This special issue is both timely and perfectly placed. Interest in heritage language (HL) learning has been growing for a while (Driver, 2022), as has the interest in the emotions of language learners and users (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014). By bringing these two strands together, the guest editors have created a powerful research synergy. Just as François Grosjean (1989) famously declared that bilinguals are not the sum of two complete or incomplete monolinguals but have a unique configuration, I would argue that research on the emotions of HL learners, teachers, and users in general can generate unique findings and insights that go beyond the original boundaries. The research presented in this special issue also benefited from recent theoretical, ontological, epistemological, and methodological developments. The first one is the move away from essentialist thinking. The second one is the dynamic view of language systems, both synchronically, diachronically, and contextually. No single aspect of a complex system can be neatly isolated and displayed in a glass case. No single variable follows a linear pattern in its development if the granularity is large enough. Patterns can go up and down; individuals may deviate from the general trend, and individuals may behave differently depending on a wide range of socio-contextual factors but also depending on their mood and degree of tiredness. Everything is loosely interconnected, within the individual, within the groups of peers, within the institution, and within the wider social, economic, historical, ideological, and political contexts. This means that everything can potentially have an influence on everything else and be influenced by it in return. Teachers who are overworked, underappreciated, underpaid, and unhappy risk burnout. Such an example is presented in Afreen and Norton's (2024, this issue) contribution to volunteer teaching. At the start of the 2-year period, the volunteers were struggling and had to use emotional labor strategies to keep a smile on their faces. By the end of the period, the working situation had improved, and teacher morale was better with a small remuneration and better organisation. Students are often emotional mirrors of their teachers. It means that many have suffered too, at the beginning of the study, through a process of negative emotional contagion (Moskowitz & Dewaele, 2021). There might have been unseen consequences, as learners may have transmitted this psychological burden to their families. The danger is that a process of negative reinforcement may initiate a negative spiral that affects the mental well-being and performance of teachers and students, parents, and children (see also Song & Wu, 2024, this issue). The opposite pattern is also possible, where happy teachers motivate HL students, and where parents using the HL with their children see the linguistic glass as half full rather than half empty and can be playful (Cantas, 2024, this issue).

Another big step forward is the way emotions are conceptualised in this special issue: They may have a positive or negative valence but they are not categorised into simplistic “good” and “bad” emotions. As Driver (2024, this issue) points out in her contribution, they are double-edged swords that can be wielded in different ways leading to different outcomes. All learners experience a wide variety of (sometimes conflicting) emotions. These emotions may be more salient in language classes than in any other type of class because the former brings up identity issues in an environment where there is social pressure to conform to local expectations. This is particularly true for HL learners, who may experience ambiguous emotions about their ethnic, cultural, and linguistic roots and identity (Samata, 2014). From a more embodied perspective, one could say that for HL learners and users, the HL is linked to the voices of their grandparents and parents; to the smell and sound of food being prepared, tasted, and shared in a joyous atmosphere (Elabdali, 2024, this issue); to music and dancing and laughing (MacIntyre et al., 2017). Huang and Chan (2024, this issue) show that the community can be the basis of a powerful motivation to master the HL and to develop an Indigenous heritage self. The HL can, of course, also be the reminder of cultural values the HL user may want to reject, of memories that are too painful to remember, of shame at not fully fitting in that community anymore and anxiety that using the HL might trigger mockery (Sevinç & Dewaele, 2018), and of social injustice faced when being perceived as a low-prestige member of the HL community.

In contrast, foreign language (FL) learners for whom the new language and culture are no more than a sliver of land rising out of the blue sea framed by white cumuli have none of these rich positive and negative connotations or these multimodal representations about the FL.

Reading the various contributions, I was reminded about the parallelisms between learners and clients in teaching spaces and therapeutic spaces, the teachers and psychotherapists, and their common aims and practices (Bager-Charleson & McBeath, 2023). The space must provide security and act as an emotional refuge to discuss important general and personal matters, including insecurity, guilt, shame, anger, worry, and family conflict but also love, joy, enthusiasm, resilience, optimism, and attachment. Teachers and psychotherapists act like guides, but the learners and clients need to put in the effort to make progress. The process can be painful, slow, and nonlinear. By inviting learners and clients to reflect on their choices and (in)actions, teachers and psychotherapists can boost self-awareness, self-understanding, and agency, which can ultimately lead to healing, increased confidence, and empowerment.

I have often argued that as applied linguists, we have a duty to promote social justice through rigorous research and the dissemination of our findings to the wider public (Dewaele, 2023). The contributors to this special issue have reached the first stage brilliantly. I hope they will manage to reach the next stage too. Educators, school principals, teachers, HL students, and parents need to be informed that HL is not just any language and that it does not need to be a burden but can be a runway for take-off. While proficiency in the HL and emotional attachment to it may vary considerably, the potential for growth is enormous.

