Need a Translation...

[Sn0bunni24]

Monet minun luokkalaiseni menevät samalle ylä-asteelle sillä koulullamme on mahdollisuus siirtää meidän luokan yhtenäisenä ylä-asteelle

[Nallis]

Many of my classmates transfer to the same highschool because our school has the option of transferring the whole class (as one entity).

[Sn0bunni24]

thanks a lot!!

[EP]

No, not highschool. The three classes before that, ages 12-15.

[Juha H.]

No, not highschool. The three classes before that, ages 12-15.

Yea, this is one of the typical translation problems related to the Finnish school system. Even in Finnish, yläaste is sometimes replaced by the old yläkoulu (IMO better).

So, what do I recommend? Difficult to say, perhaps higher something school level.

[Rosamunda]

I said:

"Secondary school" is a probably the best translation of ylä-aste into British English.

Which is, I believe, "junior high" in the States.

[Suomlainen]

No, not highschool. The three classes before that, ages 12-15.

Yea, this is one of the typical translation problems related to the Finnish school system. Even in Finnish, yläaste is sometimes replaced by the old yläkoulu (IMO better).

So, what do I recommend? Difficult to say, perhaps higher something school level.

To be honest, I have never heard any 1 say Yläkoulu, so stick with yläaste since its more natural and sounds better.

[sinikala]

No, not highschool. The three classes before that, ages 12-15.

Umm... doesn't the Finnish system resemble the US with Junior High & Senior High?

[Nallis]

Sorry about mixing up high school and junior high.
In the British system it would be Lower Secondary School and lukio would be Upper Secondary (or sixth form).

[Cephalopod]

To be honest, I have never heard any 1 say Yläkoulu, so stick with yläaste since its more natural and sounds better.

Yläaste sounds natural to me, too (I'm younger than the word, obviously), but it seems to have been hated by professional language planners for decades.

[cwcnow]

Since the Finnish school system doesn't completely resemble either the British or American style, shouldn't yläaste be translated as 'upper comprehensive school'?

[Rosamunda]

Not really because the term "upper comprehensive school" is meaningless in British English since there is no such thing as lower comprehensive school. In the UK "comprehensive school" starts AFTER primary school (ages 11-16). Also, comprehensive school has no meaning in American English (the original poster is from the States).

The Ministry of Education in Finland uses the English term "Comprehensive school" for all compulsory state schooling from 1-9 grades (7-16 yrs). This is NOT the same definition as in the UK. And is IMO confusing.

Ylä-aste -> junior high (US Eng.)
-> (lower) secondary school (GB Eng)

[enk]

Ylä-aste -> junior high (US Eng.)
-> (lower) secondary school (GB Eng)

Junior high or middle school in the US is usually used to refer to grades
6-8, so the students would be somewhere between 10-13 so it
doesn't quite mesh with what it is in Finland according to the ages (12-15)
students are in ylä-aste as posted by EP.

-enk

[sammy]

Well yes - it may be confusing to compare the Finnish system with the UK or US systems, but then again the Finnish system is not even supposed to be the same as the UK or US system, and thus direct and exact translations may be difficult to come by. It's usually easier to say that yläaste corresponds more or less with the level X in the UK/US.

Here's a diagram of the Finnish system. It seems the Ministry now uses the term Basic education (perusopetus...)