‘We’re edging closer and closer to that point’: Native English speakers to become the minority in Sydney in just over 10 years
- Population expert says English speakers to be the minority in Sydney in 10 years
- Mark McCrindle says that he is basing the research on census data
- A Sydney counil last year considered a motion to limit foreign writing on signs
A population expert claims that native English speakers will become a minority in Sydney in just 10 years.
Mark McCrindle, a social demographer who regularly provides advice to large companies and governments, has said that if current census trends continue native English speakers would be in the minority in the city.
‘We’re edging closer and closer to that point when more than half will speak another language and we will hit that in a little over a decade,’ Mr McCrindle said of primary languages spoken at home by Sydney families.
A population expert has made a claim that within ten years more Sydney residents will speak a foreign language at home than English (stock image)
Foreign languages have even made their way onto number plates with the ability to purchase plates bearing the Japanese characters for the phrase ‘Japanese Domestic Market’
The researcher also said, aside from English, the main foreign language spoken in the city has shifted in the last five years.
‘What is interesting in the five years from the previous census to the latest one, the number-one language spoken changed to Mandarin from Arabic, which is now number two,’ he said, according The Daily Telegraph.
A 2016 study by McCrindle Research using census data found that the top three countries of birth of immigrant Sydney residents were England, then China at number two, and India at number three.
Early last year Strathfield City Council voted to put forward a motion that required all signs in the area to be displayed with English text larger than any foreign language.
Dr Alice Chik from Macquarie University told the ABC at the time such policies create an attitude of multicultural tolerance rather than active multiculturalism, saying the right to use languages other than English was important for immigrants.
She also said limiting foreign writing was the equivalent of limiting people speaking other languages, which she said would be an ‘un-Australian’ attitude.
Mark McCrindle, a social demographer who regularly provides advice to large companies and governments, has said that if current census trends continue native English speakers would be in the minority in the city
Dr Alice Chik from Macquarie University said limiting foreign writing was the equivalent of limiting people speaking other languages, which she said would be an ‘un-Australian’ attitude
Foreign languages have even made their way onto number plates with the ability to purchase plates bearing the Japanese characters for the phrase ‘Japanese Domestic Market.’
Over 3000 of the plates have been sold so far and they are intended to provide an authentic look for imported Japanese vehicles.