i have an 8mth old at home, hub n i speak to him in english, where both side grandparents in mandarin & hokkien. Lately, hub's nephew who had attended childcare for a year only speak in english to everyone (including his china mum), and his english has a strong american slang while he cant even properly pronounce 1-10 in mandarin. Im thinking is it necessary for hub n myself to start switching to mandarin so that after attending childcare he will not just speak english? In my personal perspective it is more difficult to master Chinese than English thus im worried m

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I insisted on speaking to my girl in Mandarin at home and encourage to speak and reply me in mandarin as well. Her Chinese language teacher also provided guidance and told us encourage her to converse in mandarin, expose her to Chinese books and game play i.e. To the supermarket and teach her fruits and vegetables in English and Mandarin. Use life size item i.e. Bicycles parked at the void deck and encouraged her to point and count in Mandarin. Identify shapes and sizes in Mandarin too. Keep trying, encouraging and exposing to Chinese educational stuff and converse in Mandarin helps a lot. Avoidance results in reduced exposure. Whenever I asked in mandarin and she replies me in English, I will correct her and remind her to reply me in mandarin.

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