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[quote=Anonymous]I have European ancestry.  I was a French minor and my husband was a Russian major in college.  I have friends and colleagues from all over the globe who are bilingual and even trilingual.  I have Wasian family members (Korean background).  I've had friends who adopted from China.  I've had friends who sent their kids to weekend Chinese school.  My kid is studying online Chinese in high school.  Because he decided he wanted to learn it.  I have friends who are Black (American and British) who met and fell in love at Chinese language school in Taiwan.  They used their skills to work in mainland China for several years but don't use it anymore.

So...I've seen a lot of takes on people's involvement with foreign language learning, both from a heritage and non-heritage perspective.

I personally think you should have your kids try to take Chinese either at summer camps (Concordia or ones run by affiliation orgs) or in their public schools.  You should only tie up their weekends if that's how they want to use their weekends.  If they grow in enthusiasm, nurture the spark.  If they remain indifferent, let it go.

Honestly there are too many Chinese people worldwide who speak excellent English for most American-born English speakers to really profit from knowing Chinese.  So the rationale for study needs to come from students' personal motivations or just the need to fulfil graduation requirements in a language.  It is still possible for people who start late to gain decent fluency if they are a committed student and most importantly have real opportunities to use the language.[/quote]

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