Situation #1.7: My child is past the optimal stage of learning Chinese. I should have done it when he was much younger.Reality: In the child’s early years, the family may talk to him in Chinese, and English if desired, if that is what the family is comfortable with. Even before the child is born, research has confirmed he has already started to listen to the mother’s voice. It is definitely beneficial to begin these types of connection early on. Between birth and nine months of age, the child starts to acquire, rather than learn, the language(s). That is the first window of opportunity. There may not be any prevalent result at that point, but it will serve as a strong foundation later on when he does acquire the language(s). He will benefit much by having lots of human contact and verbal interactions with parents, siblings and primary caregivers at this time.

The second window of opportunity is between the age of four and seven to introduce a second language if your child is raised monolingually up until then, or a third language if your child has been bilingual. The years before that window of time, a child’s cognitive skills were in rapid development, which perhaps explains why he was mostly shaping the language(s) he acquired in the first window and could leave little room for another new language. The second window is also the time to start introducing and teaching reading and writing if biliteracy is in your plan for your child. Be aware though when your child should start writing by hand, however, due to individual development (see Situation #4.2). Another reason to start biliteracy is so that it is introduced prior to any formal schooling, so that he has a positive attitude toward his home language(s). You should try to use the child’s first language (i.e. Chinese) to provide academic content and real life experiences as long as you can prior to schooling as well. You can be sure that all these knowledge will eventually be transferred to the second language (i.e. English).

There is not a biological marker when a person stops being capable of learning a language. Different ages pose different advantages and disadvantages. It is never too late to learn. In all these windows of opportunities, you need only to provide your child a rich environment with an active approach to drive the learning.

Situation #1.6: I am not sure if my child can be very competent in Chinese. I think I will let her go at her own pace. I would be very satisfied if she can write her own name.Reality: Raising a child bilingually is no easy task. And raising a child to be biliterate (able to read and write as well as to listen and speak) seems like going against a storm. Bilingualism and biliteracy come with planning and do not come naturally, not in an English-dominant society anyway. The force is against you and your child for the most part.

In a study conducted in 2002, the researchers found that most of what has happened in the past based on a three-generation Anglicization is still happening today. Basically, an immigrant family raises their children while speaking their native language at home, but their children prefer English and may even speak to their parents in English if the parents know some English. When it is the children’s turn to raise their own household, they mostly use English with their children at home and hence their children would turn out to be monolingual, with at best, fragments of the native language. The study shows that by the third generation, more than 91% of Chinese children (ages 6-15) in a foreign land speak only English at home. Further, statistics have not even included biliterate children in this regard.

The reality is, if you are satisfied with her sole capability of writing her Chinese name, she will very likely be able to do just and only that.