The winners were selected from around 4,000 entries representing 80 languages.
Six-year-old Ayaan ((EYE-yun)) Khan has only been learning English for 12 months, but it is his third language, after Urdu and Pashto.
He says he enjoys learning the language so he can read the food labels at the supermarket with his father and talk to his friends at school.
The director of SBS’s Audio and Language Content, Mandi Wicks, says the competition received 4,000 entries from around Australia, representing 80 languages.
Education Minister Dan Tehan, ((TEE-un)) who attended the awards ceremony, shared his own experience of learning Spanish for a diplomatic posting in Central America and the opportunities it opened for him.
He says the learning of languages is essential for regional relations and trade.
Data from 2016 shows around 11 per cent of Year 12 students studied another language.
The Australian National University (ANU) has just announced ((wed)) it is investing $11.6 million over five years in expanding the number of Asian and Pacific languages on offer through online learning.
The associate dean of the ANU's College of Asia and the Pacific, Dr Nicholas Farrelly, says the new funding will focus on less commonly studied Asian languages, such as Thai, Tetum* and Mongolian.
Please listen to the interivew of Ayan Khan's father Ejaz Khan in Pashto language.
