We must extinguish the idea of Australia as a monolingual place and there's no better place to start than in the classroom. ABC 105.7 Drive presenter Vicki Kerrigan on why all Australians should learn Aboriginal languages.

Darwin sounds different. When you walk along the foreshore in Nightcliff, one of the most beautiful and popular spots in Darwin to enjoy the Arafura Sea, you can hear the difference.

As you sit on the grass, under the trees which grow on the edge of the sand, you can eavesdrop on the languages of the first people of this country. Those who have travelled from north east Arnhem Land to the city might speak Yolngu Matha; those from the country north west of Alice Springs speak Warlpiri.

I am unable to distinguish between Warlpiri and Yolngu Matha and yet I can easily tell the difference between French and Spanish, or at a push the difference between Swiss German and German.

I am embarrassed to say that I am monolingual. When I travel overseas, the fact that I come from Australia is my excuse: Parlez vous Anglais, je suis Australienne. Even the French can forgive an English speaker from Australia because our island nation is just so far away from other cultures.

Yet the truth is, that is not the truth. There are hundreds of different Indigenous cultures in Australia which survive despite a constant struggle. In some communities around the Northern Territory local languages are spoken before English.

Is it time to recognise that we are a land mass with loads of differences that should be protected and fostered, not diluted until these differences disappear. Could we think of ourselves as more like Europe?

At the time of white settlement there were 250 Indigenous languages spoken across Australia. Now only 18 are widely spoken. These are the statistics according Our Land, Our Languages, a report into language learning in Indigenous communities. Queensland Labor MP Shayne Neumann, who chaired the committee that released the report, said just like the Mabo decision extinguished terra nullius, we need to extinguish the idea of Australia being a monolingual place.

What are the benefits of that?

Bilingual education was dropped in the Northern Territory under the previous Labor government which believed that children should be taught in English for the first four hours at school. Yet with that policy school attendance rates dropped in remote communities. After pressure from teachers and linguists, and the communities themselves, the government changed the policy again to allow schools to teach in the local language when appropriate.

The Our Land, Our Languages report found that if Indigenous children were taught in their own language school attendance rates would improve.

What about the non-Indigenous children in the bilingual classroom? Can you imagine what it would be like for a non-Indigenous child to be sitting in that classroom learning their two-times-table in Yolngu Matha? The child would not only learn the language but also learn the culture that goes with it, what words are used to chastise a naughty student or what's so funny the entire class has cracked up laughing?

Word play is an important part of humour. The French laugh at different things to the English. Direct translations don't often work with a joke because, in most cases, to understand a joke in a foreign language you need to understand the cultural context it comes from.

If Indigenous languages are encouraged in Northern Territory schools, should a child from the well to do suburbs of Parap or Wahroonga or Toorak learn the Indigenous language local to that area? Of course, there would need to be a culturally appropriate course developed with approval from the native speakers, but could those issues be worked through so that we can all understand each other a little better?

There are so many health, education, welfare and economic policies aimed at closing the gap. If we could speak each other's language, even a small amount, maybe the benefits of simple communication would help to make that gap smaller.

I visited Croatia recently and with each interaction I would attempt the basic greeting and thanks, Dobar dan and Hvala. No doubt my pronunciation was appalling but my attempt to recognise the local culture with respect and not impose my own ways went a long way to breaking the down the differences. Anyone who has travelled knows this to be true, I am not a pioneer!

Nor am I a linguist, a sociologist or an anthropologist. I have reached this conclusion because I love to travel.

Language is not just about being able to communicate with the shopkeeper; it is also the key to culture, social structures, attitudes to money, connection to country and the weather. Language is the key which can be used to unlock differences. And then together we can sort it out.

Vicki Kerrigan presents Drive on Darwin's ABC 105.7. View her full profile here.