Bringing up kids bilingual

[Cod]

..well I did have do a search on the forum, but the results were a not specific, so I'm posting

Just wondering how our theory sits with you guys.

With our sprog, we'll speak english as a family at home but m'wife will speak finnish to sprog and school etc will be in finnish. Books and tele etc will be mostly Finnish but a bit of english - especially as sprog gets older.

My main concerns are sprog being v.slow off the mark with Finnish, but also not being able to talk easily in english. I'm not too concerned with reading and writing english, that can come later.

It's probably unmerited concern, but any experiences would be hugely appreciated!

[Lisa 15]

OUr 2 daughters are 4 and 5. I speak French to Htem, mu husband Swedish to them, I speak English to my husband, they go to school in Swedish and they will learn Finnish there. They still manage to spend about 2 months in France per year which brush up their French skills. We are lucky that they have developped tied tight to my family which helps with their French.
Now you have also different possibility of schoolong in Helsinki. A european schooling just opened in the Center. It is now reserved for the staff of the euorpean chemicals agency, but it will be opened to qll in August 2010 if I remember correctly. There you can learn in two languages.

[paulrenn]

Hi,

In our house we agreed that I (native English speaker) only speak English, and my wife (native Finnish speaker) only speaks Finnish, to the children.
Between the adults we speak English. Basically you speak your native tongue to the kids. At first I was pissed off because I was trying to learn Finnish and my master plan was that I could speak it too, but I have to say its better to keep your own language because then you don't teach the children poor pronounciation.

My children have a strong Finnish bias, because they go to Finnish daycare, but they get plenty of English at home (by listening also to Mum and Dad) and we have English language movies to watch when I want them to leave me alone for an hour

My 2 year old son now understands English perfectly, but does not really speak much. He never even questions why I speak English; my daughter (now 6) was a bit more curious and wondered why daddy speaks "funny" but kids accept pretty much everything.

It is amazing to watch their language skills develop, without really trying to really "teach". It just comes naturally and is a tremendous advantage for them to learn early. Last week we had a Belgian exchange student at our school who could speak English but no Finnish, and my girl was the only one who could talk to her

[Rosamunda]

I'm not too concerned with reading and writing english, that can come later.

Bilingualism tends to freak out Brits, but in many families in Finland it is the norm. So relax. You aren't weird.

I think you should read to your child in English as soon as possible and, if she shows interest, you should teach her to read. It takes a long long time to learn to read and write fluently in English and schools generally don't do a great job with the writing bit. Finding books in English can be difficult and expensive in Finland but look out for sales like the flea market at the International School where there are plenty of English language books and DVDs etc on sale.

My boys were all very late speakers (compared to their peers) and I put this down to the confusion at home. I still blame my SO for his pathetic attempts at speaking French, English whatever to the kids. If only... he had spoken to them in Finnish or even Swedish.

But remember that each family has a unique situation and don't try to compare your child's progress with others.

Good luck!!!

[SteveS]

Yup, same experience for me..

I have four kids between 2 and 8. They all speak both languages without any problem, the trick is never to mix the languages, you always speak English to them, and your wife should always speak Finnish to them. It does bugger up your own chances of speaking Finnish properly but it's better the kids get a good start.

My kids always use Finnish to themselves as it is their dominant language but sometimes they forget and keep speaking English to themselves, it's quite funny to listen sometimes how long they keep it up!

Reinforce it by showing lots of English childrens television and read them stories in English at night.

I did get a comment that my sons Finnish was a touch behind the other kids when he started school but out of his class, only half of them could read and write. He could read and write in Finnish AND English when he started...

Kids with two languages (or more) do tend to start speaking later, two of my kids didn't start speaking at all until past two and a half years old. But once they start they are off in both languages..

[Amandine.K]

I speak French to mine, my husband speaks Finnish. I speak English to my husband.

They attend the French school in Lehtisaari which has helped them tremedously with their French. They are now equal levels in Finnish and in French, so are perfectly bilingual.

[fatherchristmas]

I have 2 kids, 3 and 7. I am a native English speaker so I speak English to my kids, my wife speaks Finnish to our kids. We have done this through 3 previous countries, each with its own language. Our kids have a very good grip of both languages, they both attend bilingual schools and have had both languages spoken to them since birth, similar to what my parents did with me. My wife and I have Dutch as our secret language but it's not foolproof since both my kids also have a German language background that is easily convertible to Dutch. We want our kids' English to be dominant since we don't plan on living here forever. We also make an effort to travel to English speaking countries when on holiday.

