Roles of mother in teaching Vietnamese and Taiwanese

One language is not only the mean of communication but also way of thinking and culture. It is common for a child living in Taiwan grows up bilingual. It means they have chances to acquire both Chinese and Taiwanese. For a child from a transnational marriage family, he or she even can grow up trilingual. The children from these marriages have opportunities to learn Vietnamese from their mothers. However, most of them just know very little about Vietnamese language. They can understand simple words or sentences. There are many reasons why the children only know little about Vietnamese. These reasons will be found out and discussed later.

First, it is important to find out whether the mothers desire to teach and the children would like to learn Vietnamese language. From the mothers’ aspect, most of them would like to teach their children Vietnamese. For instance:

A: 妳小孩小時候妳會用什麼語言和他們說話？ (What languages did you use to talk to your children when they were little?)

M1: 國語。 (Mandarin)

A: 妳有教小孩越語？(Do you teach them Vietnamese?)

M1: 想啊但來不及了現在長大學不來了。 (I want to but it is late now. They are grown and it is difficult to learn.)

In this example, it can be seen that the mother would like to teach their children Vietnamese.

However, for some reasons, she did not teach their children when they are little and she now thinks that it is too late to teach them. In the case of transnational marriage families between Taiwan and Vietnam, the role of mother in educating their children Vietnamese is quite difficult.

The surrounding environment provides the children mainly the development of Chinese and Taiwanese. Normally, family members do not speak Vietnamese except the mothers. And the mothers usually talk to their children in Chinese. Moreover, most of the mothers have jobs. It means they do not have much time left to teach their Vietnamese.

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A: 妳小孩小時候妳會用什麼語言和他們說話？ (What languages did you use to talk to your children when they were little?)

M2: 國語。 (Mandarin)

A: 妳有想過教小孩越語？(Have you ever thought about teaching them Vietnamese?) M2: 他要學就給他學給他教一點點講太多他會混亂。 (If he wants to learn, I will teach him a little. If I teach him too much, he will be messed.)

From the above dialog, the mother let her child to decide whether they want to learn Vietnamese or not. And she is afraid that her child will get messed up if she teaches her child too much Vietnamese. From this point of view, it is clear that the mother did not aim to teach their child Vietnamese at birth. According to Meece (1997) a child can learn any language at the same rates and follow similar paths and periods of development. Based on lingual environment a child can grow up monolingual or bilingual or multi-lingual. In Taiwan, many children grew up bilingual.

They can grow up speaking Chinese and Taiwanese. These two languages are popular in Taiwan.

In the case of New Taiwanese children, especially those who have Vietnamese mothers, they have chances to grow up trilingual. However, most of these children cannot speak Vietnamese.

I: 妳小孩小時候妳會用什麼語言和他們說話像是越南話國語台語？ (What languages did you use to talk to your children when they are little? For example, Vietnamese, Chinese or Taiwanese)

M4: 國語。 (Mandarin)

I: 妳有用越南語？ (Did you use Vietnamese?) M4: 很少。 (Very little)

…

I: 妳小孩小時候妳會用什麼語言和他們說話？ (What languages did you use to talk to your children when they were little?)

M5: 一樣是中文。 (Same, Chinese)

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I: 妳有想過教小孩越語？(Have you ever thought about teaching them Vietnamese?) M5: 有但很少。 (Yes but very little)

…

I: 妳小孩小時候妳會用什麼語言和他們說話？ (What languages did you use to talk to your children when they were little?)

M6:都有啊如果家人在的話會跟他們講國語.我和他們單獨相處的話就會用我國家的 語言。 (If staying with family members, I use Chinese to talk to him. If I am with him, I use Vietnamese to talk to him.)

I: 妳有教小孩越語？ (Do you teach them Vietnamese?)

M6: 跟他們講越語他們不學只會學廣東話而已。 (Teaching them Vietnamese, they don’t learn. They just learn Cantonese.)

…

In general, Vietnamese mothers desire to teach their children Vietnamese. In fact, they sometimes use Vietnamese language to talk to their children such as simple words and sentences.

I: 妳小孩小時候妳會用什麼語言和他們說話？ (What languages did you use to talk to your children when they were little?)

M8: 國語。 (Mandarin)

I: 有用越語？(Did you use Vietnamese ?) M8: 沒有。( No)

From the children’s aspect, the interview questions focus on whether their mothers use Vietnamese to talk to them and whether they would like to learn Vietnamese or not. In general, Vietnamese mothers sometimes speak simple Vietnamese word or sentence to their children. It

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can be seen from answers of the children about having talk or hearing in Vietnamese language from their mothers that most Vietnamese mothers use simple words or sentences to talk to them when they are little and even now. For example:

I: 你會說越語？ (Do you speak Vietnamese?) C1: 不會。(No, I don’t know.)

I: 小時候媽媽有教你越語？ (Did your mother teach you when you were little?) C1: 她會講。 (She sometimes speaks Vietnamese to me)

I: 都用國語越語還是台語和你說話？ (She uses Mandarin, Vietnamese or Taiwanese to talk to you?)

C1: 國語。 (Mandarin)

I: 都不用越語？ (She does not use Vietnamese?) C1: 就簡單的會。 (Only simple stuff)

…

I: 妳會講越語？ (Do you speak Vietnamese?) C2: 一點點。 ( A little bit)

I: 小時候媽媽有教你越南話？(Did your mother teach you when you were little?) C2: 有一點。 (A little)

…

I: 你會講越語？ (Do you speak Vietnamese?) C9: 不會。 (No)

I: 有聽得懂一點點？ (Do you understand a little?)

31 C9: 不會。 (No)

I: 小時候媽媽有教你越語？ (Did your mother teach you when you were little?) C9: 有教但忘記了。 (She did but I forgot.)

Some of them knew a little more about Vietnamese. And they could understand a little when they listened to what their mothers said to them. For instance:

I: 你會講越語？ (Do you speak Vietnamese?) C3: 會。 (Yes)

I: 小時候媽媽有教你越語？(Did your mother teach you when you were little?) C3: 我都聽媽媽講。 (I listened to my mother talking Vietnamese.)

I: 聽媽 媽 講 聽得 懂會 說 ？ (You understood and could speak by listening to your mother?)

C3: 對啊。 (Yes)

This example once again confirms the point of view of Meece (1997) that a child can learn any language at the same rates if he or she is supported by that lingual environment. It means the more language input the child receive, the more chances he or she has in order to acquire a language. Children learn a language by imitating a piece of language they hear and then their language development is improved by getting reinforcement from their parents and surrounding environment. Thus, Vietnamese mothers always have opportunities to teach their children Vietnamese since the day their children were born by providing them as much language input as they can.

I: 妳會講越語？ (Do you speak Vietnamese?) C6: 一點點。 (A little bit)

I: 聽得懂？ (Can you understand?)

32 C6: 有一點。 (A little)

I: 小時候媽媽有叫你越語？ (Did your mother teach you when you were little?) C6: 沒有。 (No)

I: 她會用越語和妳聊天？ (Does she talk to you in Vietnamese?) C6: 比較少。 (Rarely)

Vietnamese mothers almost play very limited role in providing Taiwanese language input. In fact, many of them do not speak Taiwanese. Therefore, it is impossible for them to help their children with this language. It can be seen from the interview data of this study that 7 out of 9 mothers who attended the interview say that they do not speak Taiwanese. When they are asked “Which