Australia is one of the most linguistically diverse nations in the world but that doesnt mean more of us are speaking languages other than English.SBS and Community Languages Australia have created a competition to encourage more young Australians to learn another language.
Community Languages Australia, or CLA, is a body representing over 1000 language schools.
CLA brings together after-hour language programs nationally, with 69 languages offered from prep through to Year 10 and 42 languages at Years 11 and 12.
Executive Director Stefan Romaniw says there are over 100 thousand students involved in their programs.
He says some communities value language learning as an important way of connecting with ones roots.
The National Languages Competition offers a chance to highlight the work of language schools and encourage more students to learn languages.
The competition invites students as young as four through to Year 12 to express what learning a language mean to them.
The youngest students are asked to draw a picture while primary and high school participants are to submit a written response in a second language.
The inaugural SBS National Languages Competition accepts entries from June 20th to July 29th.
The theme is What does learning language mean to you?
Six winners will be flown to Sydney to receive their award in October.
