Good reasons for kids to learn heritage language & culture

[Anonymous]

My children are not motivated to learn parents' heritage language & culture. And, I have tried to send them to languahe school. They don't mind going there, but the progress is minimal. They can't communicate in basic conversation over a year. They don't have passion to learn, so they treat it as a chore.

One kid is strong in chess and math, and get all As at school. One kid is strong in acting skills and singing. I wonder if they don't have talent or have a disability learning foreign language. What are the good reasons you give to your american born children that they should learn the heritage language and culture?

[Anonymous]

Do you speak the language? Opening up horizons and experiences by speaking another language is also good for brain health in old age. I am an immigrant and we practice OPOL at home and my kids go to language school on weekends but its to learn to read and write as they know how to speak since we speak at home. This is something we commited to and started early at the expense of time for other activities like sports.

[Anonymous]

Have they been to the heritage country?
It just seemed academic to me until I went when I was older and saw how convenient it would be if I spoke the language better. Also, some family members in heritage country didn't speak a lot of English.

[Anonymous]

OP, most third generation immigrants (as your children are) will lose the language. There are a lot of studies that back up this trend. There just aren't enough reasons to keep it, and it isn't being reinforced by the culture that they live in.

I have a few friends who have successfully passed on the language to this generation, and all of them spent considering time in that home country with the kids -- think a year.

[Anonymous]

*considerable

[Anonymous]

A lot of kids are like this, for what it's worth. I teach heritage students and often their parent's language just doesn't seem "cool." They usually regret it later on in life, but they have a really easy time picking it up if their parents have spoken to them in their native language a lot.

I do like 9:56's idea of visiting the heritage country!

[Anonymous]

I also know people who learned their heritage language as adults -- took lessons.

I don't think you can force it on kids. Unless, maybe, they spend a lot of time with grandparents who only speak that language and don't speak English?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, most third generation immigrants (as your children are) will lose the language. There are a lot of studies that back up this trend. There just aren't enough reasons to keep it, and it isn't being reinforced by the culture that they live in.

I have a few friends who have successfully passed on the language to this generation, and all of them spent considering time in that home country with the kids -- think a year.

+1 The people I know who maintained heritage languages multi-generationally made regular trips to their heritage country as children (like every summer there with grandparents/cousins/whatever) and interacted with relatives who primarily spoke the heritage language. And/or the children developed an interest later in life -- I have a friend who's a third generation Chinese. She got some language exposure as a kid (Chinese-speaking nanny for a few years), forgot it entirely, took it up as a foreign language in college after having taken French in high school, and now as an adult uses it in her professional career.

[Anonymous]

Many children in DC’s schools are LGTBQIA+, and feel they will it be accepted in other countries.

So they lose interest in their heritage/ language of the grandparents.

[Anonymous]

My DCs go to Sunday language school so they usually do assignment on Saturday night then study a little on Sunday morning, and we speak both heritage language and English at home. They don’t like it but can speak/read/write some. We do the bare minimum and don’t expect them to be good, just want them to continue expose to the heritage language. Maybe it will also be helpful when they start to take foreign language at middle school and high school.

[Anonymous]

Chinese is difficult to learn, and my kids do not want to learn them.

[Anonymous]

My kids have friends in their class so they like the social part. Progress is slow, and I expect to stop for the 4th grader as he's obsessed with sports activities, we don't have time anymore. I do see value in associating with other Asian American kids because similar culture, and picking up the right tones and accent when young (we do Mandarin). They can pick it up as adults or in college more easily.

[Anonymous]

It's great to know all of these languages but what practical use do they have? My parents tried to teach us the language growing up but on a day to day basis, I NEVER use it. I can watch tv shows and understand the language but I don't talk to my American friends in my "heritage" language. If you did something using it, then it makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's great to know all of these languages but what practical use do they have? My parents tried to teach us the language growing up but on a day to day basis, I NEVER use it. I can watch tv shows and understand the language but I don't talk to my American friends in my "heritage" language. If you did something using it, then it makes sense.

BUT it's not to say don't keep teaching them. Maybe they could use the skill somehow and talk to other kids who share the language??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's great to know all of these languages but what practical use do they have? My parents tried to teach us the language growing up but on a day to day basis, I NEVER use it. I can watch tv shows and understand the language but I don't talk to my American friends in my "heritage" language. If you did something using it, then it makes sense.

True.

Europeans love to brag about knowing other “mainstream “ European languages/ bilingualism.

But, they actually need to be bilingual, because their countries are tiny with small populations compared to us. They all need English, whereas we do not “need” for example, Hungarian.