The Intergenerational Transmission of Minority Languages Project Una

The Intergenerational Transmission of Minority Languages Project Una Cunningham, University of Canterbury Jeanette King, University of Canterbury

Motivation • Office of Ethnic Affairs report (2013) – Encouragement to speak English to children • Long term personal and societal benefits (Cunningham 2011) • Our aim – to produce information and disseminate to parents and professionals

Child languages in NZ

Role of location within NZ Afrikaans Arabic Cook Island Māori Dutch French German Gujarati Hindi Japanese Khmer Korean Niuean Auckland Northern Chinese Rest of NZ Panjabi Persian Russian Samoan Spanish Tagalog Tokelauan Tongan Urdu Yue 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 percentage of child speakers 70 80 90

ITML project Team of academics, thesis students and research assistants: • Bilingual teen project • Dissemination: Website, Facebook Future projects: • Experiences of families with newborns • Role of digital technology in bilingual children transitioning from preschool to primary school

Bilingual teen project • Funding from NZILBB • Commissioned census data • 6 languages: Korean, Mandarin, Dutch, German, French, Spanish • 6 native speaking interviewers (thesis student and RAs)

Census data 2013 - Canterbury language % NZ child speakers 1 Japanese 18. 9 1116 2 Persian 17. 3 282 3 Russian 13. 3 228 4 French 13. 3 912 5 Spanish 12. 2 693 6 German 12. 1 612 7 Dutch 11. 7 225 8 Korean 11. 3 990 9 Tagalog 10. 3 804 10 Afrikaans 8. 3 351 11 Mandarin 7. 4 840 # child speakers

Bilingual teen project • Each interview 5 sets of parent/s and 16 -18 year old children • Asked about their beliefs, attitudes and practice in raising/being raised as a speaker of a minority language in Christchurch • Interviews transcribed and translated • Preliminary results on factors affecting parental decisions

“It’s natural” • “I’ve never made decisions on that” - Korean mother • “When she was born, the natural language for me was French” • “We always spoke French at home. Why? It never occurred to us to do otherwise. ” • “We had not really thought about it. We just spoke Dutch at home” • “For me it is very important to pass on Dutch. You might say it is a family tradition”

Bilingual advantage • “What a good chance to let my child learn two languages” – Chinese mother • “I think that being bilingual has enriched their lives. They have double opportunities to access culture, movies, music, literature, as well as humour“ – Spanish mother • “We had both suffered [from not being bilingual] … when one is not bilingual at birth, it is harder” - French father

Culture & Heritage • “Firstly, they are Chinese, which is an unchangeable fact. Secondly, whether they can speak Chinese or not, they are Chinese. Thirdly, if they cannot speak Chinese, they will feel ashamed in the future” – Chinese mother • “If they cannot speak Chinese, the people in English world would consider them as ‘bananas’” – Chinese mother • “Them getting to know their culture a bit better, their roots” – French father

Communicating with wider family • “For them to be able to communicate with their family on holidays (in Spain). By speaking the language they can have much more fun. Because they can be part of what we are doing and be perfectly integrated. ” • “[With regards to] communicating with their grandparents, cousins, and all of that. I am conscious of the fact that they have to speak a minimum amount of French in order for that to happen naturally ” – French father • “I still have a lot of family living in The Netherlands and I want them [the kids] to be able to talk with uncles … my brothers and sisters, with their uncles and aunts. ”

Communicating emotions • “I was determined to teach my child to speak Chinese partly for my benefit, as it would facilitate our emotional communication and daily life communication” – Chinese mother • “[Re professional advice on arrival in NZ] to continue to speak Dutch at home, day to day, as much as you can, because it takes ten years to transfer the emotional side of a language to a child”

Dissemination project • Facebook page: Growing up with Two Languages • Website with information for parents and professionals – Also pamphlets, etc. – Talking to professional and community groups

Dissemination project

References Cunningham, U. (2011). Growing up with two languages. London: Routledge. Esser, H. (2006). “Migration, language and integration. ” AKI Research Review 4. Office Of Ethnic Affairs. (2013). Language and integration in New Zealand. Retrieved from http: //ethniccommunities. govt. nz/sites/default/files/Langu ageand. Integrationin. NZ. pdf