This study investigates attitudes toward heritage language maintenance and shift among Chinese parents and their children in The Hague. It specifically explores the attitudes held by the parents...Show moreThis study investigates attitudes toward heritage language maintenance and shift among Chinese parents and their children in The Hague. It specifically explores the attitudes held by the parents and efforts made by them to maintain their children’s proficiency in Chinese language varieties. Ten families residing in The Hague were included in the study. Data for this paper were drawn from an online questionnaire shared through Wechat and face-to-face interviews with two families. Analysis of the data indicates that Chinese parents value their heritage language very much and they make a lot of efforts to maintain their children’s proficiency in Chinese language varieties. The children, however, do not have the same attitudes compared to their parents. Most of them consider Chinese to be a challenging language and do not see the necessity of learning it. Meanwhile, a lingua franca shift from Cantonese to Mandarin is gradually taking place and a new Chinese migrant category has been emerging in The Hague over time. Moreover, the local Dutch schools also play an important role in heritage language maintenance (HLM). My findings suggest that parents should attempt to adopt more measures to encourage their children to learn Chinese, and cultivate interest in Chinese culture and language for their children in order to motivate them to learn Chinese at a young age. Furthermore, the local Dutch schools should also continue the current education system and try to cooperate with parents in emphasizing the significance of Chinese heritage language.Show less
This thesis discusses the properties of the current global language English, along with other three languages: Esperanto, Latin, and Classical Chinese who once were or close to be an international...Show moreThis thesis discusses the properties of the current global language English, along with other three languages: Esperanto, Latin, and Classical Chinese who once were or close to be an international language. This paper attempts to figure out if Chinese will replace English as the next global language by listing the properties of a global language following a comparison of the list with properties of Modern Chinese. In order to find out the properties of a global language, this thesis analyzes the reasons why each language became a global or a regional lingua franca and why some of the languages failed to maintain the status of being an international language. The result shows that being a global language often relies on colonial expansion, strong influence in multiple fields throughout the world and the easiness of acquiring the language. Chinese being the only language written with characters and the principle of “Peaceful Rise” of China makes Chinese less likely to be the next global language.Show less
