Article published in:
Language and Communication of Asian Diaspora Communities in Europe
Edited by Zi Wang and Florian Coulmas
[Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 31:2] 2021
► pp. 159–190

Language transmission among multilingual Chinese immigrant families in the Northern Netherlands

| University of Groningen
| City University of New York
Maintaining heritage languages is of vital significance for multicultural families. We present a study of Mandarin transmission among ten Dutch Chinese families in Groningen (Netherlands) associated to a local Saturday school. Data from semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire reveal that personal, integrative, and instrumental values, all play a role in language choices. Remarkably, with general positive attitudes towards multilingualism in Dutch society, families too feel encouraged to maintain Mandarin. Nevertheless, they report lack of school and institutional support, and criticisms about their ability to belong in Dutch society. Parents wish that teachers attached more importance to their heritage languages, rather than solely focusing on children’s learning of Dutch (and English), and that their own multiculturality (not only that of their children) be embraced. Likewise, parents are critical of the Chinese school, and wish teachers better accommodated to the sensitivities and practices their children are used to from their Dutch school experience.
Keywords: heritage language transmission, multilingual Chinese families, family language policy, Dutch-Chinese communities in the Netherlands
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 2.1Family language policy, transmission strategies, and parental motivations
    • 2.2Language schools and social networks
  • 3.Chinese Dutch families in Groningen
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Semi-structured interviews and brief questionnaire
  • 4.Questionnaire results
    • 4.1Family language composition and use
    • 4.2Language use between parents and children
    • 4.3Language use among siblings
  • 5.Results from Semi-structured interviews
    • 5.1Parental language practices
    • 5.2Parental motivations to maintain Mandarin
      • 5.2.1Personal values
      • 5.2.2Integrative values in the extended community
      • 5.2.3Integrative values in the local community
      • 5.2.4Instrumental values
    • 5.3Parental expectations regarding Mandarin proficiency
      • 5.3.1Oral proficiency
      • 5.3.2Literacy
      • 5.3.3Children’s engagement
    • 5.4Reported children’s linguistic proficiencies
    • 5.5Parental motivations to send their children to the Chinese school and their critiques
    • 5.6Feedback from the environment
  • 6.Conclusion and discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 13 October 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.00063.dau
References
Bain, B., & Yu, A.
(1980) Cognitive consequences of raising children bilingually: One parent, one language. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 34 (4), 304–13. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Barron-Hauwaert, S.
(2004) Language Strategies for Bilingual Families: The One-Parent-One-Language Approach. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Benmamoun, E., Montrul, S. & Polinsky, M.
(2013) Defining an “ideal” heritage speaker: Theoretical and methodological challenges Reply to peer commentaries. Theoretical Linguistics, 39(3–4), 259–294. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Caldas, S. J.
(2012) Language policy in the family. In B. Spolsky (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Language Policy (pp. 351–373). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Casesnoves Ferrer, R. & Juarros-Daussà, E.
(2011) La influencia de la política lingüística en la transmisión del catalán y del gallego dentro y fuera de sus fronteras. In E. Izaskun et al.. (Eds.), Empirical and analytical tools for 21 century: applied linguistics. Selected papers from the XXIX International Conference of the Spanish Association of Applied Linguistics (AESLA) (pp. 861–874). Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca.Google Scholar
(2015) El catalán entre las dos lenguas más habladas del mundo. In R. Terborg, A. Alarcón & L. Neri (Eds.), Lengua española, contacto lingüístico y globalización (pp. 463–492). México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Google Scholar
Casesnoves, R. & Juarros-Daussà, E.
(2013) Les institucions catalanes a NYC: influència en la transmissió i manteniment del català. In L. Arroyo Moliner & M. Simó Solsona (Eds.), Societats i Cultures, més enllà de les fronteres (pp. 2–25). Associació Catalana de Sociologia/Institutd’Estudis Catalans.Google Scholar
Cavallaro, F.
