1100 preschools want to try languages

All hands are up at preschools wanting to try a new program to teach young children foreign languages.

More than 1100 preschools applied for 40 places in the Early Learning Languages Australia trial in 2015 - that's about one in seven services.

"It's certainly set tongues wagging," Assistant Education Minister Sussan Ley said.

"It's been exciting to see the trial continue the growing revival of discussion about the importance of language studies for our children."

In the trial, preschool students will learn Mandarin, Japanese, Indonesian, Arabic or French via play-based tablet apps.

The federal government hopes the program can help encourage students to learn a language throughout their schooling.