The Online Collection of National Heritage Language Program Profiles

Higher Education (university and community college)*

Chinese - Cantonese, Mandarin, and Taiwanese
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

This program offers advanced level language classes for heritage speakers of Cantonese, Mandarin, and Taiwanese. The language track includes a special course of study for Business Chinese.

Chinese - Mandarin
Carnegie Mellon University
 Pittsburgh, PA

The university offers a dual-track Chinese program, with separate courses for heritage speakers of Mandarin and Cantonese. The heritage course are administered within a foreign language program.

Chinese - Mandarin
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

This course focuses on developing heritage speakers’ basic reading and writing abilities in standard Chinese while enhancing listening and speaking proficiencies.

Ilokano
University of Hawaii
Honolulu, HI

The program was established to respond to the community’s need for Ilokano trained professionals in the areas of health, social services, legal services, education, and commerce.

Japanese
California State University
Long Beach, CA

This course is designed to assist learners of Japanese as a heritage language to further their language skills and socio-cultural knowledge. The course intends to strengthen the students’ oral language at a formal level, and to develop literacy skills by utilizing the Japanese language in the community through community service learning.

Multiple Languages: Arabic, Hindi, Persian, Russian, Spanish, Taglog, Urdu, and Vietnamese
Portland State University
Portland, OR

The university offers heritage language classes in Arabic, Hindi, Persian, Russian, Spanish, Taglog, Urdu, and Vietnamese. The program seeks to create a bilingual community by meeting to the specific needs of it diverse heritage language community.

Portuguese
University of California – Fullerton
Turlock, CA

The program offers Portuguese as a heritage language in support of the large Portuguese immigrant population close to the university. This allows students to study in close proximity with the heritage language community and pursue a minor in the Portuguese language.

Russian
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, NY

Since many heritage Russian speakers have different levels of fluency, it is hard to place these students in a normal language track. This course is designed to strengthen the spoken, written, and grammatical skills of students so they can be integrated into the standard Russian course with nonnative speakers.

Russian
Temple University
Philadelphia, PA

The program was founded in 2006 by the Russian program at the university to provide heritage learners of Russian a foundation for literacy.

Spanish
Colorado Mountain College
Edwards, CO

The program prepares students to transfer to other universities at the junior level. The primary goal of the program is to develop students’ cultural awareness and proficiency in Spanish literacy.

Spanish
Florida Atlantic University
Boca Raton, FL

The program seeks to accelerate heritage students’ study through the normal language requirements and into a course of study for the Spanish major. Students who complete the major are expected to be able to speak on a professional level.

Spanish
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA

This program offers a diverse selection of courses for heritage speakers of Spanish. The program seeks to foster bilingualism and motivate students to continue their language study at the graduate level.

Spanish
Purdue University
Lafayette, IN

This program seeks not only to develop the literacy skills of its heritage Spanish students, but also to raise awareness of the different cultural and dialect differences of Spanish in the United States. Additionally, the university offers both undergraduate and graduate levels of Spanish.

Spanish
State University of New York (SUNY)
New Paltz, NY

Liberal Arts and Sciences Department of Foreign Languages, Spanish

This program offers advanced literacy courses for heritage Spanish speakers. The aim of the program is to perfect students’ oral and written Spanish skills and promote a global awareness of U.S. Latino and Hispanic culture. The program is offered to any qualifying undergraduate at the university.

Spanish
The Sabine Ulibarrí
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM

The program was founded in the 1950s, by a professor at the university, out of a need for a special language class for bilingual students. The program develops students’ confidence in their ability to speak their different varieties of Spanish.

Spanish
University of Houston
Houston, TX

This program was created to meet the needs of an overwhelmingly growing population of heritage Spanish speakers on the university’s campus. The focus of the program is the acquisition of academic Spanish skills and includes graduate level seminars on heritage language education and research.

Spanish
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL

The university offers one official heritage course of study in Spanish, but also offers several smaller language classes in Polish, Hindi-Urdu, and Arabic. These classes are often populated with heritage speakers and are tailored to meet specific needs.

Spanish
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Baltimore, MD

Founded in 1990, the purpose of the Spanish for Heritage Speakers course is to promote the maintenance and revitalization of the language and culture.

Spanish
University of Maryland College Park
College Park, MD

This program focuses on the acquisition of basic grammar and oral skills of heritage Spanish heritage speakers who lack these basic language skills.

Spanish
University of Washington
Seattle, WA

This program is designed to build upon the language base that students have acquired outside of the educational system so that they may attain greater literacy and grammar and writing skills. Additionally, the program will create cultural awareness of the Hispanic World.

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*The Alliance is no longer collecting profiles for higher education programs. Please visit the National Heritage Language Resource Center (NHLRC) at UCLA to find out how you can participate in their survey of college-level heritage language programs.