To speak mandarin or english to baby

Reply to To speak mandarin or english to baby on Fri, 04 Feb 2011 08:26:55 GMT

DesertWind — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 08:26:55 GMT

rainrain:
And tat will be a mixture sometimes English sometimes mandarin... I think that is the unique thing about being a Singaporean. Neither excellent in both areas..

Hi rainrain,

My son is 3+ and we have been speaking to him in English most of the time including my maid and PILs. He hardly gets to see my parents so exposure to Mandarin/dialect somewhat limited.

But I like to watch Chinese shows and my TV is perpectually tuned into Channel 8 and Channel U so he got exposure through this way. Also we watched DVDs together and he loves the Chinese children songs and I sang and danced along with him. Ideally I should be speaking Mandarin to him and the rest speaks English but then again I speak English to my hubby and maid so already the majority of the exposure is in English.

He watches the TV in mandarin too so I believe he can understand but he could do with more exposure to pick it up. In Singapore, the fear is always that exposure in Mandarin gets lesser and lesser but he still has a long education road ahead of him whereby he NEEDS to at least pass the Chinese language comfortably! If there is no examination for Chinese in school, I wouldn't be so concern. Like I felt so relieved after I came out to work because no more Chinese examinations and I don't have to struggle with the writing anymore!

For language, we have to expose the kids as early as possible during the \"window period\" which is up till 6 yrs old hence since English is already there, I must take effort to expose him to Chinese too.

After reading the posts here, I will try to look for a tutor from China to expose my boy to properly spoken Mandarin this year.

Reply to To speak mandarin or english to baby on Fri, 28 Jan 2011 02:16:08 GMT

adbie — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 02:16:08 GMT

rainrain:

I heard from a lot of people that Chinese is more difficult than English and not the other way round. My English usage is not much in my younger years yet I prefer to read English books and newspaper now. Prehaps due to working environment we tend to lose touch with Chinese more and more.. I was writing some simple Chinese flashcards for my baby the other day, and I found myself searching the dictionary for simple word like \" nose\" and \" mouth\" .. Quite sad..but I can definitely recognize the wordwhen I see it..

Why I decided to speak both language to him is because I don't want him to shun away from mandarin speaking friends or even hate using the language, where I read from a few English speaking mothers here.

It's a dilemma. We all know that if we don't use the language we will lose it. How many times in my life have I written 鼻子? How often do I use Chinese at work?

30 years ago, my Chinese teachers all said China will rule the world soon and people who don't master Chinese will lose out. That spurred me to do well in Chinese, scoring A1's in the major exams.

Well, it's been 30 years, and the only time I use Chinese at work is to say hello to the cleaning aunties, or to chit chat with Chinese colleagues in broken Mandarin. Even my mainland Chinese colleagues all use English at work. They speak really well too.

In the foreseeable future, English will still be the de facto lingua franca here and around the world.

Nevertheless, I'm still personally more comfortable speaking broken Mandarin. But I really wish I'm more comfortable in English and think in English.

While we are at this, guess how many of our past and present education ministers can speak (let's not even discuss if they master) their mother tongue language effectively?

Reply to To speak mandarin or english to baby on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:33:31 GMT

rainrain — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:33:31 GMT

adbie:
I speak English to my children. Though my English is not perfect, I try my best.

Reason is simple: English is absolutely necessary to survive well in Singapore. If one speaks it well and writes it well, he'll do well.

Admittedly, I'm more comfortable speaking the local version of Mandarin (\"singnese\" ?) because I grow up in a Chinese-speaking environment. But to be totally honest, if you ask me to grade myself to international standards: it's a D7 for Chinese and maybe a B3 for English.

I heard from a lot of people that Chinese is more difficult than English and not the other way round. My English usage is not much in my younger years yet I prefer to read English books and newspaper now. Prehaps due to working environment we tend to lose touch with Chinese more and more.. I was writing some simple Chinese flashcards for my baby the other day, and I found myself searching the dictionary for simple word like \" nose\" and \" mouth\" .. Quite sad..but I can definitely recognize the wordwhen I see it..

Why I decided to speak both language to him is because I don't want him to shun away from mandarin speaking friends or even hate using the language, where I read from a few English speaking mothers here.

Reply to To speak mandarin or english to baby on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:08:11 GMT

phankao — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:08:11 GMT

I spoke mostly in mandarin to my baby from the time he was newborn. My chinese is not great but from the very simple day-to-day words/phrases involved in speaking to a baby, I improved along with the baby. I read books with him. Again, my vocabulary improved. Now he’s 2yo and he’s effectively bilingual. The rest of the family speak to him in english. I think that’s quite good enough. He has no problem understanding/speaking/reading both Chinese & English and I think he thinks in both languages.