(2005) Language maintenance revised: an Australian perspective. Bilingual Research Journal, 29 (3), 561–582. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
CBS
(2010) Herkomst van Chinezen in Nederland. In Bevolkingstrends: Statistisch Kwartaalblad over de demografie van Nederland. Jaargang 58, 1e kwartaal, 6–6. Den Haag Centraal Bureau voor Statistiek.Google Scholar
Cho, G. & Krashen, S.
(1998) The negative consequences of heritage language loss and why we should care. In S. Krashen, L. Tse & J. McQuillan (Eds.), Heritage Language Development (pp. 31–39). Culver City, CA: Language Education Associates.Google Scholar
Cohen, R.
(1997) Global Diasporas: An Introduction. London: UCL Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cummins, J.
(2001b) Heritage language teaching in Canadian schools. In C. Baker & N. H. Hornberger (Eds.), An Introductory Reader to the Writings of Jim Cummins (pp. 252–257). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
(2008) Teaching for Transfer: Challenging the two solitudes assumption in bilingual education. In J. Cummins (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Language and Education (pp. 65–75). Boston: Springer Science + Business Media. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Curdt-Christiansen, X. L.
(2009) Invisible and Visible Language Planning: Ideological Factors in the Family Language Policy of Chinese Immigrant Families in Quebec. Language Policy, 8 (4), 351–375. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
De Houwer, A.
(2015) Harmonious bilingual development: Young families’ well-being in language contact situations. International Journal of Bilingualism, 19 (2), 169–184. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Döpke, S.
(1992) One Parent One Language: An Interactional Approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dörnyei, Z.
(2003) Attitudes, Orientations, and Motivations in Language Learning: Advances in Theory, Research, and Applications. A Journal of Research in Language Studies, 53 (S1), 3–32. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Duarte, J.
(2018) Translanguaging in the context of mainstream multilingual education. International Journal of Multilingualism. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Eisenberg, A., Murkoff, H. & Hathaway, S. E.
(1989) What to Expect the First Year. New York: Workman.Google Scholar
Gafaranga, J.
(2010) Medium Request: Talking Language Shift into Being. Language in Society, 39 (2), 241–270. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
García, O.
(2009) Education, multilingualism and translanguaging in the 21st century. In A. Mohanty, M. Panda, R. Phillipson & T. Skutnabb-Kangas (Eds.), Multilingual Education for Social Justice: Globalising the local (pp. 128–145). New Delhi: Orient Blackswan. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gardner, R. C. & Lambert, W. E.
(1972) Attitudes and Motivation in Second-Language Learning. Newbury House Publishers.Google Scholar
Glaser, B. G.
(1998) Doing grounded theory: Issues and discussions. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press.Google Scholar
Gijsberts, M.
(2011) Taalbeheersing. In: M. Gijsberts, W. Huijnk, R. Vogels (red.). Chinese Nederlanders. Van horeca naar hogeschool. Den Haag: Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau, 62–77.Google Scholar
Grammont, M.
(1902) Observations sur la langue des enfants [Observations on child language]. Paris: Mélanges Meillet.Google Scholar
Hakuta, K., & d’Andrea, D.
(1992) Some properties of bilingual maintenance and loss in Mexican background high-school students. Applied Linguistics, 131, 72–99. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hakuta, K., & Pease-Alvarez, L.
(1994) Proficiency, choice, and attitudes in bilingual Mexican-American children. In G. Extra & L. Verhoeven (Eds.), The cross-linguistic study of bilingual development (pp. 145–164). North-Holland, Amsterdam / Oxford / New York / Tokyo.Google Scholar
Hinton, L.
(1999) Involuntary language loss among immigrants: Asian-American linguistic autobiographies (Report No. EDO-FL-99-10). Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ERIC document Reproduction Service No. ED436982).Google Scholar
Hummel, K.
(2014) Introducing Second Language Acquisition: perspectives and practices. John Wiley & Sons Inc.Google Scholar
Juarros-Daussà, E., & Lanz, T.
(2009) Re-thinking Balanced Bilingualism: the Impact of Global. Migration in Catalonia. Language Problems and Language Planning, 33 (1), 1–21. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Juarros-Daussà, E.
