Language

English is the national language, but the Australian form is very distinctive. For example, Australian vowels are much flatter than most forms of English and our speech is quite nasal. It may take a while to train your ear to Australian English if you haven’t heard it before.

Aussies love to shorten words. After shortening it, we will often add an ‘i’ or an ‘o’ to it, because this makes it feel more informal (just like us!), and sometimes we add a ‘z’ in before that. Ironically, we also like to lengthen words of only one syllable (we like 2-syllable words). We do this with everything from people’s names to everyday words. For example, ‘afternoon’ becomes ‘arvo’ (s’arvo is short for ‘this afternoon’); ‘barbecue’ becomes ‘barbie’; ‘breakfast’ becomes ‘brekky’; but ‘Jack’ becomes ‘Jacko’ and ‘Terri’ becomes ‘Tezza’. Well, it makes sense to us!

Our colloquial language is also quite colourful. For example, the word ‘blue’ can have many meanings including the colour, someone who has red hair (often nicknamed ‘bluey’), a fight (to have a ‘blue’), a sad mood, or even a description of someone who is considered truly Australian (to be ‘true blue’). It might sound confusing, but it won’t take long to catch on. There are some resources available to discover more about the differences of Australian English under the Registering and qualifying section of DoctorConnect.

Aboriginal languages

Naturally, there are also many words and terms borrowed from the Aboriginal languages---‘koala’, ‘kangaroo’ and ‘dingo’ being some of the more obvious, as well as many of our place names. The nation’s capital Canberra is derived from a local word meaning ‘meeting place’.

Only about 20 of the Aboriginal languages still surviving are fluently spoken by both adults and children and are actively passed on to the next generations. Some examples of these include Warlpiri and Pitjantjatjara in central Australia. A further 70 of the original 700 or so distinct languages that existed at the time of European arrival in Australia are now spoken by Aboriginal elders only.

There are about 30 bilingual schools (located in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia), in which Aboriginal children are taught in both their primary language and English. Recent revived interest in maintaining Aboriginal culture has also resulted in about 50 educational institutions that teach Aboriginal languages as a second language.

English proficiency

If your partner or children need help to learn or improve their English, there is more information on this topic under Information for families.

If you wish to learn more about English language proficiency requirements that form part of the medical registration process for overseas trained doctors, the information under Registering and qualifying should assist you.