Reply to To speak mandarin or english to baby on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:26:13 GMT

ghostz — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:26:13 GMT

speak both languages. kids are smarter than we think and won’t be confused i feel. but if you want to play safe, then stick to mandarin. once in the school environment and lots of tv/movies, can pick up english quickly.

Reply to To speak mandarin or english to baby on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:24:38 GMT

cherrygal — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:24:38 GMT

In fact, a French guy once said that proper English is more difficult to learn than Chinese. So it is important to expose the kid to good English from young.

Chinese is a test on memory (for the characters) and good listening skills (HYPY). Business Chinese can be picked up if your work requires it.

English has so many variations and words take on different meanings depending on how you use them. Good English also helps when you take on Maths problem sums.

All our major subjects are taught in English so it’s best to build up a solid foundation in English.

Reply to To speak mandarin or english to baby on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 03:21:21 GMT

adbie — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 03:21:21 GMT

I speak English to my children. Though my English is not perfect, I try my best.

Reason is simple: English is absolutely necessary to survive well in Singapore. If one speaks it well and writes it well, he’ll do well.

Admittedly, I’m more comfortable speaking the local version of Mandarin ("singnese" ?) because I grow up in a Chinese-speaking environment. But to be totally honest, if you ask me to grade myself to international standards: it’s a D7 for Chinese and maybe a B3 for English.

Reply to To speak mandarin or english to baby on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 02:56:01 GMT

rainrain — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 02:56:01 GMT

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the feedback. Actually had think through it and we will speak in whatever language we are comfortable in. And tat will be a mixture sometimes English sometimes mandarin.That’s what me and my husband does…rojak…haha…but will make sure there will be no English + mandarin in the same sentence. It can be quite hard sometimes as our mandarin usage is not very superb either…Haha… I think that is the unique thing about being a Singaporean. Neither excellent in both areas…

Reply to To speak mandarin or english to baby on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 01:14:28 GMT

KoalaMummy — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 01:14:28 GMT

i personally believe in exposing kids to as many languages as possible. Like some forummer says, Daddy speaks english, mummy speaks mandarin, grandparents speak dialects etc… kids are smart, they learn fast and adapt fast. problem is us, adult. we must make a conscious effort to speak to them in the language ‘different’ from our spouse etc.

Reply to To speak mandarin or english to baby on Wed, 26 Jan 2011 10:15:09 GMT

thebusybee — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 10:15:09 GMT

I'm Chinese Ed in pri school, speak to my family in msian accent, s'porean in s'pore accent. But when speaking to China pple, I often got remarks that I speak 标准普通话, like the newscasters! (coz I know they will have difficulty understanding our mandarin)

So even though I can pronounce the Chinese words correctly, I just can't speak that way to my DS, family n frens. So since ds birth, we've been speaking English(rather Singlish) to him 90% of time, even the grandparents speaks rojak English to him.
I just hope he'll grow up knowing how to speak both languages properly. Not necessary to speak the correct way all the time, it's ok to preserve some local accents, I think.

Reply to To speak mandarin or english to baby on Wed, 26 Jan 2011 06:16:10 GMT

mrswongtuition — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 06:16:10 GMT

Lock:
To me, it depends on which language the parents are fluent in. Though I grew up in a Chinese speaking family, my parents do not speak proper Chinese. My mum's a Malaysian, so she has the Malaysian accent and my dad's a Hokkien who spoke with a Hokkien pronunciation. Eg, My mum will say chi4 fan4, instead of chi1 fan4 (eat rice) and he4 shui3 instead of he1 shui3. And Dad would say ci instead of chi and sui instead of shui. So, naturally my spoken CL also half past six. I dare not speak CL with my kids as I do not want them to pick up all the wrong pronunciation. They learn from their China tutor. Though they dun speak much but their pronunciation of the CL words are all accurate whenever they attempt to converse in CL.

Similarly, it's grating to the ears when I hear parents who are not very fluent in EL trying to speak EL to their kids. The kids do pick up all the wrong pronunciation and grammar. It's very difficult for the kids to unlearn a wrong.

I am thankful that for whatever reason, my parents sent me to a mission school since young and I pick up very good EL from my teachers and my hubby is very fluent in his EL too. So, in my household, we speak only EL and we make sure it is grammatically correct with the right pronunciation and intonation.

:celebrate:

I often get horrified looks when people found out that my boy is tutored by a China tutor.

\"Why don't you teach your son?\"
\"I think your spoken Chinese is fine, why not teach your son?\"

Honestly, I only got C6 for Chinese at O levels.
My spoken Chinese may be strong because my mum is Shanghainese.
However, due to lack of discipline when younger, my written Chinese is terrible. Also, due to that laziness when I was younger, my vocab is very very limited.

As such, I chose not to teach my son the wrong 'phrasing' because I normally do 'direct translation from English'.

