Traditional vs. Simplified Chinese

eaymom

My daughter will be learning simplified Chinese in school.  I am planning to hire a private Chinese tutor to supplement her Chinese at home.  My original plan is to have the tutor teach her in Traditional character.  But I wonder if that will slow her learning down if she's learning two types of characters at the same time?  Would it be more effective if I only concentrate on one character type (in which case, simplified character)?  Would she learn better and faster as a result?

Would like to seek feedback from experienced parents on this.  If you have similar experience, we'd love to hear your thoughts.  Thank you.

almom

What is your expectations?

Some people take extra chinese classes or hire a chinese tutor for enhancement. That is, you want your child to learn something other than what she learns at school.

Some people just want the tutor to go through what the school is teaching. This is just for enforcing what they learn at school, because most children are not getting much out of the classes at school.....

I am the latter type. My childre are never good at chinese so having them able to keep up is what I want. Some of my friends children are the former type. They have strong chinese and can have the ability to learn something extra.

eaymom

The school does not teach much Chinese at all. So the home tutoring is an alternate way to learn Chinese.

I am just worried that learning two different characters will hinder her progress especially when learning Chinese itself is already a difficult subject for her.

原帖由 almom 於 09-10-3 10:58 發表
What is your expectations?

Some people take extra chinese classes or hire a chinese tutor for enhancement. That is, you want your child to learn something other than what she learns at school.

Some  ...

evatsoihk

原帖由 eaymom 於 09-10-3 15:00 發表
The school does not teach much Chinese at all. So the home tutoring is an alternate way to learn Chinese.

I am just worried that learning two different characters will hinder her progress especially ...

其實你自己已經有了答案，既然你也擔心學習繁體會妨礙孩子本身的進度，而且現時的中文對孩子來説也不是一個輕鬆的科目，那就真的沒必要再為她增添“壓力”了。

不如將精力放在找個好的中文老師回家，跟著學校的步子，打好基礎，這才重要。

JJsMama

The learning process should be enjoyable.   If you child likes the challenges of learning different permutations of the language, then by all means go for it.   Otherwise, focus on one, do well, and let her feel her achievement.   Converting simplified to traditional and vice versa shouldn't be too hard once certain level of competence is attained.  

Chinese language at junior level is not actually hard, it just takes diligence and dedication.  Don't get over worried.

almom

原帖由 eaymom 於 09-10-3 15:00 發表
The school does not teach much Chinese at all. So the home tutoring is an alternate way to learn Chinese.

I am just worried that learning two different characters will hinder her progress especially ...

My experience of learning Chinese as a second language (or slightly better) is that, it is hard to expect much.

Whether it is difficult, or easy, it is all in your head. If you expect a lot from the extra tutoring, than it must be hard, even if you are sticking only to simplified characters. If you are considering it less seriously and only consider it as something extra to learn also the traditional characters, it would not be as hard.

When learning something, it would not be hard if your expectation is low. Because, you can basically stay in the same "beginner" level all the time without moving up. If you are a serious person and want some solid results, it would not be easy. You need to spend time and put in effort to learn something. My view is that learning one form is already not easy (considering the time they spend on chinese), so an additional "form" of characters would definitely be more difficult.

JTmom

原帖由 eaymom 於 09-10-3 10:41 發表
My daughter will be learning simplified Chinese in school.  I am planning to hire a private Chinese tutor to supplement her Chinese at home.  My original plan is to have the tutor teach her in Traditi ...

Interest is the greatest educator. If you can make learning Chinese fun, she may not find it hard to learn both traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese. At this age, they are capable to learn more than we expect. Since all the signs in MTR and on the streets are in traditional Chinese, she may find it useful to learn tradtional Chinese first and be able to read things by herself. Learning something that is useful may make her feel learning Chinese is fun. Reading should not be too difficult with your help, praise and constant encouragement. The hard part in learning Chinese is usually writing which may be resolved by teaching them to type and slowly introduce hand-writing when time is appropiate. There are a few input methods available for primary students.

When she is older and in primary school, you can explain to her the origin of simplified Chinese so that she understand why she is learning 2 sets of characters. In the Greenfield website, there is a great article that talked about traditional and simplified Chinese. You may want to check it out.
http://www.greenfieldhk.com/filedata/tbl_newsletter/doc/17_1.pdf

My two cents is learning should be fun. We as parents can help them try different ways to get there. No need to push her but don't give up before trying. Cheers,