Bringing up kids bilingual

[SteveS]

I know of a little French girl around that age who was dropped into my childrens daycare. She was running around with the other speaking basic Finnish after only 2 weeks!

[Rosamunda]

My youngest didn't speak a word of Finnish when he went to daycare (he was 6 yrs). It was a French daycare but in actual fact none of the kids spoke a word of French, all the outdoor play and all his peergroup chat was in Finnish. He was miserable for weeks until he made friends with one boy who spoke a little French. I felt so mean putting him there, but we had just arrived in Finland and I knew so little about the different alternatives (and he didn't speak any English either, so an international playgroup might have produced the same result). Luckily the assistants were really nice and were all French- speaking, so he gradually settled in. In retrospect it was not the best choice (for various reasons). I think if he had been younger (3 or 4 yrs) it would have been much easier, and if we had already been in Finland for a while it would've been easier for him too. But moving, plus the language, plus school etc...was too much.

I'm sure your daughter will be fine (girls are generally more social than boys anyway). She will almost certainly find the first few weeks difficult but maybe you can prepare her for it by visiting the place first, or maybe only leaving her for a couple of hours/day for the first few weeks. Or maybe she can make friends with another little girl from your neighbourhood before she starts. At least she has the advantage of being settled here first. Anyway, I think its a good choice, even though it is a tough one. ( She'll be translating Hesari for you, before you know it!!!)

[raamv]

I dont think that I ve to add anything to the experiences already given here..cept..now that I am teaching my language curious DD my mother tongue through Indian youtube songs..
and she just amazed me today by singing a whole song to her grandma!!
Both of my kids are bilingual (Finnish/English) and learning a lot of my mother tongue(Tamil)..

[jen]

Myself and my husband are both from the U.K. so obviously English is spoken in our house (we are learning Finnish but have been advised to stick to our own language at home, but I have taught her a few basic words, moi, kiitos, etc. which she knows are Finnish words). My daughter will start Finnish daycare in August when she will be 3.5 years old, we are planning to stay here long term so it seems the sensible thing to do to send her to Finnish daycare so she has a chance with Finnish when she will start school at 7, I worry though that she will find it difficult, people have said that she is young and will pick it up quickly, I just hope she doesn't feel isolated when she firsts starts, has anyone else been in this situation and what were your experiences?? Thx.

Our daughter started Finnish daycare around that age, she got on fine and enjoyed herself. One thing that you may want to think about is making clear to the nurses that it is important to speak to your daughter in Finnish right from the beginning. Most foreign kids pick up Finnish quickly because the have to but our daughter still doesn't speak in Finnish (2 years on) possibly because she got used to speaking to the staff at the daycare in English and the spoke to her in English too.

We do have a particularly stubborn child who decided last autumn that she would start speaking Finnish once she learned to ride her bike without her stabilisers and is sticking to it. She understands everything in Finnish, she comes home and translates the Finnish songs into English and Hungarian and is very good at communicating with the other kids using gestures. If the daycare staff don't understand her Scottish vocabulary then she is able to rephrase and explain what she means so I am not concerned about her communication skills or her Finnish understanding although I would like her to speak Finnish so she can form deeper friendships.

[jen]

Most foreign kids pick up Finnish quickly because the have to but our daughter still doesn't speak in Finnish (2 years on) possibly because she got used to speaking to the staff at the daycare in English and the spoke to her in English too.

The daycare staff were trying to include her in the activities by speaking to her in English but we felt that it is best to speak to her in Finnish as much as possible so that she would learn finnish quickly enough to include herself in activities.

[oompah18]

