heritage language

[her-i-tij lang-gwij]

noun

1. a language used at home and spoken natively by the adults in a family, but often not fully acquired by subsequent generations whose schooling and other socialization occurs primarily in a different language, usually a dominant or official language in the surrounding society.

   I speak Polish as a heritage language, but I never studied it in school.

Word History and Origins

Origin of heritage language¹

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

Spanish Sin Pena’s music-based learning services are just one example of educators using the genre as a tool to teach both language and culture to a growing number of U.S.-born Latinos who are not fluent in their heritage language.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

What all of this amounts to is a case study in how society in the 2020s is wrestling with these giant concepts: belonging, identity, lived experience, heritage, language, labels, offence.

Read more on BBC

Customs and Border Protection agents and consular personnel on the tribe’s cultural heritage, language and traditions.

Read more on Seattle Times

Instilling East African culture and heritage language connects children with elders’ wisdom and the wider community.

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Ardmore wouldn’t be consolidated, and the Arabic Heritage Language program that is launching in September would be added to the elementary school.

Read more on Seattle Times