English or Mandarin

English or Mandarin? This has been something which David and I had been struggling with since Kaelyn was born.

I grew up speaking Mandarin at home and David mainly Hokkien and some Mandarin. English, although I wouldnt say was a huge struggle, is something I wished I could master better. After all, all subjects through my entire school life was thought in English (except for Chinese of course). You have to do well in PSLE English, GCE 'O' level English and GCE 'A' level General Paper before you can progress to a good school. And as I am working in a British Bank working with many 'ang mohs', it is all the more important for me to express myself well in English. Whereas for Chinese, the subject never really counted as a core subject in school. You are still able to get into a good school even if you do badly in this area. And I thought Mandarin was only useful with the 'uncles' and 'aunties' in the market / supermarket / coffeeshop / hawker centre etc.

With all the odds stacked against Mandarin and so much pros going for English, of course English was the way to go! We decided that we wanted our dear gal to have a headstart so we began to only converse with her in English since the day she was born. The idea is for her grandparents to speak to her in Mandarin and everything will just fall in place.

So 19 months on from that day this decision was made, how have we fared?

Kaelyn's language report card 1 month back:

English - A

• Responds very well to her English name, Kaelyn.
  
• She understands English instructions very well.
  
• She is able to express herself with simple English terms. e.g. Mama hand walk walk (means asking me to hold her hand to walk); Papa leg pain pain; Aunty eat; Mama hand draw; Come, sit etc etc.
  

Mandarin - C

• Takes a while to register her Chinese name, Yixuan.
  
• She understands instructions in Mandarin sometimes, but still not very well.
  
• Usually doesnt use Mandarin to express herself other than 'Bu yao, bu yao'.I think she understands quite a number of words as her grandparents have been speaking to her, but she doesnt naturally use them. A ball will always be 'ball' instead of 'qiu'; and bird is never 'niao' to her although we have been repeating these words to her. It is only when we ask her where is 'qiu' then she will point to the ball.

I made a U-turn a few weeks back after looking at this not too great report card. And also it was timely that MM Lee also spoke about speaking to our children in Mandarin at home. To some extent, I do agree with him that it is easier to pick up English than Mandarin. Kaelyn doesnt have much problems repeating English words after me, but I cant say the same for Mandarin. She sounded like a non-Chinese trying to pick up Mandarin for the first time! Also, I realise in my job, I was required to pick up some Business Chinese to speak to some Taiwanese clients. I had to put in quite a bit of time to prepare for that 20 min call. I also want Yixuan to be able to converse with her paternal grandparents and great grandma in Mandarin, as they dont speak English.

The tide has turned...

I just hope the poor gal doesnt get confused with Ye ye and Nai nai speaking to her in Mandarin, Aunty (our helper) speaking to her in English, and Papa, Mama, Gong gong, Popo speaking to her in a mix of both....