How can i teach my wife English in our home?

[Milkybar_Kid]

My wife is Taiwanese. Having lived in Australia for 2 years and traveled extensively in Europe she has what I would consider an intermediate level of English ability. However she has never taken a professional English test in her life so we have no concrete proof of this.

Her life here in Taiwan is conducted exclusively in Mandarin. She is speaking Mandarin all day at work, when socialising with her friends and when communicating with her family. Therefore I am her only source of English.

Understandably I feel that her English ability is declining.

She refuses to conduct any formal study, will not go to a buxiban and never sits down to do private study or reading. All she does is talk to me and watch a few English Tv shows with the Chinese subtitles.

I feel that she wants to improve but she always says "I feel that my English is getting bad". I cant keep correcting every sentence that she says as I would be here all day.

So what can I do about this? I have met so many Taiwanese who speak excellent English who have never even left the country nevermind living and working in an English speaking country for 2 years. I try to talk to her about a wide range of topics but daily life conversation is not the same is it (where is the bread etc etc).

Is anyone in a similar situation with their Taiwanese spouse? I want to help her to get better so that one day if we move back to England she is not going to struggle.

Thanks

(Sent from my ipad

[bababa]

Just talk to her. You don't need to actively correct every mistake she makes; in fact, if you do, even if at first she says she wants you to, she will soon get sick of it. Just let her talk, and correct things naturally - since you'll be talking about the same things, she may notice your way of expressing something is different; when a mistake results in a lack of understanding or a double entendre, natural correction is just you talking to her trying to figure out what she meant; when a mistake results in something funny, just laughing and explaining the joke is enough.
Actual lessons from a book will probably lead to divorce.

[bigduke6]

My wife is Taiwanese. Having lived in Australia for 2 years and traveled extensively in Europe she has what I would consider an intermediate level of English ability. However she has never taken a professional English test in her life so we have no concrete proof of this.

Her life here in Taiwan is conducted exclusively in Mandarin. She is speaking Mandarin all day at work, when socialising with her friends and when communicating with her family. Therefore I am her only source of English.

Understandably I feel that her English ability is declining.

She refuses to conduct any formal study, will not go to a buxiban and never sits down to do private study or reading. All she does is talk to me and watch a few English Tv shows with the Chinese subtitles.

I feel that she wants to improve but she always says "I feel that my English is getting bad". I cant keep correcting every sentence that she says as I would be here all day.

So what can I do about this? I have met so many Taiwanese who speak excellent English who have never even left the country nevermind living and working in an English speaking country for 2 years. I try to talk to her about a wide range of topics but daily life conversation is not the same is it (where is the bread etc etc).

Is anyone in a similar situation with their Taiwanese spouse? I want to help her to get better so that one day if we move back to England she is not going to struggle.

Thanks

(Sent from my ipad

My ball and chain, studied in the UK for a few years, lived and worked in my home country for a few years. She is basically fluent, but still makes a few grammar mistakes. As the other poster suggested, just talk to her. If she managed to get by overseas then her level of English must be fine, so dont sweat it.

[headhonchoII]

If she moves back to England with you in the future she will naturally pick up the fluency again, no worries.

[Jive Turkey]

In my opinion, those who have responded up to now are too optimistic. If your wife is not motivated to improve her English now in order to discuss a wider range of topics with greater accuracy and linguistic range, there is a pretty good chance she will sink rather than swim after moving to an English speaking country. By "sink," I mean that she will not be able to develop quickly enough the language skills needed for her to maintain the same kind of socio-economic status she has had in Taiwan. Pretty much any kind of white-collar job back in the UK, like any white-collar job in Taiwan, requires more than just intermediate-level language skills in the local language, and failing to demonstrate those skills when looking for such jobs means she won't get them. This may have a big impact on her desire to assimilate.

