Would you rather have your child learn Spanish or Chinese (Mandarin) starting in kindergarten?

Question

Our public school system has one school where Spanish is taught in K and another school where Chinese is taught in K. Would you rather have your child in one or the other? Why?

Spanish is popular in the U.S. now and will be throughout my child's lifetime, but China is a slowly emerging superpower and very few people here are fluent in any Chinese langyage.

Thanks for youtr thoughts.

Answer 1

That's a difficult question to answer. While it is true that more people speak Spanish in the U.S. than Chinese, it's also true that Chinese and Arabic are the two fastest growing languages.

I think it would be easier to answer if you had explained something about the programs. Are these bilingual or immersion programs, or a 20-minute a week class? Are the classes continued through elementary school?

If these are serious classes, where your child will really learn to speak the language, I would strongly suggest you put him or her in the Chinese program. Chinese is considered one of the harder languages to learn, whereas Spanish is considered one of the easier. Offering the opportunity to learn Chinese at such a receptive age will assure your child of greater fluency in a very difficult language. On the other hand, while it would be beneficial to learn Spanish at such a young age, Spanish is an easier language to learn and can be learned later on in school.

On the other hand, if the program is a limited program, where fluency is not the goal, then I would definitely suggest Spanish. Limited Chinese would not provide sufficient language to build on and would therefore not be beneficial, whereas the child could build on a more limited Spanish foundation.

Answer 2

First, the idealistic answer: I think that many different languages should be taught, starting in Kindergarten or earlier as it is well founded that children can learn sufficient and decipher multiple languages appropriately from an early age. Waiting to offer different languages until Middle or High School is a waste of potential ease of retention and understanding as it is harder to learn a new language as a child gets older and set into one path.

Second, my realistic answer: For the U.S. - Spanish should be taught over Spanish. While there are physically more people of Chinese heritage, the U.S. population is more directly affected by the Hispanic population. Maybe a short-sighted view, but for the next 20+ years, a person who is brought up through the public school system in the U.S. with be much more marketable with both Spanish and English in their background.

Answer 3

Answer this question: 1) Will you child be able to learn either of these languages merely by exposure to his/her classmates and peers? If the answer is yes, then enroll your child in the school that teaches the other language.

I agree with you that learning Spanish is becoming not only popular in the U.S., but to some degree it is becoming an asset to those of us who can speak Spanish. For younger children, Spanish will be easier for them to pick up because it sounds similar to English. Chinese will be more difficult only because it comes from a different family of languages.

At the age of 5 or 6, your child has a greater apptitude for learning languages than you or I. Have you tried asking your child which language they would like to learn? It is a decision that means a lot to you, but it will give your kindergartener a feeling of ownership about school if they get to choose.

Answer 4

It's an interesting question.
I learned some Chinese in college, and I can tell you that it vastly increased my understanding of the mechanics of the English language. By studying a language so different from my mother tongue, I began to understand what caused the differences, and it helped me to better define my understanding of language in general.

But these benefits were the result of long hours of pondering high-minded theories of communication, language, and culture. I'm not sure a kindergarten age child would be able to share that experience.

I would say go with Spanish. Your child is more likely to hear the language spoken in everyday life, and he/she will be better able to understand the very difficult concept of "other languages." Explaining to a kid that there are people that speak something other than their own language can be difficult.

Answer 5

The more languages your child learns to speak, the better.

Many occupations pay more if the applicant can speak 2 or more languages fluently. Encourage your school to teach both. Better yet, encourage the school to teach sign language, too.

Having said that, I also would hope that the school emphasizes learning not only the language - but insists on proper grammar and spelling in english.