[...]Ask an Expert: Chinese immersion a good idea for bilingual Spanish-English kids? « SpanglishBaby™[...]…

I learned Spanish first at home, then English. My mother was so concerned with my accent and the fact that I was mixing words by the time I was in second grade, that she would have me sit at home at my desk and write out words and definitions from the English dictionary and then read them to her (after school and on weekends).

Then I started learning French at age 10 at home (bc I fell in love with the language) and then in High School for three years (bc it was mandatory – yay for me – and yet without practice my level of French remains rudimentary after all these years).

Having only taken two years of Spanish in school, my writing in Spanish is not great, but the Firm I’m with relies on me to read legal documents in Spanish, speak to clients, and to write Legal documents in Spanish as well. So it IS possible to achieve a level that will be sufficient when it comes to school and career.

My partner is fluent in English and Spanish (oral & written), Proficient in Portugese (oral & written), and has a rudimentary understanding of / and ability in speaking Cantonese. He lived in Puerto Rico, Ecuador and in New York, and learned English and Spanish in school. His grandmother is half Chinese and half Ecuadorian. His nanny was from Brazil. So Cantonese and Portugese were spoken in the home. And with all of that he only has clients that speak Spanish or English. His children only speak English and Spanish.

Aside from my partners children, I have no children of my own. As a former teacher, all I can say is this – whatever road you choose to take will be beneficial. All you can present to your children is the opportunity. The rest will be up to them in the end.

Best of luck.

Li
@LaLicenciada
@HerDeepThoughts

I admit it’s been easier for me to learn, just because I’m motivated. By schooling children in a language you get them to a high level of functioning, whether or not they take any particular interest in it. If you don’t have them immersed in the language at school, you have to find ways of getting or keeping them interested in it and motivated.

I agree that it depends what your goals are. In the United States there are many people with skills in Spanish, but to be trilingual with Chinese, English and Spanish would be a really big advantage in the work world. But perhaps, it could be more important that the child have easier, almost automatic, access to the full richness of literature, poetry and history in Spanish? I guess that’s the decision.