Research on factors related to the sociocultural effects of balanced biliteracy involving a European language and an Asian language is reviewed. Becoming biliterate and fluently bilingual in a European and an Asian language involves several complications not involved in acquiring two European languages. The biliterate in such a situation must learn two different orthographies and learn to apply sociolinguistic rules to interaction in two widely different cultures. The review focuses on children who are learning to read in a second language following a change in country of residence. The topics discussed include the linguistic relationship between the first and second languages, orthography, exposure to written material, the effects of age on second language learning, and the sociocultural effects of biliteracy. Balanced biliteracy is difficult to achieve when the second language is that of the dominant culture. However, the benefits of balanced biliteracy include pride in ethnicity and flexibility in the cognitive and cultural domains. References are appended. (RW)