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Celebrating 90 years of the Institute of Modern Languages at UQ

Speech delivered by Professor Deborah Terry at the Institute of Modern Languages 90th Anniversary Celebration, Global Change Institute Building, UQ St Lucia

Date: 22 March 2024


Thank you, Georgiana.

I, too, acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we meet today. We honour their Elders and their continuing cultural and spiritual connection to this land – as we walk together on the path to Reconciliation.

I’d also like to acknowledge all the members of the Queensland Diplomatic and Consular Corps here this evening, and Billie Mulherin.

Many Australians of my generation, when we first travelled, were often surprised and ashamed to discover a glaring hole in our otherwise excellent education.

Our experiences and enjoyment of the world were blunted by our relative inexperience with languages other than English.

As a teenager, I was lucky enough to visit France with my family. I’d studied French at high school, so it was a little disappointing to discover when I got there that the French people I met quickly switched to English given my very limited conversational skills in French!

In my current role, I do quite a bit of international travel and often reflect on how important an understanding of modern languages is in our modern global environment. But the truth is that it has always been important.

Indeed, it’s as important today as it was 90 years ago when UQ established our Institute of Modern Languages, the first of its kind at an Australian university.  

In an editorial about that opening in 1934, the Courier-Mail wrote that the new IML would correct what it described as a “growing narrowness and intolerance” in Australia[1] – in a sense, a view that could be expressed about many global contexts today.

IML’s first classes focused on French, German and Italian at Old Government House in the city.

But by the time classes moved to St Lucia in 1966, IML was teaching 18 languages including Arabic, Hindi, Malay, Polish, and Swedish.

This year, 90 years since its founding, IML provides courses in 40 different languages, and last year it had 2,637 enrolments – a long way from its first intake of 78 students in 1934.

It’s evolved, but its original goals – to give working adults the chance to learn a language they can use in business or to improve cross-cultural understanding – have hardly changed in 90 years.

That’s because people learn languages today for the same reasons they always have; for work, for travel, for family, and for love. 

My husband is from Germany, so I learnt German – perhaps to a slightly better degree than my French!

You need only to look at some of IML’s students to understand why another language is important to many of us.

For example, one of UQ’s professors recently enrolled in an IML Spanish course to present at a conference in Spain.

One of our researchers learnt Japanese so she could better understand journal articles written in Japanese.

A local filmmaker took an IML course in Korean because he wanted to produce K-pop music videos.

And one of our students studied Mandarin at IML for 6 years after falling in love with a Chinese girl – they ended up getting married and he invited his IML tutor to the wedding.

In fact, IML has been teaching Mandarin since 1936.

For the past 12 years, it’s also run a course entitled ‘Modern Greek for Aspiring Archaeologists’.

And for the past decade, IML has been working with the Australian Defence Force to deliver courses in 25 languages, including Arabic, Fijian, Malay and Vietnamese.

For nearly 25 years, IML’s translation service has also been busy not just across UQ, but translating for government departments, businesses and other universities in Queensland.

And one of its most popular programs is the French, Italian, Japanese & Spanish classes for UQ alumni held in the Atrium at our beautiful Queen Street building.

IML remains an important part of our commitment to our Queensland community, in which more than 13 percent of people now speak a language other than English at home.[2]  

Of course, it’s also a vital part of UQ’s engagement with the world.

When IML was established back in 1934, a time of rising nationalism, the Courier-Mail urged Australians to look outwards and to learn new languages.

In fact, the editorial predicted that IML would be part of a growing relationship between Australia and Asia.  To quote that 1934 article:   

“If … the way is opened for Japanese and Chinese students to come to our own University instead of going to those of England and America, the results will be beneficial not only to our trade but also to our future civilisation.”[3]

An observation that showed great prescience, given that today we benefit, on so many levels, from our foreign students, global engagement, and international exchanges.  

Our ability to trade, to understand other cultures, and to simply enjoy each other’s company is enhanced by the propagation of languages, proving that languages aren’t barriers; they’re bridges.

That was true in 1934, and it’s just as true today.

On a final note, I’d like to pay a special tribute to IML’s  director, Georgiana Poulter, who retires in May.

Georgiana was 16 when she began studying at IML.

25 years ago, she was appointed its director.

She’s one of those rare people whose name becomes synonymous with the organisation they lead. Georgiana’s passion for languages, for the power they give people, and her dedication to IML makes her a very difficult person to replace.

Under her leadership, IML has delivered what I believe is the best adult language tuition in the country.

She’s tackled each challenge as if it was an opportunity – for instance, in the context of falling high school language enrolments, IML enrolments are rising.  

Even the COVID pandemic became an opportunity to revisit distance education and explore new technologies.

IML’s  community reach through partnerships, workshops, and new programs have kept it a vibrant and a highly valued part of our UQ community.   

In fact, I often talk about the 3 roles of universities as being education, research and community engagement – and IML stands out as a wonderful example of the latter role to the extent that it genuinely enriches the communities in which we are embedded.

Georgiana, we wish you well in your retirement, but you will be hugely missed.    

And congratulations to everyone involved in IML for your outstanding achievements on this 90th anniversary.