How I’m Teaching My Toddler Chinese As A Non-Native Speaker
As a British Nigerian, having a child who can understand certain Chinese phrases and has recently started to say them is pretty cool. My child’s cognitive development in learning a second language has really encouraged me to continue on and expand my vocabulary.
My Story learning mandarin Chinese
Over the years I’ve written a number of posts regarding my time and experience in China and have published some videos too. It all started when I was 11 years old, I was fortunate to go to an all girls school which specialised in languages. From year 7 I studied Mandarin and had the option to drop it from year 8, but I fell in love with the language and culture and kept studying it all the way to my GCSEs. I went even further and took it for my IB (A-levels alternative) and then at university as my degree. It was at university, as part of my degree, that I was able to spend one academic year in China, which I loved! It was such a great experience, I wasn’t homesick at all – I settled right in!
After graduating I immediately went back to China to do an internship for a few months. As my internship was in Guangzhou, this gave me the fantastic opportunity to stay with my uncle and his family which really threw me into the deep end of language learning. I was forced to speak more Chinese and open my ears to the tones and syntax of the language. Through my young cousins and their grandparents, I even learnt a bit of Cantonese too!
Fast forward to my return to the UK and I landed a job with the same internship company which allowed me to continue learning more about the Chinese culture and business landscape whilst enjoying the perk of having regular Chinese lessons at work! There is where my lovely colleague gave me my Chinese name, 马思思（ma si si).
Throughout the years, I have constantly kept myself abreast of what was going on in China, improving my ability to read, write, speak and listen Chinese and utilising apps to help me (I’ve written a post about which tools have helped)
How I teach my toddler to understand Mandarin Chinese as a non-Native
Before having children, I said to myself that their second language would be Chinese. Being able to speak multiple languages has so many benefits and opens up many opportunities, for example these. So I wanted this for my children too. So I took the following approaches:
- Start as early as possible
I started speaking Mandarin Chinese to my son from the day he was born. I didn’t care that he couldn’t understand me, I just knew that through repetition he would eventually understand what I was saying as he grew up. Studies have shown that the optimal age range to learn a second language is between 0 and 3 years old. But even if your child is older than that, now is always the best time to start. - Read books in Mandarin Chinese
Libraries have a great number of books in different languages, so you can take a book most suitable for your child’s understanding and read to them. If you cannot read Mandarin Chinese characters, get the books that have the pinyin (romanization) and English translations alongside. - Listen to songs in Mandarin Chinese
I like to put a few popular nursery rhymes in Chinese for my son to listen to. One tip is to play songs that encourage movement such as ‘If you’re happy and you know it. clap your hands’. It’s great that when I say 拍手pai shou, my son from around 10 months would immediately clap his hands. I like this and this.
- Use flashcards
A lovely friend from church gifted me a Mandarin Chinese pack of flashcards for my son. Often during his meals, I bring them out and show him the pictures with the accompanying words in Mandarin and English. This is a fantastic way for him to learn how to say certain things in both languages and helps him be familiar with the words for future reading. - Be part of a community of Native Mandarin Chinese speakers
I am so thankful that at my church there is a large community of Chinese christians. I love to spend time with them and most times we converse in Mandarin which helps me improve my vocabulary. They are so friendly and enjoy spending time with my son and speaking to him. If you don’t have close Chinese friends or family then perhaps you could look into enrolling your child into a Chinese Saturday school or paying for online lessons which can be quite inexpensive. - Be encouraged
If at first you feel as if your child is not going to grasp learning a second language, don’t worry! It takes a time! Their small brains act like sponges soaking up a lot of information and systems which will click in as they grow up. Right from baby, whenever my son was in a dangerous situation I would say ‘小心!’ (xiaoxin), which means be careful. Now that he’s older and he finds himself tripping or falling over something he will immediately exclaim 小心！It’s so cute and really puts a smile on my face. Seeing my son now understand certain phrases and words in Chinese really encourages me to keep going and at a higher frequency. But even if you’re teaching your child a second or third language at a slower pace then that’s much better than waiting till their older, according to this article. - Learn as you go!
I’m not fluent in Chinese, so I need to find time to learn new vocabulary and phrases to use on my children. I use the Pleco dictionary app to learn new words and how to use those words in a sentence. There are also a great number of YouTube channels that teach you the language. And like I mentioned before, learning a language online through a teacher can be so inexpensive and very helpful in your improvement.
So that’s what I am doing so far and I am really pleased with the progress my son is making in Mandarin Chinese. If you haven’t yet started teaching your son a second language, yet you want to, then now is the time to start! The earlier the better. If you have any questions let me know, I’m happy to share more. Also if you’re already doing so, how has your child/children’s progress been like? Are there any particular approaches that has worked? I’m keen to know!
