I wholeheartldy, definitely agree with you, finally someone who also shares my point of view It somewhat disgusts me that lots of Overseas Chinese ignore the fact that they are Chinese, know nothing of their own culture and traditions. But what I've noticed is that most of those kids who speak English only - have parents that cannot speak English, or who speak very limited English. These are parents with little education - and thus don't see the value of the language and culture (ie. don't encourage it or send their kids to school to learn it) and although they initially tried to speak the native language with their children, they eventually stop when their kids refuse to speak/learn it, and end up speaking broken English.
I agree. I've also seen 2nd generation Asian American/Canadian parents who can't speak Chinese, regret it, and try to make their kids learn it because they realize how useful it would have been if they had learned it.
Yup me too, I've seen lots of those, and it just looks so 'odd'. and they try to go to Chinese school for adults. I mean, it's basically their fault for not learning it when they were younger. I've seen some elderly Chinese people (60+) who speak fluent English to one another, and that picture just doesn't 'look right'. You'd expect them to be speaking Chinese. That's why I'm hoping I don't end up like that
The other thing I don't understand is why a lot of kids are so resistant to learning their own language. Other cultures are not like that....eg almost every Latino I know speak Spanish to a certain extent regardless if they were born or raised in a Spanish speaking country...
Yes I agree that English is important since we use it daily, but it's not hard to learn. Esp if one grew up immersed in an English speaking environment. However, the advantages of knowing another language is overwhelming...
I think it's a person-to-person thing ... But I also think it depends on the environment/surroundings too. I graduated from a school of rednecks and the few Asians there were completely white-washed - they think anything Asian is dorky, geeky, stupid, and uncool. They look at me and they think I'm weird and also make jokes as to how 'Asian' I am, when in reality, I'm just who I am - Chinese. On the other hand, in places with high concentrations of Chinese (or any other Asian) people, the Chinese kids tend to stick together in groups and will even speak it amongst themselves and are very invovled with their culture, language and traditions.
Yah, that's true. I work in a pretty white dominated community and only one of my Asian collegues speaks Canto (because he's from HK haha); none of my other Asian collegues speak a lick of their own language.... But I do remember in elementry school, over 80% of my classmates spoke Cantonese even though it was a white school...and we would speak it in class and out of class. It got so bad to the point that our white teachers started punishing us for speaking Canto in front of non Chinese people....=P
My parents never speak any english to me... Its all canto, so i had no choice, i speak english to friends and some to my sisters. But definately kids should learn their native language.
Yehh...like its embaressin if u go see ur relatives and u dunno what their sayin!! LoL!! Like my cousin...!! LoL!! We was watchin some film and she kept askin all these Q's all through it, it was really annoyin >.<" And always needs to subtitles!! GrRr
^ if the subtitle is on i tend to look at it more than listenin to wat those ppl say in chiense..i guess my chiens isn't that goood..thats y my kids need to know chinese
Yeh I look at the english sub and think wtf!? This isnt what their sayin at all!! LoL!! Which really bugs me >.<"
^ sometimes its a bit random, especially when you get the western dvd versions of chinese films. But it can help you learn some chinese. You listen to what they say, then read the subs Im learning chinese characters just by reading the subs on dramas
true hkm91450 dim8sum, haha i do the opposite, i always try not to look at the subs if there are any and just listen. Dont wanna be dependent on subs
Yeh thats what I do...when I'm watchin tvb dramas I'm lookin at the subs But sometimes the subs dun say exactly what their sayin...
Yeah, for sure I want my kids to know my language. If I marry a white guy... I'm gonna make him learn Cantonese too... =P But yeah, I want my kids to know Cantonese.
Sounds like we all need to speak Chinese only to our kids if we want them to learn; otherwise, they wouldn't even have a chance to practice....-shrug
