As the Australian population becomes more diverse, the multicultural communications industry is facing new challenges and opportunities. In particular, communications professionals in government departments and agencies need to be able to effectively communicate with a wide range of cultural backgrounds and in a variety of languages in order to effectively serve the needs of the Australia’s diverse population. Producing communications solely in English will become increasingly ineffective over the coming years. The future is exciting, but challenges remain. Here are some trends that we’re likely to see in the Australian multicultural communications sector over the coming years. Increase in breadth of campaigns languages One trend that is likely to continue in the multicultural communications industry in Australia is the increasing diversity of the population and therefore, translations and multicultural communications campaigns produced in a higher number of languages. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the country’s population is projected to reach over 30 million sometime between 2029 and 2033, with a significant proportion of this growth coming from immigration. The latest data shows that 27.6% of the Australian population was born overseas, and close to half of the population has at least one parent who was born overseas. As the population becomes more diverse, there will be a growing need for government departments and agencies to communicate with a wider range of cultural backgrounds and in a broader amount of languages. In fact, data from the 2021 Census shows that over 300 languages are spoken in Australian homes, with the most common languages after English being Mandarin, Arabic, Vietnamese, Cantonese and Punjabi. The steady increase in the proportion of people who speak a language other than English at home will mean that communications professionals will have no choice but to produce campaigns in broader range of languages if they wish to communicate with their intended audience. As we’ve seen over the past few years, government department and agencies have shown a willingness to use more languages to reach a broader audience, as has been the case by the Department of Health and Aged Care in their COVID-19 communications which have been produced in excess of 70 languages. The Department of Heath and Aged Care, Australian Government has been producing translations about COVID-19 in over 70 languages. This trend of a broader range of languages being used in multicultural communications campaigns is likely to continue over the years. The need for cultural sensitivity in communications There is a growing importance and need for cultural competency and sensitivity in multicultural communications. As the Australian population becomes more diverse, it will be crucial for government departments and agencies to understand and appreciate the unique cultural perspectives and experiences of different groups. Take for example, communications that may not respect and appreciate that for some communities, it would not be appropriate for a male doctor to attend to a female patient. We can expect to see a rise in the training and appreciation for cultural differences which will lead to communication strategies that are more inclusive and respectful of diverse cultural backgrounds. Nonetheless, there are significant barriers that continue to exist for people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds in Australia, and we can expect to see an increased focus on addressing these barriers over the coming years. In fact, data from the Australian Human Rights Commission shows that cultural discrimination is still a significant issue in Australia, with one in five people experiencing discrimination based on their culture or ethnicity. Cultural competency and sensitivity are essential for ensuring that government departments and agencies are able to effectively communicate with and serve the needs of the Australian population. Increased use of machine translation Machine translation is improving due to advances in artificial intelligence and natural language processing, the availability of more data to train the systems, and increased investment in the technology. These factors are leading to more accurate and fluent translations, making it a useful tool for translators and to ‘post-edit’ machine translation. The appropriate use of machine translation to communicate with diverse audiences is likely to have a positive effect on the industry, even if the transition presents its own set of challenges. In the below example, the machine translation has accurately conveyed the meaning of the source text and has produced a very suitable translation. However, there’s more than meets the eye here, which demonstrates the need for professional human translators to review machine translation. In Italian, alluvione means flooding due to rain, whilst inondazione means flooding due to rivers overflowing. A professional human translator will be translating the source text, taking into account the broader context, and would be able to determine the most appropriate terminology choice. Machine translation is improving and this is an opportunity for translators Machine translation is a useful tool for professional translators because it can help them to more rapidly produce translations. This process of post-editing enables translations to be produced more rapidly whilst retaining the quality of human-grade translations. As such, we can expect the speed of producing translations for multicultural audiences to increase over the years as professional translators adapt the way that they translate. The challenge for government departments and agencies will be how they approach the take-up of such technology — directly or through translation agencies, with the latter being a more sophisticated approach that leverages the skills and expertise of the industry. Digital-first approach to translations The move to a more digital world presents challenges and opportunities for communications professionals who are looking to communicate rapidly with multicultural audiences. In Australia, overwhelmingly, digital service solutions developed by government departments and agencies are monolingual and created solely in English. A recent study that looked at digital service solutions found that 80% of people in Australia, for whom English is a second language, think services should be available in more languages. Some government departments have shown a willingness to provide government services in-language. Take the Department of Health and Aged Care which has provided their COVID-19 Vaccination booking site in a range of languages to support communities in their endeavour to get vaccinated. Book a vaccine appointment in Simplified Chinese We can expect more communication professionals to seek to provide a digital experience for their multicultural audiences. Increase in Indigenous communications In the same study mentioned earlier, 84% of people who identify as Indigenous indicated that they think government services should be available in more languages. Indigenous communications and engagement is also likely to increase over the coming years as communications professionals seek to address a significant short-fall in communications for First Nations Australians. In fact, according to the 2021 Census, 3.2% of the population identified as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin, with at least 167 languages other than English used at home. In particular, the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who spoke an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander language in 2021 was highest in the Northern Territory at 58.5%, so we can expect to see more targeted communications for these communities, with in-language communications not being a focus in Victoria and New South Wales. What does the future hold? Overall, the multicultural communications industry in Australia is facing a range of challenges and opportunities as the population becomes more diverse. Government departments and agencies will need to adapt to these changes in order to effectively communicate with and serve the needs of the Australian people. This will require the use of multilingual communication strategies, advanced technologies, and a focus on cultural competency and sensitivity in communication. By meeting these challenges, government departments and agencies can help to support the needs of the communities that they serve.
