I am a second generation Chinese-speaker, and I speak Chinese to my children just like my mother did with me. However, I did not grow up in the same environment as my mother, immersed in Chinese in Taiwan. Therefore, my skill and vocabulary is limited compared to a true native.
And I still feel like have a steep learning curve ahead. Thankfully, there are so many tools you can use to help your child acquire a language. In addition to you speaking to them, of course.
So whether you are learning a language with your child from scratch or teaching one that you know. Here are the tools that have helped me:
The internet. The wealth of knowledge ont he internet is overwhelming! But with the way any search engine is set up nowadays, you can just type in your question and a list of answers/websites will appear guiding you towards you answers. For instance, if you are looking for children’s book in Chinese or the top 10 Kids songs, you will be able to find that on the internet.
Wikipedia. Even though this is part of the Internet, it is such a great tool when you are looking to learn about a specific subject. In general, you can look up a something and look at the page in another language. This is very helpful when trying to broaden your vocabulary in a subject.
Translating tools (Pleco, Google Translate and of course Wikipedia). Pleco is more accurate, but Google Translate can translate sentences and more, so each application has its advantages. I use these translating tools all the time, either to look for a word or to check that I have used it correctly. Pleco also has bundles that you can purchase with more advantages (such as character recognition), it also has flashcards and of course bookmarks that you can categorize. With smartphones nowadays, we have all this knowledge in the palm of our hands. Which is pretty amazing when you think about it.
Youtube. Of course Youtube. There are soooo many shows that you can watch on Youtube. There are kids TV shows, and vlogging channels where people are in similar situations, where each parent speak a different language to their child. Watch y favorite kids TV shows that you can find on Youtube here.
Video streaming services (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, …). The wonderful thing about these streaming services is that they are all over the world, so they are also motivated to have their content in the local languages. For Netflix, you may have to use a VPN to access content in Chinese, but for Amazon will just have all their languages and subtitles available. Disney+ also has all its languages available regardless of your location, so no VPN necessary. I love watching shows and movies with my kids, since you can use the theme or story as a conversation topic.
Audio Streaming Services (Spotify). This audio streaming service gets its own section because it does not involve screen time. And again, there is so much to find on Spotify, such as podcasts, children’s stories and children’s songs.
Books. Obviously books made this list. At first I began with picture books, some of them I had bought in Taiwan and others I purchase in the States. We try our best to read to our kids before bed, and this is a great opportunity practice for myself and enhance each other’s vocabulary.
Toys and games. When playing with your kids and interacting with them, it helps you as well as your child to practice. When we play with flashcards for instance, it really is fun for both the parent and the child. You can play different versions of hide and seek with the flashcards, where one of the ways is to hide the cards to have your kids find them and say what they found, or make them seek the specific card you are asking.
What also plays in our advantage is that convergence of technology and globalization, many people are sharing the same experiences and pass-times. Kids are likely watching the same shows, but in different languages. Kids are growing up in a world where similarities are growing and differences are shrinking.
I hope this list helps you discover a few more tools and platforms to take advantage of.
Thank you for reading
