Reply to Sp or Ch language?

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Reply to "Sp or Ch language?"

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[quote=Anonymous]I'll give some personal context.

I learned Japanese as student in high school.  Liked it so much I went to Japan for a year.  Came back reasonably fluent.  Moved to DC.  Didn't make Japanese friends, just happy to have the friends I made as part of regular life.  Took a couple language classes, but didn't obsess over Japanese things or try to get NHK on my cable or find obscure calligraphy classes.  Just lived a normal life.  And surprise, surprise, most of the Japanese has been forgotten.  I have no reasonable reason to use it.

On the other hand, my wife speaks Spanish.  Many of my neighbors do.  My kid's day care providers speak Spanish.  Just talking to my wife and neighbors and taking a couple classes has been enough to make my Spanish pretty decent and I can maintain it within the course of a normal, American life.  I can watch novelas or Sunday shows in Spanish on regular TV.  I can talk to people at the pool.

I think if you want to have a kid that speaks Chinese, you have to expect that they would be able to have some use for it in the typical course of their life, without having to be obsessed about it, because nobody can maintain that level of obsession required to keep it up without environmental support.  Think about whether you and your children live that life, and what it might mean for your child's future.

If we all lived in NYC or SF, great.  But this is DC.[/quote]

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