Should I teach my children Chinese?

[Misslemon01]

Hello!

I'm expecting my first baby with my English partner. I was born to two Chinese parents but grew up in the UK and very much feel culturally British.

I speak to my parents in Chinese, but my vocab is really rubbish. They speak English for work but aren't super fluid. Also, they live an hour's flight away from us, and will be living there for the next few years at least. My partner doesn't speak Chinese.

So the question is, should I teach my children Chinese? Pro: it feels intuitively important for them to be able to speak Chinese if they look a bit Chinese, and it would help their relationship with my parents. Con: I'd have to invest time in brushing up my Chinese, and I'm not even sure teaching them words here and there is going to be much use (I'm not prepared to speak to them exclusively in Chinese).

So... help! Any tips, particularly from those from Chinese backgrounds, but also anyone else very welcome :)

I think if you aren't preared to go down the OPOL route (One Parent One Language) then a bit of vocab here and there isn't going to do much tbh. I'd also back it up with Chinese au pair or classes.

We are near Barcelona. I speak English at home, he speaks Spanish and Catalan at school. 5yo DS is fluent in all 3.

There is a middle way between the OPOL route and just teaching them the odd bit of disconnected vocabulary. But it would probably take a bit of planning and you would need to be prepared to invest both a bit of effort and some money (books, DVDs, music, something that made Chinese seem relevant to them).

I'm not fluent but I say some common phrases to my 2 yo, such as 吃饱了吗, which she replies to in English and sign language.

I think you should speak to them now despite your vocabulary (which is probably perfectly ok, and especially for a level to talk to children?) because while they can improve their own vocabulary in the future, when they're older they're likely to struggle with perfecting their pronunciation.

Yes, speak to them in Cantonese/Mandarin. The tones and inflections will be wired into their brain, and will make picking up the language at a later date much easier.

Start off with Kid's TV programme Qiao Hu, nursery rhymes, teach about the lunar calendar, myths and legends (zodiac races, suns & a white rabbit in the moon,) Chinese New Year & family. 5000 years of continuous history is worth including in your chrildren's lives.

Giving your child bilinguality is a real gift which will have huge huge benefits to them and their development, so do OPOL! Why wouldn't you?!

The reason the OP doesn't want to do OPOL is presumably because (going by her OP) her Chinese is not all that fluent and it would limit her verbal interactions with the child. I don't see why she shouldn't do some other version and still be able to make Chinese a presence in her child's life.

I hate it when bilingualism is put as "all or nothing" or "OPOL or you might as well not bother". Any bilingualism, however acquired, is a gift.

Gosh yes, even if you don't do it exclusively, do try to speak it with them regularly. Supplement with books, cds, childrens cartoons comic and films, baby groups etc. Biliguilism is an amazing gift. Even if they don't achieve fluency or anywhere near it will help them massively if they want to improve (or in fact learn any other language) in the future.