Suggestions on teaching my child Traditional Chinese?

[alanbrenton]

Hi,

Are there software applications like Reader Rabbit that teaches children Mandarin? I prefer Traditional Chinese using bopomofo instead of pinyin.
My daughter has some foundation on the language as my wife speaks to her mostly in Mandarin, but I would like to build her skills up further by using electronic / computer means as well.

She does attend 3.5 hours of Mandarin classes on Friday nights and watches some movies with us. I am not able to teach her myself as I can read quite a lot of words and understand movies / shows so long as there are chinese subtitles but am not very good at spoken Mandarin. My wfe does speak to her in Mandarin but she responds in English.

How about sending her off to Taipei, Taiwan for summer schooling, would this be prohibitively expensive? Summer camp in Canada alone costs upwards of $1,000 already so I wouldn't mind sending her overseas to get the cultural immersion as well.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[TenzoR]

I would buy a chinese keyboard and just make your daughter type up a small article every week on the computer.

Start off with an easy article, and move on to something harder. Maybe use her chinese school text books? Since she already can read it.

Windows XP should already have the correct IME for it.

[ChemicalBoy]

Noting beats a child playing with other kids who speak Mandarin. Softwares are over rated and require your child to be on the computer to learn, there is no human touch to it. A language takes human interaction and body language to read and say things. The more interaction/playing the better.
Find your kid a playmate to learn or take your kid to china for a visit s/he will make friends and kids learn the best from other kids.
That is the way I learned how to speak Cantonese myself.

Just my 2 cents

[Kranberry]

Oh yeah, don't forget that traditional Chinese characters are primarily used by people in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Mainland Chinese people use simplified. So to find traditional Chinese characters with Mandarin, you'd need to find Taiwanese software. I don't think they teach bopomofo anymore, everything is standardized pinyin now. I think you'd be hard pressed to find any bopomofo software.

[PCDawg]

Noting beats a child playing with other kids who speak Mandarin. Softwares are over rated and require your child to be on the computer to learn, there is no human touch to it. A language takes human interaction and body language to read and say things. The more interaction/playing the better.
Find your kid a playmate to learn or take your kid to china for a visit s/he will make friends and kids learn the best from other kids.
That is the way I learned how to speak Cantonese myself.

Just my 2 cents

+1

The best way is not sitting behind a computer screen as she can get bored easily and lose interest.

Human interaction and in class is the best method.

[alanbrenton]

Has anybody had experience with chinese schools in Taipei, Taiwan for Foreigners and/or Overseas chinese? I have nothing against China but some of my in-laws live in Taiwan.

How much would these cost for summer schooling (July/August)?

[TenzoR]

Oh yeah, don't forget that traditional Chinese characters are primarily used by people in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Mainland Chinese people use simplified. So to find traditional Chinese characters with Mandarin, you'd need to find Taiwanese software. I don't think they teach bopomofo anymore, everything is standardized pinyin now. I think you'd be hard pressed to find any bopomofo software.

it's built into Windows XP ....

[TenzoR]

Noting beats a child playing with other kids who speak Mandarin. Softwares are over rated and require your child to be on the computer to learn, there is no human touch to it. A language takes human interaction and body language to read and say things. The more interaction/playing the better.
Find your kid a playmate to learn or take your kid to china for a visit s/he will make friends and kids learn the best from other kids.
That is the way I learned how to speak Cantonese myself.

Just my 2 cents

Maybe for speaking but how is playing with other kid going to help them with reading and typing?

[ChemicalBoy]

Again I would saying going computer route is not the best way.
Get them a book teach them how to write it by your wife or some other teacher. Kids in class teach each other also.
Lang are learn by practice, there is no software that would give you the same satisfaction as a working on how to write in a book, and repeating itself again and again.
I use the first 100 chinese characters (Traditional Char Ed) by Tuttle Language Library, that might be a good start, it teaches you the pen stroke.

