Little Chiu Speaks Chinese

With an English-speaking father, a Chinese-speaking mother, and living in a French-speaking country, what language should three year-old Little Chiu speak?

I have always thought that the ability to speak several languages is a good thing, so I hope that Little Chiu can speak Chinese, English and French in the future. Normally his father speaks English and I speak Chinese to him. However, because of his work, his father is not able to spend much time at home. To make up for his absence, in the daytime I constantly play English nursery rhymes for Little Chiu. Everyone says that bilingual children learn to talk later than other kids and that boys learn later than girls. Little Chiu is actually a "trilingual" kid. Although it was a long time before he started talking and he would just point at things and say "ahhh," we weren't too worried. We would say what we believed he was trying to say for him.

When he was about one year old he loved nothing more than to have story books read to him. No matter what the language was, I always told the story in Chinese. When he was almost two, his speaking ability was limited to a few words, all of which were things he liked to eat, like "putao gai" (putao gan-raisins) and "nana" (banana). Then he began to make progress so quickly. At first I sent e-mails to my family every day, reporting the new words for each day, but after two weeks we couldn't keep up. Apart from normal words he would also make up words, much to our amusement. It was as if he was confused by the number of new words that were rushing to get out of his head. Before he was two-and-a-half years old, 95% of the things he said were Chinese. At one point his dad was a bit depressed by this. Then, in the summer of 1997, my husband's aunt and uncle visited on vacation. With the increase in the number of people around speaking English, Little Chiu immediately changed to English. On the first day, he said a simple sentence and, by the second day, he had put two sentences together.

The friends that play with him all say that his Chinese is pretty good. Although I don't want to play the proud parent, I have to admit that I am very pleased with his language abilities. Perhaps this is natural. However, we have tried to create a stimulating environment for him. Constantly talking to him, playing nursery rhymes and telling him stories have made up for the lack of a wider Chinese-speaking environment.

I don't force him to learn. When we play, I recite Tang poetry. When he goes to the toilet, we play a counting game. When he has a bath, we sing nursery rhymes and I talk to him. Whether he is playing with his beloved toy car or train, playing with dough or painting, I believe that the stories I tell, the names of dishes that I introduce and the words I say to myself all make an impression. At home I have also labeled furniture and everyday objects with their Chinese names, and made character cards. When I read stories to him I point to the characters as I say them. All this, I believe, helps him to learn.

Although this Chinese environment seems to have been deliberately arranged it was in fact very spontaneous and natural and such an environment is very easy to create. The key is effort. In addition to this, a correct and healthy attitude is also required. People say that the age of three is a critical time in personality development. Language learning is, therefore, best started as early as possible. Kids have to learn so many things after they start school that it is better to start languages early. This avoids a conflict with the other things they have to learn or that they might be interested in.

Little Chiu is still young, and he has just started on the long path to learning Chinese. I tell myself that progress will come gradually, and try my best to teach in an entertaining way so that he can learn naturally and without pressure. Today he is only three years old. Since he began attending a French-speaking nursery he has begun, naturally enough, to speak French. Faced with the prospect that he might refuse to speak his mother tongue when he gets older and identifies with his friends, all I can do is hope that he continues to communicate with me in Chinese. I won't insist that he is able to read and write in Chinese, but I will insist that he speaks Chinese.

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In addition to speaking Chinese he has also begun to learn Chinese characters by using character cards.