In a bid to get Truett ready for Primary school, we’ve been trying to expose the kids to more Chinese. This includes the occasional smattering of Chinese in our daily conversations, Chinese storybooks and letting them interact with others in Chinese, which also means not jumping to the rescue and translating when others speak to them in Chinese. The hope is that they will somehow infer and respond accordingly.
It doesn’t always work though. In fact, it’s been quite hilarious watching him.
***
Truett was at the hairdresser to get his hair done and I think the lady was from China so she spoke to him in Chinese.
Hairdresser: boy boy 坐直…
Truett: I don’t know what that is. You need to speak english.
Hairdresser: Sit high here.
Truett: *stares blankly at her*
Me (reluctantly intervening): Aunty said you need to sit up straight ok? Don’t slouch.
***
During Chinese story time, I usually pause at key phrases and quiz them on what certain words mean.
Me: Guys, who knows what is 对不起？The tree said 对不起 to the animals right?
Kirsten: I know! 对不起 means eat food.
Me: Your head. 对不起 means I’m sorry. It’s got nothing to do with eating food.
***
Last week, we met an elderly lady in the lift who asked Truett how old he was.
Aunty: 你今年几岁？
Truett: *holding up 5 fingers* Five years old.
Aunty: 五岁…很大了hor?
After we stepped out of the lift, Truett turned to me and said “Old people like to talk in Chinese. Next time when I’m old then I will talk in Chinese. Now I must talk in English.”
Nice try there, but you still have to learn Chinese. You’ll need it for Primary one.
16 Comments
Oh man this is hilarious! I can totally hear Alaric’s voice saying “you talk ang moh”.
LOL it’s one of my favorite noose clips. I must have watched that segment 10 over times. That and the part where Michelle Chong’s character says “art garelly, siao one.”
Cannot resist a smile. My child really sound like “Ang mo” speaking Chinese, very banana, yellow outside, white inside. I was ticked off by the Chinese teachers in the childcare for speaking to them in English all the time. I blame myself! So I try very hard to speak the language myself, and let them watch a bit of drama serial in Chinese, so that they pick it up faster. Oppss, my child is already six, the kiasu parent in me kills me!! At home, I ask her to copy a few useful Chinese characters, even stick up animal posters with Chinese characters(from popular), I force myself to relearn the Chinese character strokes and test my child whether her stroke order is right. The Chinese character posters are “presents” from the bookshop!
They haven’t advanced to the writing stage yet, now we’re just trying to get them to understand and speak the language. Seriously, I can’t even write Truett’s name without referring – it’s Kai Xuan, with a lot of strokes.
Make them watch Disney Junior in Mandarin.
Hahah I tried it once! They both vetoed strongly and made me change it back. Said there’s something wrong and Mickey Mouse is talking nonsense. Feels like being in Disneyland HK.
I had the same problem. And the frustrating thing was that he understands what we’ve talking about, and still give that act-blur face. Karma bites. :P
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Ah at least he understands which is a good start! Truett struggles to understand so we’re trying to just expose him to people speaking in Chinese for a start.
I’m with you on this, Daphne! We’re in the same predicament! My four year old son actually tells me he is english-ren when I told him he is a Chinese!
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LOL I think my kids must have said something similar at some point.
What about their childcare centre?
Any Chinese speaking teachers? Kids normally pick up Mandarin from school.
I knew my 3rd boy was so shy that he always reply in English, the more we urge him to communicate in Mandarin, the more he retreat.
We sent him to a Mandarin enrichment at K2, and now he is always showing off his new Mandarin skills, still got a bit of ABC slang. (This is worst case scenario)
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They do have Chinese classes in school but the feedback we got from the teacher is that Tru doesn’t really understand what’s going on in the Chinese lessons so he sits there and stares blankly when she gives instructions in Chinese. I think maybe it’s time for the enrichment classes.
I have the same feedback!!! The teacher said that she had to do some English translation for my girl. She is inattentive and tends to daydream, not following the class. Wow!! But I think her Chinese understanding is OK, just not responding to the teacher. But recently, she starts to put her hand up and answer the questions, after explanation by husband that the teacher will think she is clever. And that’s what he used to do. Apparently the teacher starts to praise her already. The children will “perform” when they see a point in doing so.
Hahaha you talk ang moh! I’ve been trying to speak in Mandarin whenever I can to my son, and so far he has been picking up bits and pieces from me or my mum or his neighbour friends. And I think they pick it up faster when they hang around with their friends lar, so no worries there. Just that my son also has an ang moh accent when he speaks in Mandarin lol.
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It’s true! The best way is to let them pick it up from friends. :)
I hv never imagined that kids would be averse to a new language ,just didnt occur to me. Mine goes to cc where he learnt his mandarin ,and he initiates speaking to me in Mandarin, like he is showing off a new skill. After i noticed that in him, i let him watch babytv in Chinese, and he stayed glued and in wonder like its music to his ears. No offense, just sharing . I hope Tru finds interest in the language soon!