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[quote=Anonymous]OP, I'm an early childhood language educator and this is the advice I will give you.  if you speak Mandarin fluently, YOU are the only one who can help achieve fluency for your child.  14 months is a pivotal age - child will soon realize who speaks which language, and if you're not speaking Mandarin all the time, child will only speak English with you.  Your only other options are moving to China, or enrolling your child in a Mandarin immersion preschool program (not bilingual - full immersion) at the earliest possible age.

Programs like Language Stars provide fun activities and will expose children to some words, phrases, etc.  They will never achieve a super high level of fluency.  It's simply not enough time exposed to the target language.  The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages recommends at least nine hours per week for children to achieve fluency.

I work with multilingual families all the time and the ones who are successful in passing their language down to their children are the ones who speak their native language ALL THE TIME.  You simply can't start slipping into English.  Once you do, that's it.  Children learn by around 18 months who speaks which language and they start pushing back and only answering in Engllish by about age 3.

Prechool programs that are full immersion can help children achieve a high level of fluency if they spend a good amount of time in the target language.  I've seen amazing outcomes in children who are in immersion preschool programs at least 30 hours per week, even when the parents don't speak the target langauge.  The challenge is to find a quality preschool program, and then an immersion/bilingual elementary program so the child can continue to maintain and improve literacy skills in the target language.

I would just speak, speak, speak Mandarin with your child.  All the time. Don't ever speak English, even in front of your husband.  This works.  You must keep going when child starts to resist (and child WILL resist at some point - they all do!).

Good luck.  You can do it![/quote]

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