Dear parents

We all probably have some certain worries about how to maintain Vietnamese language and culture for our offsprings living abroad. Studies have shown that children should start learning Vietnamese as soon as they enter elementary schools because the more growth they are, the more difficult for them to learn Vietnamese. Children will not have interest to learn mother language when they are in high schools. Not all oversea children are excited to learn Vietnamese; however, with proper approaches, parents can inspire them to learn. Maintaining Vietnamese for children in families where both parents are Vietnamese is difficult; doing it for families where only one parent is Vietnamese or children having linguistic difficulty is even more challenging.

How do we inspire our children to love Vietnamese language and culture? One of the most important factor is the positive attitude to Vietnamese language and Vietnamese culture. Learning a language is a long term process like they say “Small rain lays great dust”. It should be learnt little by little and with different methods, but more importantly, it should be constant and frequent.

Parents should be examples to speak Vietnamese for children and older sibbling should be examples to younger ones. Studies have also shown that it is often more difficult to maintain mother language speaking for the younger sibbling because parents have less time for them and older sibbling tend to speak local language with them.

There are many ways to sustain Vietnamese for children. The most important thing is that parents should always keep in mind that we need to keep doing it without any compromise. In order to do that, parents should be very consistent in using Vietnamese at home. Parents can also talk about the benefits of learning Vietnamese to their children. 

Having understood such challenges, BiziVietnam – Vietnamese Language and Culture in Finland was founded to maintain the teaching and learning Vietnamese for children, nurture their affection and love for mother language and Vietnam, provide them with knowledge about the country, culture and people. Beside the language courses, we arrange hobby clubs to create a meaningful platform for Vietnamese children to make friends, improve their language profficiency, attend cultural events, thus inspiring our younger generations to love Vietnamese language and culture.

Best Love, 

BiziVietnam team