Note from the Chair

The Task Force for the Preservation of Heritage Language Skills in Maryland was established by Governor Martin O’Malley on July 1, 2008, in order to investigate current language preservation efforts and to develop new strategies in preserving world language skills in our State. To our knowledge, this is the first state-sponsored task force on heritage languages in the United States.

This paper compares the attitudes of heritage language learners and second language learners regarding language learning. One finding discussed in the paper is that heritage learners were less motivated than second language learners to study languages, and they were less likely to think that learning a language would yield personal or professional benefits.