I don't want to derail, other than to ask about teaching children Chinese/Mandarin....What are your experiences?
My children have been learning Mandarin since age 4-5 (they're now 6-7) at a Chinese school (taught in English other than Mandarin lessons). They also have one-on-one lessons after school.
My wife and I are native English speakers, so we can't help them. There's a big push in our city (spoiler...Chicago) with learning Mandarin, but I see a bunch of high schools introducing the language, like it's Spanish. Nothing against Spanish, per se, but observing the Mandarin language makes me laugh at learning the romantic languages--there are no similarities.
Watching my kids write pinyin and asking me questions about things just blows my mind. So, are any of you non-"Chinese" speaking (Mandarin/Cantonese) people trying to guide your children down this path?
My children have been learning Mandarin since age 4-5 (they're now 6-7) at a Chinese school (taught in English other than Mandarin lessons). They also have one-on-one lessons after school.
My wife and I are native English speakers, so we can't help them. There's a big push in our city (spoiler...Chicago) with learning Mandarin, but I see a bunch of high schools introducing the language, like it's Spanish. Nothing against Spanish, per se, but observing the Mandarin language makes me laugh at learning the romantic languages--there are no similarities.
Watching my kids write pinyin and asking me questions about things just blows my mind. So, are any of you non-"Chinese" speaking (Mandarin/Cantonese) people trying to guide your children down this path?