(the short version, suitable for most readers)
Hi!
Welcome to tigerba.com We’re a family of four living in sunny Sacramento, California, the “City of Trees” that’s about an hour and a half from San Francisco and two hours from the mountains and ski slopes of Lake Tahoe. Among other things I am a father to my two boys Sam方平山, who is 12, and Thomas小方糖(“little sugar cube”), eight years old.
I started tigerba.com to share strategies I’ve figured out for online language learning, to document my kids’ progress, to motivate their learning, and to connect with other parents in the language learning community. I hope some of what’s here helps you in your language learning journey.
You can reach me anytime by e-mail at [email protected].
(the long version)
We’re unlikely candidates to pursue fluency in Mandarin Chinese. Our heritage doesn’t intersect China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Flushing NYC, or the many other places in the world where Chinese languages are commonly spoken. We’ve never lived in a Chinese-speaking nation. There are no Chinese girlfriends, Chinese boyfriends, or other Chinese-speaking skeletons hidden in the family closet to motivate our learning. I can speak only a little bit of Mandarin Chinese, while my wife speaks almost none.
Despite this lack of heritage and history, we have managed to teach my older son Sam方平山 to a high degree of Mandarin fluency and literacy, with most of his learning happening over the last four years in America, through online classes and teachers. Sam has now won Mandarin language speech contests against native Chinese speakers, takes Math instruction in Mandarin Chinese, studies American history in Chinese, and participates in native-level debate classes in Chinese. (He’s about 30% of the way to where I would like him to ultimately be in his Mandarin ability.) My younger son Thomas小方糖 is also making strong progress in his conversation and literacy, taking lessons several times daily.
So many parents have asked us how in the world we trained our kids to such proficiency given our own obvious lack of Mandarin ability. tigerba.com is intended to provide a partial answer, and to help other people who are undertaking the same language learning journey.
We are in the early innings of a revolution in language learning. Online learning has enabled learning and teaching from anywhere. Anyone can now be a language teacher through online platforms like italki.com. An unlimited wealth of language learning content is now available on platforms like YouTube.com. And kids like mine can now take language learning lessons anyplace they happen to be: at home in their pajamas, on vacation, waiting at the DMV, or sitting in a gas station parking lot in the middle of the California desert on a 100 degree day. (Been there, done that.)
The emergence of AI language partners will further extend the ability of young people to attain native-level language ability, even in the absence of fluent friends or family nearby.
It’s all very exciting!
I am deeply interested in how language can connect us, and how learning languages may enable all of us to make a better world. I’m curious about all the ways that technology can enable language acquisition and proficiency. tigerba.com is a way for me to track and engage the ongoing revolution in language learning, a revolution that is just a few years old now. We’re in the middle of something very interesting. I’m inclined to take a careful look around.
The process of guiding my young children to language proficiency has been the most exciting and rewarding thing I have done as a parent. I never could have predicted this. I hope to share a little bit of that fulfillment with other parents. I wish you all the best in your language learning journey. Let’s go, 加油！Reach out anytime: [email protected].
