"Heritage languages are incompletely acquired versions of languages spoken at home but not spoken in the wider community. Heritage speakers acquire the home language before acquiring the region's dominant language. However, acquisition of the heritage language slows when the speaker begins primarily using the region's dominant language. Although heritage speakers are comfortable in all registers of the dominant language, mastery of the heritage language may vary from purely receptive skills in only informal spoken language to native-like fluency."
As you saw above, there's also the related term "heritage language speaker," or simply "heritage speaker." If you've read the "About Me" on this blog, you've probably guessed that I'm a heritage speaker of Vietnamese. Vietnamese is my heritage language; I acquired it at home but eventually began using Dutch as my primary language once I started school. Then, after moving to the U.S., my primary language became English.
Interestingly, the ability to speak a heritage language is apparently not one of the criteria that defines a "heritage speaker," as we just saw in the excerpt above: "mastery of the heritage language may vary from purely receptive skills in only informal spoken language to native-like fluency." So, basically, someone with purely receptive skills (i.e., can only understand the language (to whatever degree) but without productive skills (i.e., speaking, reading, and writing skills, etc.) can still be considered a "heritage speaker." "Heritage listener" would be more precise, but I guess that's not in current usage.
Furthermore, and as is mentioned in the full Wikipedia article, a "heritage language" does not always refer to a language that was first acquired in the home. In its broader sense, "heritage language" can also refer to a language acquired outside the home by someone who is connected to that language through their heritage or cultural background. For example, someone who has one Vietnamese parent and one American parent who communicate in English grows up with no Vietnamese language exposure at home, but later decides to study Vietnamese in college. In this case, Vietnamese can also be considered this person's "heritage language." Likewise for someone who is Vietnamese by heritage but adopted and raised by non-Vietnamese-speaking people. There are many, many possible scenarios.
Finally, we're down to the term "heritage language learner," or simply "heritage learner," which is used to refer to someone who is learning a language considered to be their heritage language, in either the narrow or broader sense.
I've created this blog to help myself and other heritage (and non-heritage) learners improve their Vietnamese communication skills. Since language ability can vary greatly among heritage learners, what I share on here won't always be useful to every learner, but I hope it will be to at least a few others out there!
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