An American Accent in Sydney

"America might control the world, but we must control and keep our own language" -Queensland, Australia's premier

The iconic Sydney opera house is a distinctly Australian image and manages to capture the personality and spirit of both the city and country. Australian identity, like all national identities, are tightly linked to its language. What then to do (if anything) when the rise of American english and associated cultural detritus continues? English is the language of world business and of medicine and public health--though this might be argued by the francophile WHO/UN. There are clear efficiency benefits of a world language, i.e. english, but as accents fade will too the things that make a multicultural world so interesting?

Photo: Sydney opera house, taken July 2007 while attending the 4th International AIDS Society Conference.