Moving to China with children

[kadijah]

Yes. My goal is to have my children become fluent in Mandarin. I am moving for this purpose.

[abcdefg]

I am considering maybe a 2 year stay in China, Singapore or even Thailand. Can anyone offer any advice? I am willing to move anywhere of those countries.

Just to state the obvious, if the goal is learning Chinese, don't move to Thailand. The children will pick up Thai instead of Chinese.

Edited January 4, 2010 at 08:54 PM by abcdefg

[jbradfor]

Just to state the obvious, if the goal is learning Chinese, don't move to Thailand. The children will pick up Thai instead of Chinese.

Since in the question the poster mentioned learning bopomofo, I assume the poster meant Taiwan, not Thailand.

[imron]

Since in the question the poster mentioned learning bopomofo

Ah, but does "Bo Po Mo Fo" equate to bopomofo? Although people typically use the word "bopomofo" to refer to Zhuyin, I remember when I first heard people say they don't learn bopomofo on the mainland, and I was quite confused because I distincly remember being in class in Beijing going over bo po mo fo, de te ne le etc when learning pinyin. It wouldn't surprise me for someone who knew nothing of Zhuyin to say they had learnt bo po mo fo, because that's quite likely the order they were taught pinyin initials.

[abcdefg]

Since in the question the poster mentioned learning bopomofo, I assume the poster meant Taiwan, not Thailand.

Maybe so.

[chrix]

imron, maybe it's because I studied Mandarin in Taiwan, but for me, "bopomofo" only refers to zhuyin. I think it's easier to remember/pronounce as a name than "zhuyin"

Side note: when I asked at the Beijing airport if I could exchange Táibì, the clerk asked me if I meant Tàibì. So even Chinese people can confuse Thailand and Taiwan

[jbradfor]

imron, maybe it's because I studied Mandarin in Taiwan, but for me, "bopomofo" only refers to zhuyin. I think it's easier to remember/pronounce as a name than "zhuyin"

But the OP did say "Bo Po Mo Foe[sic]", not bopomofo, so I'm thinking that imron is right and I'm wrong in my reading.

Side note: when I asked at the Beijing airport if I could exchange Táibì, the clerk asked me if I meant Tàibì. So even Chinese people can confuse Thailand and Taiwan

Maybe it was a hint that if you mention being in Taiwan too much you might get yourself in trouble.

Also, alas, I don't see any actual useful information we've provided to the OP I hope at least some of the link's provided before the OP's question were useful.

[imron]

But the OP did say "Bo Po Mo Foe[sic]", not bopomofo, so I'm thinking that imron is right and I'm wrong in my reading.

I think it could go either way actually. My point was just because someone says they have learnt "Bo Po Mo Fo" doesn't mean they have learnt Zhuyin. Although bopomofo is used to refer to Zhuyin by people who have learnt it, if a Chinese learner knows nothing about Zhuyin and you ask them if they have learnt bopomofo (and without explaining beforehand what bopomofo was), it wouldn't be unreasonable for them to answer yes, as it's likely that's the order they were taught pronunciation of initials in pinyin (or at least that's how it was for me - b p m f, d t n l, g k h, j q x, z, c, s, zh ch sh, r).

[chrix]

Well I wouldn't read too much in how the OP spelt it, it could be either way.

And I don't think anyone in Beijing will care about your ties to Taiwan. Though back then it wasn't possible to exchange Táibì...

[scottishlaura]

We moved here January 2008 with the main aim of having our kids grow up bilingual, I am British and my husband mainland Chinese. At time of moving our kids were 4 1/2 and 14 months, we have just had a third who is almost 6 months now. Anyway, we are really pleased with how things have worked out although there we have had to change some of our initial plans/ideas.

Oldest son started in Chinese kindergarten but it very quickly became clear it wasn't the right place for him. At that time he had virtually no Chinese. We moved him to an international kindergarten, Chinese division, so main language was Chinese but staff could all speak English and there were one or two other foreign children in his class. Instantly much happier, thrived and now bilingual. Can read fairly well in Chinese but writing much slower as there isn't an option of bilingual education so we have plumped for English language education (as it's his first language) with as much Chinese as we can fit in.

Second son was home with local nanny for first 18 months we lived here so bilingual, now stronger in Chinese as he goes to a local kindergarten with no English. I figure we will go with Chinese as his first language for now and figure out school when the time comes. Third son still a baby but will grow up bilingual as we ain't going anywhere anytime soon.

A friend put her 8-yr old in private Chinese school and after about 6 months he was able to hold his own, now after 18 months his Chinese is great all round. I do wonder about his English though. But if your kids could tough it out for the first few months this would be the best way for them to learn Chinese and it is something we are considering for our first son in a year or two once his English reading and writing is well-established.

[renotobeijing]

scottishlaura

Thank you for the information. We are likely to be in a similar situation. My wife is from Beijing and I am American with three elementary age children We would be in Beijing and would like to have the children attend local public schools, in part because of the expense of the international schools and also because immersion in the language is the fastest way to for them to learn.

Part of our decision to go is based on getting the children into a school there without too much expense. Have you found it difficult to enroll in the public school? Have you incurred any extra expense to do so? Do you know where we can find some more information before we leave for China?