Kioni - Snow in Greek (Χιoνι)
Isaiah 1:18 Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Chinese name Yi Kei, Yi means thy (God), Kei means blessing, propitiousness. 以 賽 亞 書 1:18 你 們 的 罪 雖 像 硃 紅 ， 必 變 成 雪 白 。（外 祖 母 名 叫 沈 雪 芳。）爾 祺 - “你”（神）的 “祝 福”。（外 祖 父 名 盧 祺。）
Sherry, I tried to teach her to count in Putonghua, but she just won't do it. She will only say words in Putonghua if she didn't know that is Putonghua. E.g., I taught her the word crab in Putonghua, but never in Cantonese, now everytime when she saw a picture of a crab, she will say pang2 xie4, not 'hai3' (which is Cantonese for crab). It is tricky, on one hand, I want her to be able to communicate with her grandpa and grandma in Hong Kong, on the other hand, she got to learn Putonghua, it is very important for her future. So I am torn on this. Are you teaching Sophia some words in Shanghainese?
It is a hard to say what language are they willing to speak when they grow up. However, I interviewed many second generation Chinese students here at Trinity, most of them hated the time when their parents forced them to go to Chinese schools, but they appreciate it now. Those who consistently learned Chinese (even in high school) love being bi-lingual, but those who have not done so regret that they have not paid more attention to learning Chinese, now they see how it is benefical to them. I hope our girls will learn to appreciate our efforts in teaching them two or three languages. Speaking is easy, reading and writing is the hard part. And when it comes to that, I have to struggle if I want to teach her traditional or simplified Chinese, I guess I can't teach her simplified, since I can only read it, I cannot write it other than writing my own name and a few other words.
2 comments:
Sherry, I tried to teach her to count in Putonghua, but she just won't do it. She will only say words in Putonghua if she didn't know that is Putonghua. E.g., I taught her the word crab in Putonghua, but never in Cantonese, now everytime when she saw a picture of a crab, she will say pang2 xie4, not 'hai3' (which is Cantonese for crab). It is tricky, on one hand, I want her to be able to communicate with her grandpa and grandma in Hong Kong, on the other hand, she got to learn Putonghua, it is very important for her future. So I am torn on this. Are you teaching Sophia some words in Shanghainese?
It is a hard to say what language are they willing to speak when they grow up. However, I interviewed many second generation Chinese students here at Trinity, most of them hated the time when their parents forced them to go to Chinese schools, but they appreciate it now. Those who consistently learned Chinese (even in high school) love being bi-lingual, but those who have not done so regret that they have not paid more attention to learning Chinese, now they see how it is benefical to them. I hope our girls will learn to appreciate our efforts in teaching them two or three languages. Speaking is easy, reading and writing is the hard part. And when it comes to that, I have to struggle if I want to teach her traditional or simplified Chinese, I guess I can't teach her simplified, since I can only read it, I cannot write it other than writing my own name and a few other words.
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