THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SPANISH HERITAGE LANGUAGE PROGRAMM FOR CHILDREN IN GERMAN SWITZERLAND AND ITS IMPACT ON COMMUNITY PERCEPTION OF LATIN AMERICAN IMMIGRANTS

Abstract

If heritage languages are defined by their local sociolinguistic status and situation (Montrul, 2016), the case of Latin American Spanish in Switzerland was defined, at the start of this investigation as practically inexistent at the state level. Though Latin Americans in Switzerland seem to be larger in number than Spanish migrants, they face more obstacles when trying to be taken into account by heritage language development policies, especially in early childhood. The reasons are diverse, but perhaps the most important one is that they are not perceived as a group in need of special integration policies. The aim of this paper is to provide evidence of the impact a heritage language and culture development program which includes mixed groups (heritage and foreign language) had on the Swiss society’s attitude towards Spanish speakers, especially (but not exclusively) Latin Americans living in the city of Wil and surrounding areas in the canton of St. Gallen. This work also presents evidence of the identity reconstruction process in migrant families. To this end, several impact indicators are defined and the creation process of the program together with the data record that took place between 2013 and 2020 are explained.