To date, there have been no major studies that assess how proficiently U.S.-born Taiwanese speak Mandarin and read Chinese, their heritage language (HL) and what factors contribute to such proficiency. Mandarin refers to the language spoken by the majority of Chinese people around the world and Chinese refers to the written script. This study investigates how well U.S.-born Taiwanese speak Mandarin and read Chinese as their HL, and also analyzes the factors that contribute to their proficiency. For this study, spoken Mandarin and written Chinese proficiencies were assessed using a modified version of the oral proficiency interviews ("modified OPI") according to American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Guidelines in combination with a separate reading test. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted to determine the participants' personal motivations, ethnic and cultural identities and attitudes, time spent in and experience with community-based Chinese schools, and several other factors. Eight of the ten participants were rated as either intermediate or advanced speakers in Mandarin while only five participants read Chinese at the third grade level. These results suggest that, while attending community-based Chinese schools can be considered prerequisite for HL proficiency, the following factors have had the most impact on the participants' Mandarin/ Chinese proficiencies: personal motivation, not only ethnic but also cultural identification with Chinese and/or Taiwanese, and Mandarin /Chinese input and use. Other factors such as parental attitudes and efforts and parents' English proficiency were found to be less important.

This dissertation introduces Armenian, specifically Eastern Armenian in the Los Angeles context, into the landscape of heritage languages in the United States. Given the lack of knowledge about Armenian as a heritage language, both in the fields of Heritage Language Research and Armenian Studies, this study offers the first comprehensive examination of Armenian heritage language speakers in a variety of capacities. Each chapter presents a dimension of its own, highlighting particular qualities of this group of speakers while expanding knowledge about heritage languages and speakers in general. The study begins by assessing the overall landscape of Armenian and Armenians in Los Angeles, including an evaluation of the linguistic presence and use of the language, as well as signs of loss. The research then examines the incomplete acquisition process among heritage speakers by delineating linguistic features in the categories of phonology, morphology, register, and borrowings from English. Additionally, patterns of language use are investigated with the proposal of multiple domains of linguistic compartmentalization. Moreover, this study explores the persistent anxiety connected with using the heritage language and identifies the damaging cycle it generates. Finally, this research considers inconsistent attitudes and beliefs concerning the heritage language with an analysis of the impact of competing majority and minority language ideologies.

The primary source of data for this dissertation stems from a series of in-depth audio-recorded interviews with college-age heritage language learners of Eastern Armenian, consisting of questions related to background, education, use of, and attitude to the heritage language. The entire corpus of interviews was transcribed and analyzed using qualitative research conventions and methods.

This study was conducted to identify, quantify, and compare the types and number of negative transfer errors in the written essays of HL and L2 learners of Russian, particularly to categorize all instances of negative transfer. It was also focused on determining which linguistic subsystem is most influenced by negative transfer from English to Russian. This study added a new dimension to the current linguistic knowledge concerning negative transfer and the literature available in the area of Russian language pedagogy. Sixty HL and 60 L2 learners of Russian of the intermediate mid level of proficiency enrolled in Russian language classes at UCLA participated in the study. Written essays submitted for the ACTR National Post-Secondary Russian Essay Contest on four topics were used as the primary data source.

The most important finding from this research was that HL learners produced twice as many negative transfer errors as did L2 learners of Russian. Other important findings of the study reinforced the idea that writing in Russian showed the influence of English linguistic structures in four subsystems: lexical, semantic, syntactic, and orthographic. The research returned empirical evidence that, for both groups of learners, lexical and semantic subsystems were more vulnerable to the English-based linguistic structures than syntax and orthography.

Conclusions from this study hold pedagogical implications for Russian language instruction. For example, comprehensible meaning-focused input at the vocabulary level should be a part of the curriculum and material design. Guidelines were offered for creating comprehensive instructional intervention and productive activities that can strengthen vocabulary development and assist learners in minimizing and overcoming negative language transfer.

This dissertation presents the history of Russian-to-Japanese translation, from the end of the Edo period to the present through descriptions of translators' lives and activities. It's specific concern focuses on the methods of translation used by the translators.

It has been argued that recently a free style of easy-to-read translation has become more common, while the importance of word-for-word translation has been decreasing. These two dominant methods - "word-for-word, literal" and "free" translations - are defined after examinations of firstly, the historical distinctions of the two opposing notions, and then, the translators' preferred methods, with a goal of clarifying the processes involved in the development of "free" style translation. This examination covers literature and song, both of which have influenced Japanese culture.

Chapter 2 provides an overview of the early history of Russian education in Japan, and describes the roles of the Russian Orthodox Church and Narodniks in establishing the foundation of Russian language and literature education. Chapter 3 deals with Futabatei Shimei's methods of translation and his work for the Genbun-itchi movement which modernized written Japanese. The chapter also reviews the activities of Futabatei's contemporaries and later generations of translators. Chapter 4 covers the leading translators who worked actively after World War II, including former POWs in Siberia. A dispute on the two translation methods is also analyzed. In Chapter 5, as a result of examinations of present-day translators' activities through interviews, I demonstrate two processes that lead to a "free" type of translation: the `audio source' process, which directly leads to contents-based "free" translation, and the `written source' process which incorporates the "word-for-word, literal" translation process as well as the "process of assimilation to contemporary Japanese."

In conclusion, the new, easy to understand "free" type of present-day translation usually begins with the process of "word-for-word, literal" translation, but the end result appears to be "free" style due to the tendency of present-day translators to emphasize their originality in the pursuit of assimilating the text to natural, contemporary Japanese, as style which is demanded by readers and publishers.