This study deals with discrepancies in linguistic shift compared with heritage language preservation in subsequent generations in Sydney, Australia’s largest ‘EthniCity’. It draws on Clyne and Kipp’s and Chiswick and Miller’s work on variations amid non-English speaking background (NESB) immigrant groups in proficiency with or sole use of spoken English in the first generation. It then collates this with an expansion of Borjas' work on ethnic capital to explore linguistic shift and heritage language preservation in the second and third generations.