Is there a deep down reason why they complain about our children not knowing enough Chinese? Even when they themselves know some English, it seems that they still feel quite special when their grand kids respond in accented Chinese, or when they receive cards written in jagged Chinese characters. Perhaps deep down, they yearn for that respect they feel they deserve as the ethnic ancestors to their descendents, as the ones who are important enough to pass down what once belong to them to the next generations to come.

Learning from context in Chinese can be quite slow. How many characters can be achieved realistically in childhood? A few hundreds? That already is some achievement in the U.S. or the U.K. You need thousands to build up literacy. Before the end of primary school, the child’s cognitive intelligence is way beyond his reading skill in Chinese. That’s usually the time when even the parent may give up.

You can start with using this high frequency chart that contains the most frequent 250 Chinese characters with your child. Share this wonderful finding with your friends!

HighFreqChart250