Language skills

New South Wales and Sydney are rich in cultural and linguistic diversity. Results from the latest census in 2011 show that: 

• Over 1.5 million people, or 22% of NSW residents, reported speaking a language other than English at home, with more than 90% of these people located in Sydney.
• One-third of people living in the Greater Sydney Metropolitan area speak a non-English language at home.
• Almost 40% of Australian residents who speak a language other than English at home reside in NSW.
• Besides English, the most commonly spoken languages in the state are Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin and other dialects), Arabic, Italian, Greek and Vietnamese.
• European languages are prominent in the state as a result of cultural and historic links to Europe, and Asian languages have flourished due to higher levels of immigration from Asia.

Sydney's availability of foreign-language speakers, particularly its abundance of Asian- language speakers, has proven to be a desirable factor for global firms wishing to establish regional operations hubs or Asia Pacific customer service centres. 

Many of these foreign-language speakers are also highly qualified, with a significant number having attained tertiary qualifications.

Language Skills – Selected Languages in Australian States, 2011

Language	NSW	Sydney	Victoria	Queensland
Speaks English only	5,013,343	2,732,446	3,874,863	3,675,958
Speaks a non-English language:	1,554,331	1,425,535	1,235,435	423,843
Arabic	184,252	178,662	68,436	11,422
Cantonese	136,374	132,136	72,902	22,255
Mandarin	139,825	133,887	103,744	38,117
Italian	83,174	68,532	124,857	21,713
Greek	86,601	80,778	116,803	11,402
Vietnamese	87,501	85,029	86,594	21,853
Spanish	55,627	49,829	29,014	15,605
Hindi	52,782	50,785	32,705	13,188
Korean	47,420	46,103	10,329	12,737
Tagalog	37,117	34,337	16,538	12,410
German	23,426	16,044	20,083	16,349
Indonesian	24,781	23,548	13,877	4,427
Filipino	21,108	19,127	14,525	8,694
Tamil	21,527	20,659	17,451	3,479
Other languages	552,816	486,079	507,577	210,192
Not stated	349,983	233,694	243,745	232,938
Total	6,917,657	4,391,675	5,354,043	4,332,739

Language Skills – Selected Languages in Australian States, 2011 (cont'd)

Language	Other	Australia	NSW as % of Aust
Speaks English only	3,945,126	16,509,290	30.4
Speaks a non-English language:	699,330	3,912,939	39.7
Arabic	23,068	287,178	64.2
Cantonese	32,144	263,675	51.7
Mandarin	54,724	336,410	41.6
Italian	70,089	299,833	27.7
Greek	37,411	252,217	34.3
Vietnamese	37,440	233,388	37.5
Spanish	17,251	117,497	47.3
Hindi	12,677	111,352	47.4
Korean	9,300	79,786	59.4
Tagalog	15,391	81,456	45.6
German	20,512	80,370	29.1
Indonesian	12,784	55,869	44.4
Filipino	11,077	55,404	38.1
Tamil	7,693	50,150	42.9
Other languages	337,769	1,608,354	34.4
Not stated	258,824	1,085,490	32.2
Total	4,903,280	21,507,719	32.2