Immigrant families turn to schools and community classes to preserve fading languages

Migration can silently erode heritage languages as families prioritize the dominant language of their new country, a trend highlighted by scholars who observe both unconscious shift and deliberate abandonment of mother tongues. Advice from teachers or health professionals sometimes reinforces the belief that speaking a heritage language could impede English learning, leading many parents to forgo it. Nonetheless, community projects are showing that revival is possible: Vancouver's De Esdoorn School, founded by a small group of parents, now teaches Dutch to children and adults, while North York's Cummer Valley Middle School offers Cantonese lessons that blend language with cultural activities.

Researchers such as Nikolay Slavkov and Monika Schmid argue that each language carries unique knowledge about history, nature, and literature, and that its loss diminishes collective heritage. The UN's Decade of Indigenous Languages adds global momentum to these local efforts, underscoring the broader importance of multilingualism for cultural resilience.