QUOTE(stimix @ Jul 27 2010, 02:57 PM)
But if cannot & child have no interest at all..it will be double suffering for parent man...For sure I can't teach her in mandarin bcos I only know how to write my chinese name & also simple counting from 1-10 & those Elementary std 1 chinese like San Xia, Shan, San, Ma, Pa & etc ...susah lor...
So pretty depending on how the children grown up..If by 5-6 yrs old & having no interest in chinese..better don't force...Well my point of view-lah..haha
Speaking from my own experience, my whole life i studied in SRK and then SMK, even kindergarten also Tadika Perpaduan (govt kindy).. Parents didn't speak Mandarin with me at home, we speak our local dialect, but my schoolmates and i communicate in Mandarin all the time, except one or two pure bananas who dun even know how to write their own name in Chinese. Attended after school Mandarin classes provided FOC by the school (alot emphasis on hanyu pinyin and spelling test), but only one hour per day and i stopped at Form 2. Realized that i learnt how to read alot more Chinese words through interaction with friends, church (songs with chinese subtitles and hanyu pinyin, haha), watching dramas with chinese subtitles, and even karaoke.. But if you ask me to read a chinese book, i will hesitate because it's not my primary written language (although it might be my primary spoken language), reading it will need a lot of effort and it might take 3-4 times as long as someone fluent in reading chinese to finish it. But if it's a simple newspaper article, won't be a problem..
Point is, chinese school or kebangsaan school, your kids will have other sources to learn the other language from the surrounding. It depends on which one you perceive as more important and beneficial for your kid...