Overheard in the lift today. Woman purposefully brought her kids to China so they are forced to speak Mandarin. Now question; how far would you go to buy an experience for your children?

I am seriously considering uprooting and moving to Japan for the sake of my two kids.

Yes, this is how far we parents will go for our kids.

We want them to grow up in a nice and polite society.

You grow up really better and you are forced to use a new language, because... you have no choice. The people around you are not going to understand what you are saying in english and you will be forced to adapt

And if you ask me for my own personal plan, I rather migrate to Australia or Canada for my retirements. (side joke: canada is too cold while australia is now too hot....)

It really does help to be thrown into a situation where you have no choice but to learn. Not sure what the woman meant when she brought her kids to China. Is it just for a short holiday? I learnt my 3rd language when I worked part time in a restaurant where the cooks could speak nothing but that language. It's really good for picking up the language quickly - you want to know when people are scolding you!

I think I would just try to have one parent speaking Chinese at home to the child. It's important to understand Chinese and I believe home exposure is the best way to do it. If it is not suffient then I may hire a chinese speaking babysitter to help?

If possible, i would try to have a balance in both. Can start to speak mandarin only at home and can speak whatever language they want out of home. That's what i observed from one of my friend. So far it works.