Children from multicultural backgrounds losing interest in foreign parents' native languages

Students from multicultural backgrounds attend a foreign language and culture class at an elementary school in Seoul, in this 2012 file photo. Korea Times file

By Lee Hyo-jin

Bilingualism is widely considered a strength of children from multicultural backgrounds, but children from these families living in Korea are becoming less enthusiastic about learning their foreign parent's mother tongue, according to government data, Monday.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family shared the results of a 2021 survey of over 15,000 multicultural households across the country. The triennial survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with multinational married couples and their children aged between nine and 24 on their economic activities, family life, childcare situation and education.

Only 27.3 percent of the children responded that they are willing to become fluent in the mother language of their non-Korean parent, a sharp decline from 42.4 percent in 2018.

The survey also found that only 19 percent of the children were being encouraged to speak in the language of their immigrant parent at home, down 6.4 percentage points from 2018. Only 15 percent of the children surveyed replied that they are currently learning their foreign parent's language.

The ministry explained that the improved Korean language skills of the children's immigrant parents, which may enable them to communicate with their children in Korean, could be a reason why the children find it less necessary to learn the foreign language.

But Cha Yun-kyung, the board chairman of the Migrant Youth Foundation, viewed that foreign parents might be less willing to pass on their native language that is rarely spoken in Korea.

"Proficiency in Southeast Asian or Central Asian languages is rarely considered an advantage when applying for college or planning a career in Korea. Knowing this, many immigrant parents want their children to spend more time acquiring English skills, rather than their native language," he said. "But the benefits of naturally acquiring a second language in the early stages of childhood should not be overlooked."

Cha also said that the government should increase its efforts to support children from multicultural backgrounds who are frequently deprived of opportunities to access higher education.

The survey showed that only 40.5 percent of students from multicultural families had entered university in 2021 ― much lower than the 71.5 percent of the total student population doing so.

"There may be various reasons why they choose not to enter college, but financial difficulties are a major obstacle," Cha said. "Many parents in multicultural households can't afford to send their children to college due to expensive tuition fees. Also, the worsening unemployment rates among those who graduate from university could be another reason why they don't see attending college as necessary."

Regarding which government policies are needed to encourage children with multicultural backgrounds to go on to higher education, Cha replied, "Realistically speaking, it might be difficult to create admissions quotas for children from multicultural backgrounds because some might make claims of reverse discrimination. Instead, the government could consider offering incentives to universities that accept more students from multicultural, low-income households."

Meanwhile, the ministry said the diversifying needs of multicultural families found through the survey will be reflected in the 2023-2028 Basic Plan for Multicultural Families to be implemented throughout the next five years.

"We will review our policies, which are currently being carried out to foster the bilingual skills of multicultural children and seek other ways to encourage them to obtain their parent's native languages at home naturally," Kim Sook-ja, head of the Youth and Family Policy Bureau, said during a briefing.

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