A former New Zealand ambassador to China says new research showing that 160 languages are now spoken in New Zealand is a wake-up call for the country to improve its teaching of Asian languages.

Asia New Zealand Foundation executive director John McKinnon said a report by the Royal Society of New Zealand highlighted New Zealand's "superdiversity" in languages, as well as the lack of a coordinated approach to language learning and teaching.

It was vital for New Zealand's economic, cultural and political interests that Asian languages were more widely taught, said McKinnon, who was ambassador to China from 2001 to 2004. "Parents need to see to that having their children learn Asian languages will improve their future prospects," he said in a statement.

Other countries were developing policies to boost the availability of Asian languages in schools, he said, citing the Australian government's 2012 "Australia in the Asian Century" white paper, which outlined requirements for every school to teach a priority Asian language. "Countries across the world are now investing in Asian languages. This is a wake-up call for New Zealand," he said. "The Swedish government has asked its National Education Agency to develop a new curriculum for Chinese in its schools."

The number of New Zealand children learning Chinese had grown steadily in the past decade, but only a minority of schools offered the language, while other key Asian languages were barely taught in New Zealand at all. "Of particular concern is Indonesian. Indonesia is New Zealand' s nearest Asian neighbor, the world's fourth most populous country, and has a rapidly growing economy," he said. "But Ministry of Education statistics show no New Zealand secondary students were studying Indonesian last year." He said investment was needed to ensure the country had qualified teachers who could operate in the New Zealand education system. "Obviously this is not going to happen immediately, but we need to take a medium-term approach and invest in the future of our children."