From: mcovingt@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Maiko Covington)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Subject: Re: On Languages and Asian Americans
Date: 24 Dec 92 01:50:09 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego


	I am very grateful to be raised bilingual (Japanese/English)
and if I were to have children, I would do my best to ensure that
they are bilingual too. I think that having two cultures is better
than having one.
	I personally think that the best way to do this is simply to
USE whatever languages aren't the languages of wherever you live, on
a daily basis with your children. They will pick it up. They will
not hate it - it will just be a natural thing. It is also necessary
to require the child to actually respond in the language too - that
way they will end up speaking it, as opposed to just understanding
it. Again, if you just make conversation in this target language a
natural part of your life, it isn't too stressful on either person.
	I have heard that there are 2 ideal ways to do this (from
a woman raising her children bilingually in French and English,
who'd done a lot of reading on the subject before the kids were
born). Both of these methods are considered 'ideal' in that they
teach the children to regard the two languages as separate from the
very beginning and they will tend not to 'mix' them as much. Here
they are:
	(1) Separate the languages by person.
	    Basically this involves having one member of the family
	    speak to the kid in each language - i.e. mother speaks
	    Japanese and the father English, or vice versa.
        (2) Separate the languages by place.
	    This involves speaking one language at home, the other
	    at school. Usually the parents use the 'other' languages
	    at home, and the kid learns English (in the USA) at
	    school.
	However, I think just having the parents use both languages
is an okay method too. Whatever method you use... I think it is a
very good idea. The child may be behind in reading for the first few
years of school (or maybe not), but it is WELL worth it for the
eventual result, which is a kid who is bilingual, on level in two
languages and not just one.
	The main sticky part (at least with Japanese and Chinese) is
whether and how to teach your child to read. Reading in either of
those languages requires you to memorize lots of characters, whick
often means the kid has to go to weekend school. I still think this
is a good idea (I used to teach at one of these), if it is started
when the kid is at the age that schooling is done in the 'other'
country, so that the child will be on grade level in both languages.
This tends to reduce the idea that it is some sort of unpleasant
game they have to do on Saturday. Also it would be a good idea to
take your child places where there are people interacting and
READING in the 'other' language so that it is NOT seen as just a
game, and they will understand the benefit of learning to read. I've
found that with kids learning to read Japanese, taking them to
bookstores with lots of 'manga' does a great deal for the
enthusiasm. ^_^ I think that both the parents and the child need to
take it seriously for any sort of learning to occur.
	Good luck - and remember this is all just my opinion.

		Maiko Covington

P.S. Let me also add that I don't think only people with some sort
of other racial background have the opportunity to have their kids
be bilingual. If you are studying a language in college, or learned
it some other way, why not teach it to your kid? Heck, I'm white as
white gets (nihon sodachi though) and since I was raised bicultural,
I think I have a responsibility to pass it on to my children,
regardless of what blood they end up having in them.


Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american