Heritage Language

Given the fact that multilingualism is increasingly seen as an essential career skill in today's global marketplace, it is disappointing to see young people 'lose' their family heritage language soon after immigrating to the US. Disappointing, but not surprising, and not entirely without benefit. It is a natural part of the process of assimilation, and facilitates attributes essential to success in America. However, when the children or grandchildren of first generation immigrants struggle - and more often than not fail - to try and acquire that same language, one cannot help feeling that something precious has been lost.



One of my best friends is Korean, and his oldest son speaks about as much Korean as I do (which is not very much), but he’s fairly fluent in Spanish.
 

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