“You have to repeat Chinese to mother!”: multilingual identity, emotions, and family language policy in transnational multilingual families

Abstract

Abstract A growing number of family language policy studies have started to pay more attention to the emotions that transnational multilingual families (TMFs) identify regarding their multilingual identity, even if much of the research remains primarily focused on TMFs residing in Europe and North America. This article reports on a qualitative study that explored the emotions that five TMFs residing in Russia identified with their multilingual identity, and how these emotions affected their family language policy. The study combined ethnographic elements in the form of video recordings and two rounds of semi-structured interviews. The findings indicated that the parents felt pride and satisfaction in their own multilingual identity yet feared that their children were developing a monolingual identity, which led to them experiencing anger and frustration. Coupled with these negative emotions, they were found to adopt monolingual practices with their children in hopes of making them more multilingual. The study adds to our understanding of how emotions, multilingual identity, and family language policy interact in TMFs outside of Europe and North America and is one of the first studies to explore the experiences of such families in Russia.