Course content
Effective CALD communication - that is, culturally and linguistically diverse communication - is vital to ensure you’re reaching as much of your target audience as possible. It’s in your own best interests, as well as those of your audience, to ensure your communication approach is as inclusive and accessible to as much of your target audience as it can be. In this course, we'll take you through the reasons why CALD communications are necessary, how to make a case for them in your business, and how to get started.
Hi, and welcome to Lumin. I'm Loc.
And I'm Jess. And we'll be talking to you today about CALD communications. That is, culturally and linguistically diverse communication. Why it's necessary, how to make a case for CALD comms in your business, and how to get started. Effective CALD communication is vital to ensure you're reaching as much of your target audience as possible. It's in your own best interests, as well as those of your audience, to ensure your communication approach is as inclusive and accessible to as much of your target audience as it can be.
So, let's start by thinking about who we consider to be the average Australian. Who is the mainstream audience?
You may be surprised to learn that Australia is the most ethnically diverse in the world, with 26% of our population born overseas. That number actually hasn't changed much since '01, 22.6% compared to 26.3% now. What has changed significantly is the diversity of places we all come from. In 1901, the majority were from the UK and Ireland, a total of 79%. There was only one Asian country, and that was China, representing 3.5 % of the overseas born population. By 2016, China represented 8.3% of Australia's overseas born population, and is one of six Asian countries listed in the top 10 countries of birth. The UK, whilst still number one in the list, now represents only 17.7% of overseas born.
Australia is now a nation of people from over 190 different countries, and we speak more than 300 languages. 21% of us speak a language other than English at home, the most common being Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, and Vietnamese. For those of us who speak another language at home, our media consumption and information-seeking habits are often quite different. Even if someone speaks English well, being from a different cultural background will still have an effect on their habits and preferences.
As you would expect, a lack of English proficiency can be a barrier in reaching some multicultural audiences, so we need to truly engage with them and understand how best to reach them and tailor communication tactics. And this is where building trust is especially important. The ongoing challenge of communicating with communities with limited English proficiency isn't likely to change.
Since 2005, we have been experiencing more population growth through people arriving from overseas than through natural increase. That is, more migrants than babies, and this shows no signs of slowing. The bottom line is, we are changing rapidly and this brings with it unique challenge for communicators in Australia. As our demographics grow and shift, there will always be a new segment of our population to embrace, and new challenges and nuances to understand. Building trust with these groups is central to effective communication and engagement within any strategy. In our next lesson, we will discuss how to make the business case for CALD communications.
And I'm Jess. And we'll be talking to you today about CALD communications. That is, culturally and linguistically diverse communication. Why it's necessary, how to make a case for CALD comms in your business, and how to get started. Effective CALD communication is vital to ensure you're reaching as much of your target audience as possible. It's in your own best interests, as well as those of your audience, to ensure your communication approach is as inclusive and accessible to as much of your target audience as it can be.
So, let's start by thinking about who we consider to be the average Australian. Who is the mainstream audience?
You may be surprised to learn that Australia is the most ethnically diverse in the world, with 26% of our population born overseas. That number actually hasn't changed much since '01, 22.6% compared to 26.3% now. What has changed significantly is the diversity of places we all come from. In 1901, the majority were from the UK and Ireland, a total of 79%. There was only one Asian country, and that was China, representing 3.5 % of the overseas born population. By 2016, China represented 8.3% of Australia's overseas born population, and is one of six Asian countries listed in the top 10 countries of birth. The UK, whilst still number one in the list, now represents only 17.7% of overseas born.
Australia is now a nation of people from over 190 different countries, and we speak more than 300 languages. 21% of us speak a language other than English at home, the most common being Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, and Vietnamese. For those of us who speak another language at home, our media consumption and information-seeking habits are often quite different. Even if someone speaks English well, being from a different cultural background will still have an effect on their habits and preferences.
As you would expect, a lack of English proficiency can be a barrier in reaching some multicultural audiences, so we need to truly engage with them and understand how best to reach them and tailor communication tactics. And this is where building trust is especially important. The ongoing challenge of communicating with communities with limited English proficiency isn't likely to change.
Since 2005, we have been experiencing more population growth through people arriving from overseas than through natural increase. That is, more migrants than babies, and this shows no signs of slowing. The bottom line is, we are changing rapidly and this brings with it unique challenge for communicators in Australia. As our demographics grow and shift, there will always be a new segment of our population to embrace, and new challenges and nuances to understand. Building trust with these groups is central to effective communication and engagement within any strategy. In our next lesson, we will discuss how to make the business case for CALD communications.
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About the instructor
CultureVerse - Jessica Billimoria & Loc Trinh
CultureVerse was established in 2015 by Loc Trinh and Jessica Billimoria. The CultureVerse team has proven experience providing a variety of communication and engagement services targeting culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) audiences nationally. Jessica is an accomplished marketing communications professional with 13 years' experience working for government, non-profit and private sector corporations. Skilled in strategic multicultural communications, Jessica is experienced in developing and implementing organisation-wide approaches to engaging diverse audience groups. Loc has over 20 years' experience in marketing communication and engagement with multicultural communities in Australia. His wide-ranging network of contacts across multicultural communities in Australia is not often rivalled.