I m committed to speak to my children in Chinese as much as possible but what I struggle the most is that they spend 6 hrs/day in school learning new vocabulary in English, and I can’t keep up with translating every new words they learned to Chinese. Overtime they prefer English because their vocabulary is stronger and can express themselves better, and to make things harder, some of the things that my boys cherish the most doesn’t even have a Chinese name, like, Wii, Ben Ten, lego and Halls of science, this forces me to speak English to them! But I won’t give up. I m determined to brainwash them with Chinese culture and language. LOL

By Wendy on 06.10.09 3:46 pm | Permalink

Glad to hear native chinese speakers struggle with this problem as well. My wife and I have our daughter in daycare with a Chinese family 3 days a week for full chinese immersion and I’m learning Chinese slowly but our daughter will almost never speak Chinese to us except for a few words or phrases. We’re told our daughters chinese is good, although she has an american accent. Too Funny. I hope this exposure will give her enough of a base for weekend chinese school since she’ll probably be one of the few students without a native chinese speaking parent.

By Thom on 07.20.09 1:53 am | Permalink

It is very hard. However, I do think it is not an issue with Chinese only, but with other languages as well. I’ve also heard complaints about this issue from my Italian friends. Oh well, you try your best right? Unfortuneately, they do end up blaming their parents when they cannot speak another language.

By admin on 07.21.09 2:12 am | Permalink

Hi Thom,

Have no fear, my 7 yr old Chinese American son is in a Chinese as a second language class (CSL)with about 15 other children. He didn’t qualify for the regular Chinese class. In his class, about 1/2 of the students have none Chinese speaking parents, and they are actually more studious than my son. Good luck to you and your daughter!

By Debbie on 07.21.09 3:00 am | Permalink