We've been here six months. How are the kids doing in their acquisition of Finnish? Here's what to expect after six months in a foreign country with kids in bilingual school and all-Finnish päiväkoti. At least if your kids are mine (ages 10, 7, and 2 at the time of the move) and the country is FInland.
The two-year-old has no trouble at all with Finnish. He has a routine at päiväkoti and he has figured out all the language he needs to navigate that context. He knows to switch to Finnish when a Finn (child or adult) speaks to him. He can follow directions in Finnish and name colors, shapes, foods, etc. If you say an unfamiliar word to him, he can tell if it's English or Finnish. Sterling was the luckiest one of us all. If you are moving to a foreign country and your child is preschool age, you probably have nothing to worry about as far as language acquisition goes. This is provided, of course, that you consistently immerse your child to some kind of foreign language environment, whether it be church, playgroup, or daycare. Interestingly, I have not noticed any delay in his English acquisition whatsoever, even though I expected to see one based on what I've read in the literature (ah, The Literature. What DON'T they know??). I think this is truly one of those YMMV things, or based on myriad variables and life circumstances that can't be easily categorized or quantified.
The seven-year-old, due to a combination of personality and age, does not care how many mistakes she makes in Finnish, and is therefore the ideal language learner. She bashes around in the language like the amateur she is, but dad gummit, she makes herself understood. Though she is in a bilingual school, the kids her age don't speak much English yet, which forces her to use Finnish. At the beginning of the schol year (six months ago) during Finnish dictation exercises, she was lucky to get a word or two, always misspelled. Now she can take down entire sentences in Finnish flawlessly. Her improvement was so remarkable that her teacher took her notebook home to show her husband this strange phenomenon. She (the 7-year-old) is also able to correct capitalization and simple grammar errors in Finnish writing. This is a case (I believe, but also based on The Literature) of her competencies in English transferring over to Finnish. She has excellent literacy skills in English and is able to apply the basic principles to Finnish, too. For example, she can read out loud perfectly, the same way she can in English.
(Those of you on facebook already heard about this, but on Saturday this 7-year-old corrected my Finnish in public when I was giving a lady directions and said something incorrectly. It was one of the proudest moments of my life.)
It is true that a 7-year-old will have a harder time acquiring a second language at that age than, say, the 2-year-old, but the road hasn't been as bumpy as I thought.
Now, the 10-year-old. Some theories of second language acquisition posit a Critical Period Hypothesis, wherein it's easier for a child to learn a language (and acquire certain features of language, such as native-level pronunciation and that elusive native-speaker intuition) before some particular cut-off age. That age is usually thought to be around 11, before the onset of puberty (and subsequent reduction in the plasticity of the brain). Consider the CPH when deciding to move abroad with a child around that age. We did, and it was one of the reasons we decided to take the plunge into an immersive foreign language environment this year rather than after a few more years of the good life in the UAE. And I'm glad we did. Ten-year-olds are still excellent language learners, but that's part of the problem - they will most likely learn the language rather than truly acquire it. At least, that's been our experience (and that's what this blog post is about).
At her age, the 10-year-old is surrounded by peers at the bilingual school who speak a decent amount of English. The tasks she is asked to complete in Finnish at school are more difficult, and while her native-language competences do help her, they are not enough at this more advanced level. Writing down dictated sentences is one thing (see 7-year-old, above); writing an original fairy tale in Finnish is another, and that's what she's working on in Finnish literacy this week. Her Finnish acquisition is going a little slower, and it takes more effort and guidance on the part of her parents (us) and her teachers.
I have no doubt that she will speak near-native Finnish eventually, but I think true fluency will not come for another year or two. As far as planning goes, I am glad we made this move sooner rather than later.
A final thing I am glad we did: enroll the girls in a bilingual school instead of the English-medium school like we originally planned. I think the girls' level of Finnish would be pretty dismal right now if we'd gone with the English school. Everyone told us that they would "pick up" Finnish on the playground there, but I'm grateful for the greater immersion experience they've had at the bilingual school.
And that's what to expect re: second language acquisition, six months edition!
