Heritage Language Programs Increasing in Popularity in American Universities

In the United States, one in five children are raised in a bilingual or multilingual home. They grow up speaking not just English but the language/s of their cultural heritage as well. When these children go to college in America or get the chance to study in another country, they soon find out that there are gaps in the language they grow up speaking, particularly in vocabulary and structure for more formal discussions. In order to bridge the gaps, American universities are preparing their graduates for globalization by adapting and modifying their foreign language curriculum. Heritage language programs that hope to bridge the gaps are now spreading across college campuses in the USA.

The gaps

Many children in the United States who are born to immigrants from Latin America grow up in Spanish-speaking communities. They can follow soap operas, newspapers, comic books and magazines quite well. They can converse in Spanish, too. They are actually a step ahead compared to children who only speak English. However, their vocabulary for small, everyday discussions may be more than adequate but when the discussion involves heavier and meatier topics (e.g. politics, trade, economics, medicine), they soon find out that they are unable to keep up with native speakers.

American children with exposure to the language of their culture and heritage may have an advantage over those who did not hear it spoken at home everyday. But it has been observed that when they encounter advanced courses of the language in school even just at the high school level, they do not rise to the occasion.

Heritage classes

In order to solve the conundrum that has been concerning educators for many years, heritage classes are now being offered in colleges across the United States in Chinese, Korean, Russian, and Spanish. In Southwest, California the Spanish classes are thriving while in the East Coast, Harvard University will soon offer a Spanish class in the fall. It has been reported that the states of Texas and Ohio are focusing the heritage classes on medical terminology.

Spanish is at the very top of the list

It is not surprising that the majority of heritage classes that are already running are in Spanish. There are around 37 million people in the United States of America who speak Spanish.

The very first people to sign up in the programs are Americans who speak Spanish but need to learn “formal Spanish” because they want to get good jobs in Latin American countries. They may be of Latin heritage, but being of the second or third generation of Spanish speaking immigrants, they do not know how to write in Spanish or read Spanish text. They realize that to be globally competitive, they need more than the colloquial version they grew up with.

Heritage programs have been in existence in America for more than 100 years and not just in Spanish but in other languages. However, formal language university programs in universities are quite new. A Department of Education grant was utilized by the University of Texas-Pan American to create a medial Spanish program in 2007 and this has served as the model for many other universities that are or will be offering heritage classes.

Photo Credit: Sign in San Jose, California in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.