Meeting and talking to her has made me think a bit about the life of foreigners and their children here. Most (if not all) send their kids to international schools where they are taught in English and rarely get exposed to Vietnamese. I don't blame them for this since there are some things that I don't agree with in the ways Vietnamese handle their education (e.g., strict memorization, lack of creativity). Most foreigners don't speak Vietnamese themselves, so at home, they get English as well. My friend is in a different situation since she speaks Vietnamese quite fluently and has got Vietnamese nannies to help keep the kids bilingual. However, it seems that in most cases, you get children who grew up in Vietnam but don't speak it much, and I have no idea what that must be like. I haven't met any adults with this background yet since I'm assuming that this is something of the current generation, but I wonder what kind of upbringing that's like. It seems so opposite in the U.S where immigrants and their children (especially) are often eager to learn the language and the ways.
So is this a question of superiority? Stubbornness? Familiarity?
I've got a couple of ideas but I think I'll stop here for the sake of not endlessly going on. Anywho, just some food for thought as to the dynamics of assimilation between foreign and native populations in a different setting...
That's really interesting that foreigners go to a country, have children there, and don't really learn to speak the language. (Although, I guess it is really difficult when you're older and working.) It's probably a mix of all of the reasons you listed (a little bit of English superiority, comfort, etc). For me, I think I'd have trouble teaching a language that I, myself, wasn't fluent in. Also, it'd be weird if my kids were talking to each other in a different language that I didn't understand. But for me, even though I can speak Korean - I don't know if I'd use it with my kids. In addition, I don't want my kids to be completely immersed in another language to the point where they have accents so they can more easily adapt to life in the Western world (thus, the superiority complex).
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That's funny because you get a whole bunch of people (me included) who speak their parent's language with an accent but the native language completely fluently, which is opposite to your desire of having your kids speaking English without an accent. I guess with these times, English is the most valuable language for communication between individuals, and for that reason, it may be logical to sacrifice your children's ability to know other languages.
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