"Unless the parents speak Chinese at home, their children lose the chance to learn the language naturally," sighs Hsieh Jung-ch'un, a member of an extended three-generation household. This is how a culture gap has arisen which means that only a minority of third-generation overseas Chinese still speak a Chinese dialect. Even fewer can read or write Chinese characters.
「一個家裡，爸媽如不用中文溝通，小孩子自然就沒機會學」，三代同堂的謝榮春感嘆：「文化斷層」就是這樣形成的，現在，華裔第三代能說華文的已是少數民族，能寫讀漢字的更少。