[RA]

I speak English to my 3 and a half year old daughter, my husband speaks Finnish to her, we (him and me) speak mostly Finnish/Savo together, but we do sometimes switch and speak English like all day. She attends a Finnish language day care and goes to English club twice a month where she gets to play with other English-speaking children and listen to adults also speak English. We read a lot to her in both languages (I in mine and he in his) and if she watches children's programmes on dvds like Maisy, Barney, Angelina Ballerina, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, etc we always choose the English version for her. She actually only ever watches what comes on Pikku Kakkonen in Finnish. We sing a lot in both languages too. When I was at home with her and when she went only 2 days a week, she used more English words than Finnish. Now Finnish is her stronger spoken language, though she understands everyhting she's told in English and will use English if you really, really promt her or if someone really doesn't speak Finnish. If she hears you speak Finnish, however poor it is, she won't speak English to you. Now I speak English and she answers me in Finnish. I tend to sort coax her into correcting me in English for instance if I tell her to count 1-10 in English, she'll do it in Finnish but then I'll go 5,8,2,6 (i.e count the wrong way) and she gets really annoyed with me and corrects me: No mummy no, it's 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.... So she really does know how to. Sometimes she'll want to impress me and she'll come and say, Mummy, me is speaking English now. So there's still some way to go on the grammar but I'm just happy she's trying -> she's only 3 and she's a major chatterbox in Savo.

[Gigi]

It is nice to read so many success stories. My son is now 4 months and I speak Dutch to him, my hubbie Finnish and we speak English to each other. My Finnish is that good that I could speak Finnish to my son, but I have a awful accent, it feels more naturally to speak my mother-tongue and I want my child to learn both languages. He will go to Finnish daycare so his Finnish will end up being the stronger one, but thanks to my family I have lots of books and DVD's in Dutch, which we later on can use. My son is not interested in reading to him at all, but he loves the Dutch songs I sing to him, but doesn't like when his dad sings in Finnish. It is also very funny that he speaks (or whatever you may call it) a lot when my hubbie and I are sitting at the dining table having a conversation in English, but is more quiet when he hears people talking in Finnish/Dutch to each other.

I do have one problem. When we are visiting our Finnish family / friends or go to playgroup, I find it very difficult to talk to my son in Dutch. Mostly because the people around me don't understand what I am saying. What do you guys do when other Finns are around? Do you keep speaking your own language, even if the people around you don't understand a thing of what you are saying?

[Mölkky-Fan]

I have a daughter 13 and a son 11. Both are bilingual, wife speaks Finnish to them I speak English and the family language is English.

Daughter never had any problems, she also spoke Dutch and Chinese fluently when she was younger as we lived in those countries. My son is a little behind normal in Finnish and has problems with spelling in English (don't we all), but he has mild dyslexia so may not even be related to bilingualism.

I understand that about 20% of kids in Finland have some bilingualism within their families, counting Finnish/Swedish and then Finnish/foreigner parents (at least that is what the speech therapist said), so do not worry, your situation is normal.

I blame my bad Finnish skills on the bilingual family as well! ...but I also blame my poor language skills on changing wind conditions, EU policy, my wife's poor teaching skills, UK language schooling, global warming, financial crisis, pollution, women drivers, foreigners and anything else that pops into my head.

[SteveS]

I do have one problem. When we are visiting our Finnish family / friends or go to playgroup, I find it very difficult to talk to my son in Dutch. Mostly because the people around me don't understand what I am saying. What do you guys do when other Finns are around? Do you keep speaking your own language, even if the people around you don't understand a thing of what you are saying?

I hate that when I talk to my kids in daycare or shops, every head around me swivels when they hear me talk English, the worst is that they then listen to everything I say. I would say you are better off speaking Dutch because then nobody else can hang on all your words!

If I ever talk to my kids in Finnish (to fly under the radar), then they all immediately clamp their ears with their hands crying nooo....

[catfish78]

I do have one problem. When we are visiting our Finnish family / friends or go to playgroup, I find it very difficult to talk to my son in Dutch. Mostly because the people around me don't understand what I am saying. What do you guys do when other Finns are around? Do you keep speaking your own language, even if the people around you don't understand a thing of what you are saying?

I hate that when I talk to my kids in daycare or shops, every head around me swivels when they hear me talk English, the worst is that they then listen to everything I say. I would say you are better off speaking Dutch because then nobody else can hang on all your words!

If I ever talk to my kids in Finnish (to fly under the radar), then they all immediately clamp their ears with their hands crying nooo....

I used to be a little anxious about talking to the wee ones in English outside, at the store and specially at day care where all the little heads turn around when I start talking. Then I realized, I don't care. I am proud that my daughter can communicate in two languages. Hell I even use her as my translator on occasion.

Never feel embarrassed for using your native tongue. Your kids will thank you one day. Maybe not for another 20 years, but eventually.

[RA]

I speak English to my daughter everywhere regardless of whom is around or even if she answers back in Finnish.

[jen]

My husband quite often takes our daughter to the library where he reads books to her in Finnish, she asks questions about the stories in English and he answers her in Hungarian. That normally draws a few stares but usually looks of amazement.

[carolinemaher]

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.