SBS has announced changes to its radio services intended to better meet the needs of multicultural Australia and reflect the country's increasingly diverse society.
The latest census data reveals almost 5 million people -- 4.87 million -- speak a language other than English at home.
The SBS Radio Services Review has taken into consideration the latest census results and audience listening habits.
The population of a language group, English-language proficiency, recentness of arrival, age and household resources were all factors involved.
Any discrimination or vilification of a particular group in Australia was also considered.
The revised services will include seven new languages -- Telugu, (TEL-uh-goo) Karen, Tibetan, Hakha Chin, Rohingya, Mongolian and Kirundi, (kih-ROON-dee) or Rundi.
Based on the final selection criteria, 12 languages will be discontinued.
They include Kannada, Tongan, Norwegian, Cook Island Maori, Fijian, Swedish and the African program, an English-language program.
Changes have also been made to the broadcast hours allotted to certain language groups.
The Turkish and Croatian languages will reduce from five to four hours of programming per week, while German will reduce from seven to five hours a week.
Hungarian, Bosnian and Albanian will also reduce to one program per week.
