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Parents of students of Finnish schools consider the Russian language one of the most important for studying in educational institutions, RIA Novosti reports. This is evidenced by the results of a survey conducted by the Center for Applied Linguistics at the University of Jyvaskyla. The study focused on the implications of introducing the study of foreign languages in Finnish schools from first grade.
According to adults, the most important thing for children is the ability to speak English. English was identified as important by 92 percent of parents. In second place in terms of importance is the Russian language - it was chosen by 62 percent of respondents. Swedish came in third with a one percent lag.
The top five included German, which was named by 49 percent of respondents, and Spanish - it was chosen by 31 percent. Following are French and Chinese. Another ten percent of parents named Turkish, Kurdish and sign language.
The results show that first graders are very motivated to learn foreign languages, and parents also consider earlier immersion a good practice. Parents provided negative feedback in only one out of fifty cases, experts said.
Russkiy Mir
