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My Germany: From small to in two languages, life

Germany discovered the bilingual education. Bilingual kindergartens and schools shoot up like mushrooms out of the ground. It is required of the parents, almost more than the children, says Zhang Danhong.

The benefits of a bilingual education are obvious: A language is in the Baby and child age in a playful way to learn; in the ideal case, one also feels at home in two cultures, which broadens the horizons of the children and the tolerance it promotes; on the labour market, the second mother could be language as a competitive advantage.

This is also recognized by the Bang wife (a Comedy series on the TV channel Sat 1) in the form of Martina Hill. That’s why she speaks with her daughter consistently English. After the little brother has made a belch, gets the pop mother: “Lara, can you me please out of the bath, a towel bring? Your brother has a little farmer maggot!”

Of course that is not helpful. I think you should always communicate in the language with the children, which can be best. If both parents are Chinese people, then your child has the best conditions to learn Chinese as the second language.

A lonely and hard fight

In comparison to these families, I find myself in a much less favourable Situation, since I need to play the unpleasant role in the bilingual education alone. Although both of my kids have chattered in Chinese first, but with the beginning of the kindergarten time melted of influence, such as snow voice my in the sun. A piece of the lost ground to regain, I put a hard-heartedness that borders on discipline – I found me a deaf ear and responded only when I was addressed again in Chinese.

Characters on the fridge – nothing I leave unturned

In this lonely battle and I will support fortunately, my German husband morally. He takes into account, that we might blaspheme in his presence in a foreign language about him, what we have done, however, as good as never. Word of honor! Only at the dinner, the official language is English. The German language has become home to a minority language, should not be in the interests of the CSU, wanted to commit by the end of 2014 migrants to speak within the own four walls English. One of the unwise ideas by the way, I have ever heard of the German policy. This would be tantamount to a ban on bilingual education. Well, the proposal was quickly off the table.

Chinese characters – a world apart

So my children are allowed to indulge further, the Chinese language. Now you have caught up with Chinese a common language: It is written not as spoken. The characters are excited at the beginning of all. 山 is mountain, 人 man is; if two people chilling out on the floor, it means to sit (坐); on top of small (小) and large (大), spitz（尖）. But no later than 100 characters, the fun stops. You will need around 3000 to move somewhat safely in the Chinese written language. It was quickly clear to me that this mammoth task had to be delegated, before I finally became the object of hatred of children.

DW-editor Zhang Danhong

The Good thing about the Chinese school is that my daughters got to there children, who share their hard fate, to be able to Saturdays never get to sleep in and to have to one way or the other birthday celebration without. Some German Friends have no understanding of. “You and your stupid Chinese school” is one of the statements that you hear from other children most of the time.

The parents of these children know how to differentiate: Stupid, not the school, but the mom is. For some I corresponds exactly to the notion of a Chinese tiger mother. I am one of the more harmless specimens of this species. I know country people who send their children to bilingual schools (German and English). In other words: your children are growing up trilingual.

The annoying discipline

On the other hand, it is often the case that bilingual education fails. Shrugging shoulders, the parents say: “at some point, the child answered only in German, then we moved all to English.” The path of least resistance the most convenient is always. Some have the concern that the German language could be short, if the child has to simultaneously learn a different language. The opposite is the case: Each additional language increases the language of feeling, and enriches the lives of adolescents.

So any trip to China promotes in the case of my daughters a positive cycle: you practice your Chinese, to be admired for making the language of a jump and return highly motivated to Germany. Of the success experiences you will draw on for a while, until the next China-trip. So my younger daughter at the Moment, speaks particularly eager to get some Chinese, because they fear to be due to the somewhat conventional language of your five-year-old Cousin in China laughed at when we are there again soon.

Zhang Danhong was born in Beijing and lives since over 20 years in Germany.

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