The Cultural Capital of Migrants and Language Maintenance across Generations: Vietnamese Families in Australia

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper explores how the Vietnamese language has been maintained across generations in Vietnamese families in Melbourne, Australia. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital and in-depth interviews with 20 first-generation Vietnamese migrant parents and 18 second-generation Vietnamese Australian children, this study reveals that parents and children attempt to preserve the language because of its benefits in communicating and strengthening the relationships among family members, as well as in supporting study and work in Australia. It also highlights that parents and children act as active agents in the process of developing their resources into cultural capital in a multicultural society.