Speaking in the language you are most comfortable with is most important.

And honestly, it is really very difficult to correct my student's incorrect pronunciation & grammar... when their parents are using it all wrong with them. I don't know whether to correct the parent or not.

Just use what you are comfortable with, and find other ways to expose your child to the other language.

Regards,
Mrs Wong
Tuition Web: http://www.mwtuition.com.sg
Personal Blog: thelittleonesinmylife.blogspot.com

Reply to To speak mandarin or english to baby on Wed, 26 Jan 2011 04:32:14 GMT

mummyJune — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 04:32:14 GMT

i grow up in a english & chinese spoken enviornment. i speak english to my mum & chinese to my dad. while for my inlaw side, my hubby speaks 100% hokkien to his parents while i will speak chinese to them cos my hokkien is half past 6.

now at home my hubby will speak chinese to our son while i speak english to him. on the other hand, my mum speaks english to my son, my dad speaks chinese to him. my inlaws speak 100% chinese to my son cos they dun speak english. somehow i tink my boy is able to catch both languages.

Reply to To speak mandarin or english to baby on Wed, 26 Jan 2011 04:24:26 GMT

Lock — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 04:24:26 GMT

To me, it depends on which language the parents are fluent in. Though I grew up in a Chinese speaking family, my parents do not speak proper Chinese. My mum’s a Malaysian, so she has the Malaysian accent and my dad’s a Hokkien who spoke with a Hokkien pronunciation. Eg, My mum will say chi4 fan4, instead of chi1 fan4 (eat rice) and he4 shui3 instead of he1 shui3. And Dad would say ci instead of chi and sui instead of shui. So, naturally my spoken CL also half past six. I dare not speak CL with my kids as I do not want them to pick up all the wrong pronunciation. They learn from their China tutor. Though they dun speak much but their pronunciation of the CL words are all accurate whenever they attempt to converse in CL.

Similarly, it’s grating to the ears when I hear parents who are not very fluent in EL trying to speak EL to their kids. The kids do pick up all the wrong pronunciation and grammar. It’s very difficult for the kids to unlearn a wrong.

I am thankful that for whatever reason, my parents sent me to a mission school since young and I pick up very good EL from my teachers and my hubby is very fluent in his EL too. So, in my household, we speak only EL and we make sure it is grammatically correct with the right pronunciation and intonation.

Reply to To speak mandarin or english to baby on Wed, 26 Jan 2011 04:22:10 GMT

coolit — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 04:22:10 GMT

If our Chinese is poor and we speak in that way to the baby, would it affect them? My older 2 are not fluent in chinese as we did not converse in chinese to them at all. But I am now pregnant and am thinking if I should try to speak to her in Chinese when she is born but am scared my broken chinese will harm rather than help. Any thoughts?

Reply to To speak mandarin or english to baby on Wed, 26 Jan 2011 02:02:52 GMT

tankee — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 02:02:52 GMT

Hi rainrain

In our case, it is somewhat similar. DW & I mainly converse in English (80%) with DS, sometimes Mandarin (20%). My in-laws use Mandarin with him (100%). So it is quote natural for him to use English with us and switch to Mandarin with his grandparents.

DS is in P2 this year. While he is comfortable with both languages, he thinks in English and when given a choice, he would choose to read English text over Chinese text.

Chinese is gaining importance. Not just a Mother-tongue issue or getting into good school. China’s economy is growing very strongly while US is ahem. While English is very likely to remain as the universal common language, understanding & ability to use Chinese would be an advantage for our kids when they grow up.

Reply to To speak mandarin or english to baby on Wed, 26 Jan 2011 01:45:10 GMT

Wan — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 01:45:10 GMT

We speak mandarin & ILs speak Cantonese to our kids. As I’m a FTWM, I dep on my ILs to look after them during the day. But I expose them to English books since bb. Although they did not speak English at home, they can listen & read English stories. My son & now my girl is picking up English once they start sch which teach phonics. In kindergarten, 3hr in English & 1hr in Chinese. In pri sch, the proportion will increase for English with more subjects taught in English. With the foundation of reading at home, once they are exposed to sch where most friends speak English, they can converse in English effectively within 3 mths.

Another reason for speaking mandarin at home is bcos my hb & BILs speak Singlish. Although I dun speak queen English myself, I try to speak
in proper grammatically correct English. So I rather they speak mandarin to them.

Not sure about ur home environment, my experience is for ur ref. I aim to bring up bilingual kids since they were born. These were way b4 MM & Dr Ng’s comments.

Reply to To speak mandarin or english to baby on Wed, 26 Jan 2011 01:41:24 GMT

BlurBee — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 01:41:24 GMT

Hi, DH & I speak mostly mandarin to our kids. We believe that kids need to speak in their mother tongue. They will learn the English once they started schooling.

JMHO.