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Originally Posted by GGnoRE
What are your expectations for your child learning foreign languages? Growing up, I can't recall meeting any cbc's that spoke their parents' mother tongue fluently. The best I've seen is basic conversational level with an accent but not fluent enough to work in non-English speaking firms in China or HK. Unless you're sending your kid abroad on an exchange or your kid is really committed to learning the language, I think the ceiling is pretty limited realistically speaking.
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My in-laws speak pretty minimal English and my parents prefer to speak in Cantonese so I'm expecting my kid to speak it at least reasonably well (at least as well I speak it and hopefully closer to my wife who came here when she was 6). It's a bit tough with the pandemic as we're mostly limited to FaceTime calls but all the grandparents speak to my daughter in Cantonese (she's 2) and she does understand the basics so far.
My hope is that more time with the grandparents along with entry into a Mandarin immersion school (we live very close to one) will help her pick up a couple languages.
Realistically to be truly fluent in 2nd languages you have to be in a community where people it regularly so time in Asia is the best bet or I find her a job working in a HK cafe some day.