Once they know how to use the pen strokes then teach them using a keyboard.

[slouie]

Characters are divided into simplified and traditional...whether you speak cantonese or mandarin, traditional characters will remain traditional characters.

If your wife is speaking to her in mandarin...just get her to respond in mandarin...she obviously understands the language, just refusing to use it. There has to be the desire and willingness to study a new language.

[Aznsilvrboy]

When I was young my mom bought a few sets of Chinese character cards, and I would have to learn a few every day. My mom taped them on the walls, and would randomly test me what I learned before. I learned it that way and by the time I was in senior kindergarten, I was able to read newspaper. I only received up to grade one education in Taiwan, and even now (i'm in university now), I am able to read Chinese novels.

[alanbrenton]

Thanks for all the insights. Is it only in Taiwan that they still use the bopomofo? Or is it still used outside Mainland China? Do Mainland Chinese actually use pinyin in elementary school to learn pronounciation?

We have begun to teach our daughter the phonetics so that she can be able to start pronouncing words. Hopefully we are not overwhelming her by having her attend French Immersion school and home schooling her English and Mandarin. I don't know about your experiences, but I tend to coerce my daughter but I'm sure it will pan out in the end. She's kinda hard-headed but I guess it is for her own good anyway that she learns these three languages. She never does complain but tries to stall every so often :)

Does anybody also have the same experience teaching his/her children several languages?

[divx]

Thanks for all the insights. Is it only in Taiwan that they still use the bopomofo? Or is it still used outside Mainland China? Do Mainland Chinese actually use pinyin in elementary school to learn pronounciation?

We have begun to teach our daughter the phonetics so that she can be able to start pronouncing words. Hopefully we are not overwhelming her by having her attend French Immersion school and home schooling her English and Mandarin. I don't know about your experiences, but I tend to coerce my daughter but I'm sure it will pan out in the end. She's kinda hard-headed but I guess it is for her own good anyway that she learns these three languages. She never does complain but tries to stall every so often :)

Does anybody also have the same experience teaching his/her children several languages?
Yes, and I never heard of bopomofo.

[gmark2000]

Hopefully we are not overwhelming her by having her attend French Immersion school and home schooling her English and Mandarin.

You daughter will really be messed up and behind in all her language comprehension and composition if you throw French immersion into the mix. Focus on one second language to succeed.

I bought some VCDs and kids books in Singapore for my kids to learn Chinese. I think that's what you should be looking for. Chinese as a Second Language educational tools.

[Evil Techie]

i dont think it is a good idea to teach bopomofo anymore since even in Taiwan, they are teaching PinYin now (although different type of pinyin than mainland's)

the future of mandarin is leaning towards simplified and mainland's style of pinyin so IMO, traditional is becoming useless in future business world

[Aznsilvrboy]

Yes, and I never heard of bopomofo.

That's Taiwan's phonetics to pronouncing Mandarin.

[Fx45]

+1

The best way is not sitting behind a computer screen as she can get bored easily and lose interest.

Human interaction and in class is the best method.

+2.

Also, I can't see her learning to write sitting in front of a computer either. Class is great but to sustain you need to find her some mandarin speaking friends; otherwise she'll lose it quick since she doesn't use it for any practical purposes.

Also, why do you need bopomofo? It's just a tool for learning; the key is that she learns mandarin chinese itself, hopefully it'll get to the point where she won't need to depend on pingyin or bopomofo...

[Aznsilvrboy]

+2.

Also, I can't see her learning to write sitting in front of a computer either. Class is great but to sustain you need to find her some mandarin speaking friends; otherwise she'll lose it quick since she doesn't use it for any practical purposes.

Also, why do you need bopomofo? It's just a tool for learning; the key is that she learns mandarin chinese itself, hopefully it'll get to the point where she won't need to depend on pingyin or bopomofo...

Bopomofo is also used as an aid to recognizing Chinese characters. It's used to train kids to learn how to read.