Family dynamics, community ties, and strategies in the transmission of Japanese as a heritage language in Barcelona

One of the main issues of concern in immigrant families has been the transmission of the heritage language to the children, especially after they start attending local school and their environment becomes dominated by the societal language. While children of Japanese heritage in Barcelona can attend Saturday Complementary School, the low presence of the language in the Spanish context and the geographical distance from Japan pose considerable challenges for its transmission. In order to investigate this process, ten families of Japanese heritage participated in this study. Parents and children were interviewed about family language use and strategies, language attitudes, and perceptions of the Complementary School. The results highlight the gender imbalances in HL transmission efforts, particularly in intercultural partnerships. The complementary school appears to have an important role not only in providing language education to the children, but also in promoting family involvement in language transmission and community ties. Annual trips to Japan are also frequently presented as a fundamental source of motivation and identity building. The results raise concerns about the long-term viability of these strategies in terms of time and monetary resources, as well as possibilities for future Japanese language development upon graduation from the Complementary School.