Many people continue to make predictions that many jobs existing today will disappear within the next 20 years. They also say that today's school leavers will have to change careers completely up to five times during their working lives. The key requirement to cope with this uncertain future is a broad education with the ability to be flexible. A Language Other Than English is seen as a very useful humanities sujbect to balance out the preponderance of Maths and Science subjects that our students prefer these days.

More than at anytime before, Languages Other Than English are seen as an essential requirement by an increasing number of employers. Studying a language up to Year 10 provides the absolute minimum of vocational competence.

German

German is taught as a foreign language at Brisbane Boys' college because it is a major international language, being spoken as a first language by over 100 million people worldwide. The basic communication skills established in the Middle School are then further developed in Years 9 and 10 so that by the end of Year 10 students should be able to communicate satisfactorily as a visitor to a German speaking country, or with German speaking visitors or residents of Australia.

The practical language skills which students develop should increase their opportunities for employment in many fields including education, the diplomatic service, tourism, trade, industry, banking, medical services, the armed services and the police force.

Japanese

Japan has the second largest economy in the world and is Australia's largest trading partner. Japan is one of the most powerful countries in our region and as such exerts considerable influence on our own economy. Australia has many ties with Japan through trade, Governmental and cultural activities, creating a demand for Australians who are linguistically competent and who are sensitive to the socio-cultural background which influences Japanese behaviour.

BBC has two sister schools with whom we do exchanges, so there exists the opportunity to make Japanese friends and experience the lifestyle while at school.

Chinese

The aim of the Chinese course is to provide students with vocational competence. In the foreseeable future, China will exert considerable influence in the Pacific region and this will impact greatly on the Australian economy. Mandarin Chinese is becoming an essential requirement for an increasing number of occupations. The Chinese course offers students the opportunity to obtain the language skills to develop their vocational competence for future purposes.

French

French is the first or second language of more than 40 countries and its influence is considerable in European, African, North and South American, and Pacific Ocean spheres of the world as well as in South-East Asia.

French is spoken by some 300 million people and if one has studied French, the Italian and Spanish languages are easily accessible. French is second only to English as an international language and the artistic, scientific, culinary, and literary aspects of French culture have had an acknowledged influence on other cultures.

French sentence structure is virtually the same as English, and given that a large percentage of French and English vocabulary has similar origins, students can reach very high levels of fluency while still at school.

Staff

• Laura Song, (Chinese)
• Brian Kaiser-Cleak, (German)
• Christelle Luxford, (French)
• Hiroaki Suzuki, (Japanese)

Last updated : 17 July, 2008