Been following your posts lately, I think at the end it just depends on what your priorities are. I have a 2 year old daughter, and she's very English/Cantonese bilingual already, though both me and my wife are Cantonese, we speak both languages to her. Although between ourselves we mostly talk in English. We're both CBCs and have a pretty decent command and can even read a little bit, I can mostly read the newspaper, though my writing is so-so, but I've become more reliant on computers to type which helps.
My parents are both from HK and they obviously used Cantonese with me, but I had struggled, I used to really dread going to Chinese class when I was a kid, but at some point I started liking watching dramas and was into the music and that greatly accelerated my language skills. The classes helped with a base, but I found they were taught in a really backwards kind of way with the "old country" mindset that just didn't work well here.
Being a huge fan of Joey Yung helped me out, lol... I'd spend so much time reading the online news and forums, translating things to read and learning the songs and lyrics. If not for her I don't think I'd be as good at it.
Not sure how it'll go later on with my kid, but we'll try to keep it up. Been reading Chinese books to her as well which helps.
As a tidbit, I do find even some parents that have rather shaky command of the language still try to speak to their kids with it, from what I've seen in EarlyON groups. So if you feel it's important for your kid to learn Cantonese, you just have to push yourself to do it - which I do see it, and it's great! I know my mom tried a lot too, but I don't think it always came off in the best way.
I feel like now it's never been easier with a lot more resources you can find online, I feel like I had far less resources when I learned it myself growing up.
I agree with you that it feels a lot different raising bilingual/biliterate kids than it was for our parents' generation.
There are:
1) A LOT more resources (more books, more classes, and just the existence of the internet)
2) Broader social acceptance of speaking a language other than English (my kids are way less shy about speaking Cantonese in front of their non-speaking peers than I was!)
3) Better education among multilingual parents on how to approach language learning (e.g. turns out hardcore drilling of writing Chinese characters does not inspire learning :P)
I also agree that the most advanced and rapid learning likely will have to be intrinsically motivated, the way it happened with your interest with Joey Yung! I hope to continue to nurture that, but it's uncharted territory for me, so we'll see how it goes haha
Hi, I am not a native Chinese speaker/reader so I’ve been looking for books with pinyin. I dont believe the TPL system has a way for searching books that include PY. Do you have any suggestions?
Been following your posts lately, I think at the end it just depends on what your priorities are. I have a 2 year old daughter, and she's very English/Cantonese bilingual already, though both me and my wife are Cantonese, we speak both languages to her. Although between ourselves we mostly talk in English. We're both CBCs and have a pretty decent command and can even read a little bit, I can mostly read the newspaper, though my writing is so-so, but I've become more reliant on computers to type which helps.
My parents are both from HK and they obviously used Cantonese with me, but I had struggled, I used to really dread going to Chinese class when I was a kid, but at some point I started liking watching dramas and was into the music and that greatly accelerated my language skills. The classes helped with a base, but I found they were taught in a really backwards kind of way with the "old country" mindset that just didn't work well here.
Being a huge fan of Joey Yung helped me out, lol... I'd spend so much time reading the online news and forums, translating things to read and learning the songs and lyrics. If not for her I don't think I'd be as good at it.
Not sure how it'll go later on with my kid, but we'll try to keep it up. Been reading Chinese books to her as well which helps.
As a tidbit, I do find even some parents that have rather shaky command of the language still try to speak to their kids with it, from what I've seen in EarlyON groups. So if you feel it's important for your kid to learn Cantonese, you just have to push yourself to do it - which I do see it, and it's great! I know my mom tried a lot too, but I don't think it always came off in the best way.
I feel like now it's never been easier with a lot more resources you can find online, I feel like I had far less resources when I learned it myself growing up.
I agree with you that it feels a lot different raising bilingual/biliterate kids than it was for our parents' generation.
There are:
1) A LOT more resources (more books, more classes, and just the existence of the internet)
2) Broader social acceptance of speaking a language other than English (my kids are way less shy about speaking Cantonese in front of their non-speaking peers than I was!)
3) Better education among multilingual parents on how to approach language learning (e.g. turns out hardcore drilling of writing Chinese characters does not inspire learning :P)
I also agree that the most advanced and rapid learning likely will have to be intrinsically motivated, the way it happened with your interest with Joey Yung! I hope to continue to nurture that, but it's uncharted territory for me, so we'll see how it goes haha
Add oil together! ❤️
Hi, I am not a native Chinese speaker/reader so I’ve been looking for books with pinyin. I dont believe the TPL system has a way for searching books that include PY. Do you have any suggestions?