Australians are too "lazy" to learn Chinese language and it could harm the nation's economic future, a leading languages expert said on Tuesday.

Jane Orton, former director of the University of Melbourne's Chinese Teacher Training Centre, said Australians were "totally unprepared" for the Chinese boom in Australia's trade, tourism, and business industries - something which she said could harm the nation if more Australians don't take up learning Chinese.

"As China's role in our economic and strategic future continues to grow, we badly need a deeper capacity to engage with it on a linguistic and cultural level playing field," Orton told Fairfax Media on Tuesday.

"English is aggressively taught in China so that the country can engage with the outside world in both business and scholarship, but we are failing abysmally in this country to master Chinese.

"We are being left behind in the competition to understand and penetrate Chinese markets, Chinese culture and Chinese politics. This is lazy and even dangerous."

Orton said that, after signing a landmark free trade deal with the Asian superpower late last year, it was imperative that Australians begin to learn Chinese languages, as it would help attract more Chinese investment and trade in Australia.

"We need far more speakers with at least a basic proficiency," she said, "The growing importance of China to our prosperity and security means that there is also an urgent need to develop a cohort of people with superior language skills and a sophisticated mastery of how China works."

Orton predicted that, excluding those of a Chinese background, there were less than 150 Australians who could proficiently speak Chinese language, something which should "alarm both economic and strategic planners."

"It has been estimated that the current number of proficient adult speakers of Chinese in Australia of non-Chinese background is 130 at most, and half of those are already over 55 years of age," she said.

"Obstacles and disincentives discourage non-Chinese students from taking up or persevering with Chinese as a second language to the point where only 5 percent of those who enroll in it at secondary school continue it to year 12.

"Last year, there were 400 year 12 students of Chinese as a second language, 20 percent fewer than in 2008."

Orton added that the recent "massive influx" of Chinese tourists should also encourage state governments and schools to push students into learning Chinese language, as Australia was "totally unprepared" for the boom which is expected to continue.

"We are totally unprepared, linguistically and culturally, for the massive influx (of tourists)," Orton said on Tuesday.

"Given that our trade with China has been booming for years and that its growth was forecast by economic pundits a generation ago, this is a problem that has to be addressed."