Investigating multiethnic students' learning of their heritage languages at Japanese universities

我们2022年的研究目标是继续我们的数据收集和分析。我们采访了参与者，观察了他们在家中和家外如何使用他们的传统语言。我们的发现表明，那些已经从大学毕业的人使用他们传统语言的机会比他们在学生时代更少。我们还发现，那些说遗产的人可以故意避免使用他们的遗产语言，而是在某些情况下选择用日语说话，以便与不精通日语的父母保持距离。2022年11月，我们在日本神田外国语大学组织了一次关于遗产语言教育的研讨会。第一部分是近藤健美博士在夏威夷大学马诺阿分校就美国传统语言教育发表的全体演讲。第二部分是具有传统语言背景的日本大学生的小组讨论。这次研讨会为我们提供了一个机会，倾听讲传统语言的人的声音，了解少数民族和语言少数群体在日本是如何生活的。这也是一个很好的机会来思考日本社会应该如何支持少数民族和语言上的少数群体。

Our research goal for 2022 was to continue our data collection and analysis. We interviewed the participants and observed how they had been using their heritage languages in and outside their homes.Our findings suggested that those who had already graduated from university had fewer opportunities to use their heritage language than when they were students. We also found that those heritage speakers can intentionally avoid using their heritage language, and instead choose to speak in Japanese in some contexts in order to keep a distance from their parents, who are not proficient in Japanese.In November 2022, we organized a symposium at Kanda University of International Studies on heritage language education in Japan. The first part was a plenary speech by Dr. Kimi Kondo-Brown at the University of Hawaii at Manoa on heritage language education in the US. The second part was a panel discussion by Japanese university students with heritage language backgrounds. This symposium provided us with a chance to listen to the voices of heritage language speakers and understand how ethnic and linguistic minorities are living in Japan. It was also a great opportunity to think about how Japanese society should support ethnic and linguistic minorities.