Quote:
Originally Posted by SingViet
This question is for bros who have vietnamese spouse and already have children with them. Do you allow your wife to speak vietnamese to your children?
For the past 2 years since the birth of my daughters, they have stayed with me in HCM City. Their nannies were vietnamese and thus they were exposed to vietnamese since birth. I speak to them in Mandarin. But i ply between singapore and vietnam often, thus not always there for my children. I realised that my daughters started to speak TIENG VIET. Not that i look down on their language, but i want my children to master English and Mandarin first before learning Vietnamese. Thus i brought my children back to Singapore for education. After going to school for the past few months, my daughters speak english and mandarin now. I am relieved. Now my wife wants to teach them vietnamese, but i am worried again. They have not master english and chinese and now again want to go back to learning vietnamese.
Any bros out there having the same experience? Do share share  |
No need to worry bro Singviet,
English and Chinese is being so wildly use in the school and society, the children will eventually become fluent with them. (mostly thanks to the schools)
Let your wife use viet with the children while you use mandarin.
1. I have seen my friend's parents, my sister is doing this mistake now...
speaking to the children only in English, the friend/children grew up speaking fluently only in english and little understanding of mandarin.
2. The practical way is let them learn the mother tongue at home,
Ask what they learn in school in English at home.
Practise their homework with them in English/Chinese (depending on the subject)
Buy them English and Chinese story books to let them learn thru enjoyment.
Any other non school related topics..try use mother tongue.
3. Just think ...we (sg chinese) can speak english, mandarin , hokkien ( i am using these 3 commonly used language) cos its our FRIENDS who influence us most with their languages. (ie english and mandarin now days from school friends)
My parents speak to me mostly in dialect but that did not deter me from learning good english and chinese.
4. Children are fast learners , they can master 3,4 languages easily.
(for your info Malaysia chinese knows the most languages: mandarin, malay, english, cantonese(their tv program in cantonese), hokkien and
thai even (for those staying at the thailand border).
if your children understands viet they can help you too when you need some translations, (make fun of daddy too...lol)
cheers
my 2 cents worth of long long comment....