Languages spoken by medical students.

: A self-reported survey of 878 medical students in Monash University (excluding students sponsored by overseas governments) showed that 21.4% had a fluent command of a language other than English, and 62.2% had a basic usable knowledge of another language. Only 28.5% of the students reported having neither a fluent nor a usable command of another language. These results suggest a rich resource of skills in community languages other than English among people who will be entering the medical workforce. Positive recommendations are made to develop and use this resource effectively.