For Cary, it’s a “gateway to understanding culture”.

“There are so many things we don’t appreciate about culture, and the older I get the more I want to learn,” he says.

“Greeks are seen as being easy going, laid back — you can see that in the terms and the language they use.

“There’s nuance to it.”

Edwidge Borg agrees.

The Maltese Community Council of Victoria (MCCV) class co-ordinator says learning a language, particularly an ancestral one, is about “(opening) the door to maintaining culture”.

“It’s very important to wellbeing — we treasure our culture, it’s important to keep the language alive,” she says.

“In language, you find a variety of words and expressions that cannot be translated.

“The language, the expression, the tone – it’s all cultural.

“You can read a book about history in English, but the exchange of language, it helps you to discover more about yourself.”

And, like Cary, technology is helping here too.

People seeking out Maltese classes significantly increased when they began being offered online, she says, with some students even learning from New Zealand.

“During Covid we moved our lessons from in person to online,” she says.

“Face-to-face is more enjoyable, it’s true, but we’ve reached further to people wanting to learn that can’t make the commute.”

Alongside students looking to connect better with their own relatives and cultural identity are their partners.

They’re not interested in being out of the loop in dinner table banter, they want that connection too.

“They want to interact with the family, even when they revert to their native tongue,” Edwidge says.

“People are also learning to speak with older generations — they get so much enjoyment from it.”

Edwidge Borg (right) picture with the Maltese Consul General Gioconda Schembri (centre), says language is “important to wellbeing”. Picture: Supplied.

And where classes are giving people the words, the relationships formed during them are giving so much more.

“People are exchanging recipes and stories and learning about food and why it was made at particular times of the year,” she says.

“Easter food, Christmas food, even winter drinks — everything is part of the culture, it stirs something in people.

“It’s very important to wellbeing – we treasure our culture, it’s important to keep the language alive.”

It’s no surprise to John Hajek that Victorians are picking up languages important to their families.

“It’s more common for people within the Italian migrant community or people with German

backgrounds to learn the language,” the Melbourne university languages and linguistics school professor says.

“It’s less the case for languages like French – there was never a huge French migrant community in Australia.”

And it’s impossible to predict which languages will be popular each year.

“Language enrolment in universities go up and down over time – it’s a normal thing,” he says.

“It varies between local and international students — Chinese students might pick up Japanese or Korean because they’re interested in K-Pop or J-Pop, but there are other students interested in European culture, so they pick up French, Italian, German or Spanish.”

Many students are also picking up Spanish to work and travel in Latin America, or signing up to an elective as a “great way to make friends”.

“This might be the first opportunity they’ve had to learn a language,” he says.

“There’s many different reasons … There’s a lot of social interaction that you don’t get in other subjects.”

Language enrolment in universities rises and falls over time, according to Melbourne University’s John Hajek.

José Luis Fernández Castillo from La Trobe University’s Department of Language and Culture said Japanese and Spanish were also common choices for students.

“Japanese remains the most popular language, consistently attracting higher enrolment than others,” he says.

“Among European languages, Spanish leads, followed closely by Italian and French.”

The Hispanic Studies professor says students undertaking arts degrees were commonly enrolling into language courses, “however … a growing number of students from psychology and public health (had started) taking language subjects as well”.

“Language is not just a tool — it is a way of understanding the world,” he says.

Students have many motivations to take up second languages.

“In today’s increasingly multipolar world, as the dominance of the Anglosphere declines, Australia will need — more than ever — graduates with expertise in languages and cultures to engage globally, beyond the limits of automatic translation.”

More than just impressing his grandmothers, Cary’s new Greek skills are helping him build better relationships with them — the kind he’s never had before.

“They make comments, they’re happy about it,” he says.

“Character and personality are big parts of our identity and something funny in one language is not going to be funny in another.

“It’s nice to share this part of myself with them.”

Originally published as Family ties and culture are at the centre of Victorians turning back to learn their ancestral languages