Three Months Mandarin Immersion in Taiwan – Was it Worth It?

We’ve been back for 3 weeks now.  Ironically, life in the States is faster paced.  There are so many more chores and various other “life” activities that need to be taken care of.  The kids don’t have built in daily playdates anymore, requiring way more conscious scheduling and driving time.

Before our daily routine overwhelms me and I forget completely, I thought I should look back on our trip in Taiwan.

So was three months mandarin immersion in Taiwan worth it?

The short answer is a resounding yes.

At the 1.5 month mark, I was questioning whether or not we were seeing any effect.   But since returning, I have noticed how Astroboy would spout new vocabulary that I hadn’t heard out of his mouth before.   The taxi driver on our way to the airport said that the children’s Chinese are more fluid than 3 months ago.  Definitely Astroboy‘s listening comprehension and range of vocabulary is much better.  We listened to Magic Treehouse in the car the other day and he didn’t get bored like before.

Was it Taiwan?  Because he wasn’t interacting with local children daily.  Or was it the huge amount of cartoon they watched in the last month?  Was it the fact that he had to speak Chinese to random people daily, other than me?  That even the little amount helped?  Who knows.  But now, just like three years ago, his overall language development went up because we were only doing one language for three months, instead of two languages here.  That’s just my conjecture.

For Thumper, by the end of our trip, she was also using more advanced Chinese words, words that she understood but didn’t use in speech before.   Though the rate she switched back to English and more Chinglish since our return is astounding.  It seems the older they are, the more the language is “set” and the more time is needed to switch them completely.

We musn’t forget about me.  My Chinese did not improve at all during my time there.  What I learned was that if you don’t want to speak Chinglish, you can’t hang out with fellow Chinglish speaking people.  Ha!   Usually I start trying to use my idioms (成語）after talking to native speakers.    There’s something to be said about needing to recall what you know.    Because I know a lot of these sayings, but since Chinese is a pictographic language, I never have to know how it’s pronounced when I read them.

I had the chance to meet many bilingual homeschooling parents while in Taiwan and got to see bilingual education from the other side.   Now I have a firmer grasp on what I want to do with Thumper going forward.  But that’s another long post.

I’m contemplating returning to Taiwan more often for Astroboy’s sake, given his slower language development and me not giving him as much language input as I did Thumper.  Like I said, it seems to take longer for them to “switch” the older they get.  So I want to get that foundation down before the age of 7 and the brain starts fossilizing.  By foundation I mean a decent amount of vocabulary and fluency.  An immersion trip is a much faster way to get the Mandarin level up than me trying hard to find time daily for him, (and failing).

For us, I always notice the beginning of Mandarin dominance around 6 weeks, and a lot more new vocabulary closer to 3 months.  Cost-wise it was similar to a month long stay in Taiwan, if you can find good non-airbnb rentals.   I’m not sure Baba will let us go another 3 months this time.  He really missed the children.  Something to figure out!