Kids knowing their dialects. What is your take?
-
Yes
-
Of course must know their dialect and know it well… need to communicate with their great grand parents …
-
It really depends on whether they have constant exposure when they are young. If they don’t, they are unlikely to pick it up naturally, and it certainly won’t be their "mother tongue". And yes, learning more than 1 language does usually slow down language acquisition in small kids. It may be OK if the school expectations allow kids to work on school languages over a longer period of time, but since expectations are so high so early, learning 3 languages in the preschool years will mean that those P1 kids will be below what is expected in school. There will always be the exceptional ones who manage well, but they cannot be used as the yardstick for the whole population.
I also question whether dialect is actually the "mother tongue" of a lot of kids these days if they didn’t learn it as their first language in the home. I am one of those who grew up speaking English and don’t speak any dialect. For a long time, I barely even spoke Mandarin, and only really became fluent around 40yo! My mother tongue is English, and the same for my kids. That’s the language we learned from the cradle. -
My parents and MIL all speak English so there is no need for kiddos to pick up dialect in order to communicate with them.
DD understands some Teochew but will never attempt to speak it. DS will just stare at me blank if I speak Teochew to him. Both will burst into giggles when DH speaks Cantonese to them. -
This is something that I have been deferring for a long time. I personally find that my kids should know at least Cantonese. I speak 2 dialects and 3 languages…so agree that it’s more of a half past six kinda thing for most of them…
-
I used to speak Cantonese with hubby when we didn’t want the kids and the maid to know what we are saying. maid picked it fast…in fact both my Indonesian maids picked up Cantonese although they can’t speak. son (around 3-4 year old then) also picked up the dialect. dad still speaks Cantonese to us but with the kids he speaks English to them.
-
janet88:
I used to speak Cantonese with hubby when we didn't want the kids and the maid to know what we are saying. maid picked it fast...in fact both my Indonesian maids picked up Cantonese although they can't speak. son (around 3-4 year old then) also picked up the dialect. dad still speaks Cantonese to us but with the kids he speaks English to them.
Cantonese is quite a widely used dialect. So I think it's good to get the kids know the Cantonese...let them watch the HK drama, I believe can easily pick up. -
MrsKiasu:
that's exactly what my son said...watch more hk dramas.
Cantonese is quite a widely used dialect. So I think it's good to get the kids know the Cantonese...let them watch the HK drama, I believe can easily pick up. -
I think for my kids, I need to get them to watch more mandarin shows first.
I think DD will learn to speak Korean before she learns to speak either Teochew or Cantonese. :razz:
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login