The assumption that moving to a country where English is spoken will sort out a non-native English speaker's language problems is frequently incorrect. Does she get along really well with your family? What about your friends? Does she have a career in Taiwan that would allow her to slot right into similar career in the UK, or are her qualifications and experience such that she would have to get new qualifications and job skills while also having to improve her English? Does she have a range of personal interests (e.g., sports, hobbies) that she can pursue in the UK with English speakers so as to develop her own network in a way that is not dependent on you? Or do you think her personality makes her more likely to settle into a social life filled with other Chinese speakers? Also note that she is not getting younger, and a lot of her problems have probably fossilized. Statements about it being easier to learn a language when younger are made to the point of being cliche, but suffice it to say that your wife probably won't improve at the same pace in say her 30s in the UK as she did when she was younger in Australia-unless she is really motivated to do it.

It is very difficult for one spouse to be the other's language teacher if the one doing the learning is not really motivated and open to feedback. Your wife may unconsciously assume that since the two of you have no major communication problems in English, then the need to improve is not great. The issue here is that people learn to understand the idiosyncracies of a non-native spouses speech, so instances of the kind breakdown in communication that would highlight a need to improve are not so frequent. She may feel that your feedback is just part of the typical nitpicking that some couples do, especially if you are the only person giving such feedback. Strangers or friends are usually too friendly to seek clarification of meaning, so interactions with them are less likely to highlight a need to improve accuracy, fluency and range unless the learner is motivated to the degree of pressing forward until misunderstandings become obvious.

I don't mean to imply that your kind of situation is hopeless. I just feel it is important for people in this kind of situation to recognize the issue for what it is rather than draw convenient conclusions like "once we move back to the UK, this will sort itself out." If your wife isn't motivated, you could have a real problem on your hands. Do the two of you visit the UK often? Perhaps more enjoyable visits or more frequent interaction with English speakers in Taiwan would help improve her interest in learning.

[sandman]

She refuses to conduct any formal study, will not go to a buxiban and never sits down to do private study or reading. All she does is talk to me and watch a few English Tv shows with the Chinese subtitles.

Tie her to a chair and beat her with a rubber hose until she knuckles down.
Seriously, if she don't want to, then she don't want to. I presume you've explained how you feel about if you go to live elsewhere. That's what YOU can do. The rest is up to her.

[PigBloodCake]

She refuses to conduct any formal study, will not go to a buxiban and never sits down to do private study or reading. All she does is talk to me and watch a few English Tv shows with the Chinese subtitles.

Tie her to a chair and beat her with a rubber hose until she knuckles down.
Seriously, if she don't want to, then she don't want to. I presume you've explained how you feel about if you go to live elsewhere. That's what YOU can do. The rest is up to her.

And she'll make him do everything...I mean *everything* (take her to the damn doctor/dentist/fill in the blank cuz she can't explain her symptom, issue(s), etc).

That's how I f***'n lived in the States before moving back to the 'wan.

I feel for the OP.

[mups]

Not sure about any advice I can give you here, but if you move to an English speaking country, she'll have no choice but to learn English quickly because she'll be surrounded by it. The rate of learning is exponential when you have no choice. The key of course is to not babysit her and give her a choice/out if you end up living elsewhere.

[Abacus]

And she'll make him do everything...I mean *everything* (take her to the damn doctor/dentist/fill in the blank cuz she can't explain her symptom, issue(s), etc).

That's how I f***'n lived in the States before moving back to the 'wan.

I feel for the OP.

Isn't this how how it works for foreigners in Taiwan with local gf's/bf's?

[Mick]

Is anyone in a similar situation with their Taiwanese spouse?

(Sent from my ipad

A friend of mines wife's English isn't great, so he's immersed himself in Mandarin and will use his iPhone for texting, translations and learning Chinese. He's getting petty good very fast, and all conversations take place in Chinese now. Not for everyone I know, and perhaps he saw it as an opportunity to do something he wanted too.

Not the answer you were looking for, but it's something you can control and would allow for those conversations you wished for, if you were able to improve your fluency sufficiently.