Keeping Chinese Alive in My Mixed Child's Life with Success, Despite English Dominance
Throughout my time in Toronto, I've observed a common occurrence among Chinese children who begin their education here. Once they start going to school, they often become reluctant to communicate with their parents in their native tongues.
However, I am exceedingly thankful that my 5-year-old son Henry doesn't fall into this category. Despite his daily exposure to English vastly outweighing his exposure to Chinese at a ratio of 8:2, Henry still comfortably converses with me in Cantonese, expressing enthusiasm for continuing to learn both Cantonese and Mandarin. Henry is enrolled in a mainstream English-speaking kindergarten that doesn't particularly focus on accommodating minority languages.
The dominance of English in his daily life was established much before he started school, during his time in an English-speaking daycare. I am the sole source of Cantonese and Mandarin for him at home. His father, along with the rest of the family members, are Anglo-Canadians, and therefore, they communicate with him in English.
Our approach to language at home generally adheres to the "one parent one language" strategy where my husband uses English to communicate with Henry while I use Cantonese. While this situation could potentially change in the future, I believe there are a few primary reasons that contribute to Henry's current consistency in maintaining his Chinese language skills.
1. I'm persistent and consistent, never mixing or switching between Chinese and English, except for the words like local street names in our neighbourhood for which using Chinese wouldn't make sense.
2. I use Chinese to explain everything to Henry and never just translate, except when we are having a meta-linguistic conversation about learning of language and translation. When encountering abstract concepts, I use what he already knows: body language, some tangible objects, pictures and videos to aid explanation.
3. In case Henry sometimes fails to retrieve the Chinese word he wants to say from memory and therefore mixes one to two English words into a Chinese sentence, I repeat the full sentence in Chinese and ask him to repeat it. This is known as consecutive shadowing. In other words, I respond to him in the way I want him to be speaking to both me and his Hong Kong grandparents. Of course, I do this in a respectful and encouraging tone without picking on him.
4. Even when there are non-Chinese-speaking people around us, I stick to Chinese. In order not to leave the people out, I interpret after finishing my Cantonese messages to Henry. I also respectfully tell them the reasons behind my linguistic behaviour.
5. Whether Henry requests me to read a Chinese or an English kids book, my choice of language for the read-aloud is always Cantonese.
6. As most of my Hong Kong friends code-mix whenever we catch up, I courteously ask or remind them to try to say everything in Chinese to him and give them the reasons.
7. I build up and keep strengthening his meta-linguistic awareness, such as the importance behind our family's English-Mandarin-Cantonese trilingualism, and the reason for my language purity to him (while everybody else from Hong Kong is code mixing).
8. I integrate Chinese learning into his daily life as much as possible, from using the electronic terminal with Chinese instructions to borrow library books, playing games to preparing food together!
9. He attends a two-hour Chinese class in Cantonese and with traditional characters once a week, which is still play-based and fun for him.
10. LAST BUT NOT LEAST, my awesome in-laws give a lot of support even though they don't speak Chinese. Their support and my own efforts have created some good synergy effects that I will talk about in greater detail later on.
In implementing the 10 multilingual parenting tactics outlined above, it's worth noting my own background in language proficiency. I am fortunate to possess a native level of Cantonese and a high proficiency in Mandarin, which undoubtedly facilitates the execution of these strategies with my son, Henry. This fluency enables me to maintain consistent language use and offer clear explanations without resorting to code-mixing.
However, I understand that not everyone may have the same level of proficiency in their heritage languages. For those facing challenges, I encourage them to do their best and seek support from family and friends who are fluent. Together, we can create enriching linguistic environments for our children, regardless of our own fluency levels. Let's continue fostering a love for language learning and cultural appreciation within our families.
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