How to learn a heritage language
npr.org/transcripts/1101187823
*heritage language: "A heritage language is a minority language (either immigrant or indigenous) learned by its speakers at home as children, and difficult to be fully developed because of insufficient input from the social environment. The speakers grow up with a different dominant language in which they become more competent."
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If you raised in a family where parents use a minority language, and as an adult, you can't speak your parents' language and only use the dominant language (just like English), you may often concern about the fact that you can't use your minority language. Because people always tell you that 'do you speak your minority language? '.Sometime you may feel shame or embarrassed. So this episode gives some tips for people who decide to learn their minority language.
There are six tips, and it doesn't limit to people who have had heritage language. I think, language learner generally quite often feels shame, embarrassed, or any other negative feeling in their learning journey. So these tips are also useful to every language learner generally.
This episode includes 6 tips, but the most fresh thing that I think is starting from your strength not a weakness in language learning. For example, if someone feels that reading is really fit for me, he might be focus reading and spend time in another area of learning gradually.
My parents are Filipino and I grew up hearing Tagalog (the official language) and Ilocano, their native dialect. Sadly, I cannot understand Tagalog, and I can understand Ilocano but cannot speak it. I have never heard the term "heritage language" before, and I enjoyed learning from this post!
@JTrees You have a various background! Yeah, I also first heard the term. Thank you for your rewriting my sentences.