My son is a bicultural, trilingual four-year-old. But it wasn’t always like this. My wife is Japanese, so obviously he acquired her language as his native language, since she provided something I was unable to give at that point in time - fresh milk.

Anyway, because I wanted him to speak my mother tongue, I tried to speak Mandarin to him as much as I could. To the extent that even though I work professionally as an English teacher, I resolved not to use it with him. We live in a country where English is predominantly the language used in the majority of social settings. I reckon that he would pick it up readily at school. Which he did.

You can understand that due to “interference” from Japanese and English, he was unable to speak Mandarin for the longest time despite my best efforts. He clearly understood what I was telling him because he could execute tasks. But he was unable to reply back to me, except for bits and pieces of Chinese. But I persevered in my efforts because if I don’t use Mandarin with him, he would never find the incentive to learn it.

Then, one day, something must have clicked in his mind because he suddenly talked to me in Chinese. We could manage simple conversations, without him breaking a sweat. The piece de resistance culminated in him having a chat with my father. It warmed my heart to observe them communicating with each other.

That was a case of “gradually, then suddenly” for me. I am glad that I never wavered from my resolve to use Mandarin with him. How has the principle of “gradually, then suddenly” worked things out in your life?