By kosk in Toronto (Koskintoronto) on Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 06:41 am:
Roger:
I'm in your age bracket, but my father, now 83,
arrived at school in L'Anse unable to speak
English. He's still fluent in Finnish though
there are some times when he finds it difficult
to speak about philosophical topics in
Finnish. However, because he attended a
Danish Lutheran church, he never learned to
read or write Finnish.My mother, who attended
a Finnish Apostolic LutheranChurch, learned
to read and write the language as well as to
speak it. My parents did not speak to me in
Finnish though they did speak ABOUT me and
about adult subjects in Finnish, so out of self
defence, I understand more Finnish than I can
speak.