这期特刊既及时又恰到好处。一段时间以来，人们对传统语言（HL）学习的兴趣一直在增长（Driver，2022），对语言学习者和使用者的情感的兴趣也是如此（Dewaele＆MacIntyre，2014）。通过将这两条线索结合在一起，客座编辑创造了强大的研究协同作用。正如弗朗索瓦·格罗斯让（François Grosjean，1989）著名地宣称，双语者不是两个完整或不完整的单语者的总和，而是具有独特的结构，我认为，对 HL 学习者、教师和一般用户的情绪的研究可以产生独特的发现和结果。超越原有界限的见解。本期特刊中提出的研究也受益于最近的理论、本体论、认识论和方法论的发展。第一个是摆脱本质主义思维。第二个是语言系统的动态观点，包括共时性、历时性和语境性。复杂系统的任何一个方面都无法被整齐地隔离并显示在玻璃柜中。如果粒度足够大，则单个变量的发展不会遵循线性模式。图案可以上下；个人可能会偏离总体趋势，并且个人的行为可能会有所不同，具体取决于广泛的社会背景因素，但也取决于他们的情绪和疲劳程度。在个人内部、同侪群体内部、机构内部以及更广泛的社会、经济、历史、意识形态和政治背景中，一切都是松散地相互关联的。这意味着一切都可能对其他一切产生影响，并反过来受到其他一切的影响。过度劳累、不受重视、报酬过低和不快乐的教师面临着倦怠的风险。 Afreen 和 Norton（2024，本期）对志愿教学的贡献中提出了这样的例子。两年期开始时，志愿者们处境艰难，不得不使用情绪劳动策略来保持脸上的微笑。到了期末，工作状况有所改善，教师的士气也更好了，工资也少了，组织也更好了。学生往往是老师的情感镜子。这意味着许多人在研究开始时也经历了负面情绪传染的过程（Moskowitz & Dewaele，2021）。可能会产生看不见的后果，因为学习者可能会将这种心理负担传递给他们的家人。危险在于，负强化过程可能会引发负面螺旋，影响教师和学生、家长和儿童的心理健康和表现（另见 Song & Wu，2024， 这个问题）。相反的模式也是可能的，快乐的老师会激励 HL 学生，而与孩子一起使用 HL 的家长会看到语言玻璃杯是半满的而不是半空的，并且可以很有趣（Cantas，2024 年，本期）。

另一个重大进步是本期特刊中情绪的概念化方式：它们可能具有正价或负价，但它们没有被简单地分为“好”和“坏”情绪。正如 Driver（2024，本期）在她的贡献中指出的那样，它们是双刃剑，可以以不同的方式使用，从而导致不同的结果。所有学习者都会经历各种各样的（有时是相互冲突的）情绪。这些情绪在语言课上可能比在任何其他类型的课上更加突出，因为前者在一个存在社会压力以符合当地期望的环境中提出了身份问题。对于 HL 学习者来说尤其如此，他们可能会对自己的种族、文化和语言根源和身份产生模糊的情绪（Samata，2014）。从更具体的角度来看，可以说，对于HL学习者和使用者来说，HL与他们的祖父母和父母的声音联系在一起；在欢乐的气氛中准备、品尝和分享食物的气味和声音（Elabdali，2024，本期）；音乐、舞蹈和欢笑（MacIntyre 等人，2017）。 Huang 和 Chan（2024，本期）表明，社区可以成为掌握 HL 和发展土著遗产自我的强大动力的基础。当然，HL 也可以提醒 HL 用户可能想要拒绝的文化价值观、那些太痛苦而难以记住的记忆、因不再完全融入该社区而感到羞耻以及担心使用 HL 可能会引发嘲笑（Sevinç & Dewaele，2018），以及被视为 HL 社区中威望较低的成员时所面临的社会不公正。

相比之下，对于外语（FL）学习者来说，新的语言和文化不过是白色积云包围的蔚蓝大海中升起的一小片土地，他们不具备这些丰富的正面和负面内涵，也没有这些关于 FL 的多模态表征。 。

阅读各种贡献，我想起了教学空间和治疗空间中的学习者和客户、教师和心理治疗师之间的相似性，以及他们的共同目标和实践（Bager-Charleson & McBeath，2023 ）。这个空间必须提供安全感，并充当情感避难所，以讨论重要的一般和个人事务，包括不安全感、内疚、羞耻、愤怒、担忧和家庭冲突，但也包括爱、快乐、热情、坚韧、乐观和依恋。教师和心理治疗师就像向导，但学习者和客户需要付出努力才能取得进步。这个过程可能是痛苦的、缓慢的、非线性的。通过邀请学习者和客户反思他们的选择和（行动），教师和心理治疗师可以提高自我意识、自我理解和能动性，这最终可以带来治愈、增强信心和赋权。

我经常认为，作为应用语言学家，我们有责任通过严格的研究并将我们的研究结果传播给更广泛的公众来促进社会正义（Dewaele，2023）。本期特刊的撰稿人已经出色地到达了第一阶段。我希望他们也能进入下一阶段。教育工作者、校长、教师、HL 学生和家长需要知道，HL 不仅仅是任何一种语言，它不需要成为一种负担，而可以成为起飞的跑道。虽然 HL 的熟练程度和对其的情感依恋可能有很大差异，但增长的潜力是巨大的。