<p>BCEeagle - I agree with learning Chinese over time. Our situation was complicated by only one parent speaking the language (Cantonese, not Mandarin as first language). We tried the Chinese schools and private instruction at an early age - it worked to an extent, but the English speaking parent was the one at home with the kids reinforcing the lessons. It seemed to fit better to let the kids spend extra time on music and sports, so now the kid that really wanted the language and didn’t feel her life would be complete without it is tackling it in college. The other child has carved out a path of acquiring multiple European languages - she says she is not willing to devote that much time to the study of one subject alone even though it interests her.</p>
<p>The interest in teaching Chinese to non heritage students seems to be growing and I think this is a good thing, but my experience has been that for those who haven’t tried to learn the language themselves, the difficulty of learning Chinese is often underestimated.</p>