(2013) Language Transmission among Catalan and Galician Immigrants in New York City. In A. M. Carvalho & S. Beaudrie (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 6th Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics (pp. 148–157). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project. www​.lingref​.com, document #2864.
King, K. A.
(2013) A Tale of Three Sisters: Language Ideologies, Identities, and Negotiations in a Bilingual, Transnational Family. International Multilingual Research Journal, 7 (1), 49–65. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2016) Language policy, multilingual encounters, and transnational families. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 37(7), 726–733. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
King, K. A. & Fogle, L.
(2006b) Raising bilingual children: Common parental concerns and current research. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
(2013) Family Language Policy and Bilingual Parenting. Language Teaching, 46 (2), 172–194. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
King, K. A., Fogle, L. & Terry, A. L.
(2008) Family language policy. Language and Linguistics Compass, 2(5), 907–22. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kondo, K.
(1998) Social-psychological factors affecting language maintenance: Interviews with Shin Nisei university students in Hawaii. Linguistics and Education, 9(4), 369–408. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lanza, E.
(1992) Can bilingual two-year-olds code-switch? Journal of Child Language, 191, 633–58. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1997) Language Mixing in Infant Bilingualism: A Sociolinguistic Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lanza, E. & Wei, L.
(2016) Multilingual encounters in transcultural families. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 37(7), 653–654. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lanz, T., Daussà, E. & Pera-Ros, R.
(2019) Two-way Integration of Heritage and Minoritized Speakers: Voices from Catalonia. In U. Hoinkes & M. Meyer (Eds.), The Impact of Migration on Language and Culture Areas. Hamburg: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Lao, C.
(2004) Parents’ Attitudes Toward Chinese-English Bilingual Education and Chinese-English Use. Bilingual Research Journal, 28(1), 99–121. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Leopold, W. F.
(1939–1949) Speech Development of a Bilingual Child. 41 vols. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.Google Scholar
Li, J. & Juffermans, K.
(2018) Polycentric Repertoires: Constructing Dutch-Chinese Youth Identities in Classrooms and Online. In L. Wei (Eds.), Multilingualism in the Chinese Diaspora Worldwide. Transnational Connections and Local Social Realities (pp. 32–46). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Luo, S. H. & Wiseman, R. L.
(2000) Ethnic language maintenance among Chinese immigrant children in the United States. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 24(3), 307–324. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pakir, A.
(1994) Education and invisible language planning: The case of English in Singapore. In T. Kandiah & K. Kwan-Terry (Eds.), English Language Planning: A Southeast Asian Contribution (pp. 158–181). Singapore: Centre for Advanced Studies and Times Academic Press.Google Scholar
Park, S. M. & Sarkar, M.
(2007) Parents’ Attitudes Toward Heritage Language Maintenance for Their Children and Their Efforts to Help Their Children Maintain the Heritage Language: A Case Study of Korean-Canadian Immigrants. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 20(3), 223–235. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ronjat, J.
(1913) Le développement du langage observé chez un enfant bilingue. Paris: Champion.Google Scholar
Spolsky, B.
(2009) Language Management. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tannenbaum, M. & Howie, P.
(2002) The association between language maintenance And family relations: Chinese immigrant children in Australia. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 23(5), 408–424. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tse, L.
(2001) Resisting and reversing language shift: Heritage-language resilience among U.S. native biliterates. Harvard Educational Review, 71(4), 676–706. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Velázquez, I.
(2018) Household Perspectives on Minority Language Maintenance and Loss. Clevendon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Wei, L.
(2018) Multilingualism in the Chinese Diaspora Worldwide. Transnational Connections and Local Social Realities. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Wong Fillmore, L.
(1991) When learning a second language means losing the first. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 61, 323–346. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2000) Loss of Family Languages: Should Educators Be Concerned? Theory into Practice, 39 (4), 203–210. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Zhu, H. & Wei, L.
(2016) Transnational experience, aspiration and family language policy. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 37(7), 655–666. CrossrefGoogle Scholar