I have always spoken English to my boys, aged 2,4 & 6. Finnish hubby SHOULD speak only Finnish to them of course,b ut he more often speaks the incorrect American English he uses for work . I have discussed this with him again & again...... Anyway, up till last year, all the boys were fluent in English & knew little Finnish even though we have many Finnish family friends etc & eldest went to "playgroup" with Finnish kids 2 mornings a week. Now, the eldest has been at village Esikoulu for almost a year & has learnt enougfh Finnish to be accepted as "one of the lads", often getting invited to play with other Finnish kids, & the teacher says he has no problem at school so far, despite speaking with an English accent!! I am thrilled & amazed he has picked it up so fast. He now speaks Finnish to hubby at home & occasionally hubby does respond in his own language..... Now little brothers are copying him too & they often chat together in Finglish. If I speak Finnish to my friends my eldest begs me not to, but when I go to playgroups etc I always use English to my kids, as it is my mothertongue. It seems to be a trend round here now to put kids in the English Language dayCare in Tampere, Kangasala etc & often mums ask us to speak to their kids in English for practice! At home I let them watch PikkuKakkonen & Playhouse disney channel, which has many of the same programes in both languages! I read & sing everyday in English with them & am continually nagging my hubby to read & sing in Finnish to them...... I really do think it is important to use your own mothertongue throughout & especially to read often. I was wary of putting my eldest staight in at the deep end in the Finnish school, but it has really worked. (I only wish I could be put in an all Finnish environment 5 days a week & learn Finnish as fast )
I just remembered... the weirdest thing is that many of my Finnish friends try out their English on my boys, so I say Noooooooo, speak to them in Finnish, otherwise they learn incorrect English!!!
Good Luck

[raamv]

Thanx for the tip Cory!! I might try that one language a week at a time!! and see if it works with ma kids!!

[Rosamunda]

Mannerheim grew up in a home where a different language was spoken each day of the week. This is how he learnt English, French, German, Russian, Finnish, Swedish (I think also Polish and probably some Latin). IIRC, there was one day of the week when they could speak whichever language they wished.

[kotkalainen]

We live in the UK at the moment (moving back to Finland soon) and at the mo my daughter goes to an english nursery,but at home I only speak Finnish to her and my husband English. We are also all fairly fluent in 'Finglish'. Our daughter knows surprisingly a lot of words, and most she says in both languages. And she seems to already know who to use the English ones and who Finnish ones with (We have a few Finnish friends locally). So I don't think mixing the languages have done her any harm and knowing the Finnish school systems etc I'm not the least bit worried about her been able to keep up her English. If she was to go to school here, I'd be very worried about her Finnish. I think it's great to give your kid a chance to grow up with to languages and I think it'll help them pick up other languages in later life.

[Cod]

..thanks one and all for the great responses. Plenty to chew over here, thanks particularly to Cory for great postings!

Much of the concern is purely self interested in that not being able to joke around with language with kids is a bit a shame (don't you love it when kids say very staunch adult things like 'I'm very cross, actually I'm very very cross' and things like that. All that will no doubt be in Finnish and I probably won't get the joke. But thems the breaks, nobody said this was going to be easy.

Thanks again!

[tunkkari]

i have 5 children, 3 of which are to my finnish husband, 2 of them were born in the uk and we moved here a year ago where i had my youngest. The youngest 2 my husband always spoke finnish to them when i was not around and we spoke english when together, now we are in finland they here finnish all the time out of the house with their grandparents ect and are very good in speaking finnish and even know to talk to me in english and that i cant speak the "language " as they call it, my youngest child will hopefully be capable of the same when he learns to talk.

[Frankie abbot]

We have a 4 and half yr old daughter,same as most on here .Dad being English and Äiti Finnish we only speak our native tongue to her and from the word go she understood the difference straight away. Her finnish is alot stronger obviously than her English .She will only speak English to me but i would like her to speak English to kids her own age which she does not do .All her mates are from daycare and only speak finnish.Are there any groups that get together so there kids can speak English together or if there any Brits or native English speakers who be interested in getting together so the kids only speak English? In Helsinki...

[Amandine.K]

In Helsinki you have some daycares that takes the kids half days or a few times a week. ICEC being one if I remember correctly (http://www.play-learn.fi/main/index.html).

[Frankie abbot]

Her finnish is alot stronger obviously than her English ..

Just wondering why you placed "obviously" in the sentence? I could read it that it's because her Mom spends most time with her?

Obviously meaning that we live in Finland and surrounded by the Finnish language all the time everyday,again quite obvious isnt it.....

[jhnn]

Hi Frankie,
If you live in Northern Helsinki there is a play group in Siltamäki that meets on Saturdays

http://www.siltamaennuorisoseura.fi/

I don't know what it is like as we've never got around to going ( even though have been meaning to).