Raising a multi-lingual child by Dean Loh Yen Yoon...
My son, you are going to be arriving in less than 48 hours from now. If you asked me whether I am ready, I can tell you very frankly that I can never be too ready. I am as excited as I am apprehensive at the same time. How will you turn out to be? Will you be a rascal, or you will be the opposite (nerdy)? Will you be a superhero who will save the world, or you will bring the entire world down at your feet (then save it)? Will you like Coca-cola, or you will prefer coffee (both also contain caffeine…)
But (one of) the biggest concern that, er, concerns me, is how many languages will you speak?
See, Daddy was born a Hakka, then I went to national school in Malaysia and spoke Mandarin and Bahasa in the first 18 years or my life. When I came out to work, I had to push myself to learn and speak English, at the same time, friends around me spoke Cantonese. So all and all, I can speak five languages & dialects, pretty well and with various accents too!
For Mommy, she speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. That sums up the three common languages between Daddy and Mommy, which you need to be able to speak.
I somehow am pretty sure that you will not have problem picking up English (after all, all these messages are in English.) So I’m really concerned if you will speak the remaining two.
Obviously the best way to learn a language is to use it, and use it often. Which means to say, we need to speak with you in three different languages all of the time. I don’t know how pleasant it is for us, but you will definitely be confused, big time! Imagine each time you want milk you have to go: “Mommy I want milk, niu-nai, ngao-lye!” and Mommy goes: “I thought you just had it, he-liao, yum-zhor?” At such rate, very soon you will get tired of speaking and you might just resort to send us email/SMS only.
Anyway, like I said, this happens to be one of my concerns, and I’ll only know the outcome until you come around. In the meantime, I might just start to practice on speaking in three languages at the same time.