Transmission of Japanese as a heritage language in the bilingual polity of Catalonia

Abstract This study explores the transmission of Japanese in Japanese-Catalan/Spanish speaking families in Catalonia from the perspective of Family Language Policy. Based on the data obtained through in-depth interviews with nine Japanese-speaking parents whose spouses are Catalan native speakers, we describe these families’ language policies in terms of how they shed light on how parents cope with transmitting Japanese in such contexts. One of the most striking findings of this study is that socially weaker languages – namely Japanese and Catalan – have an important presence in most of the participants’ families despite the use of Spanish between the parents in their home. The result of our analysis also suggests that parental beliefs and attitudes have a significant influence on their language practice and the maintenance of the heritage language (HL) at home.