language for Russian adoptees

[Sandra Layman]

I can't address the issue of Russian adoptees directly, but maybe this
anecdote will be of interest.

Some two years ago, I was contacted by an American couple planning to adopt
a (then) 8- or 9-year-old boy from a children's home in Romania. The
prospective mom and dad felt strongly that they should be able immediately
to communicate with their child and were willing to invest in regular
tutoring (once or twice a week) to learn Romanian.

Meanwhile, the adoption took almost a year to be arranged and approved.
I believe the boy was almost ten when the adoption was finalized almost one
year ago.

Every so often since then, I've talked to the couple, and their son, by
phone.
The parents feel that their ability to speak and understand Romanian, even
if it was broken or rudimentary at times, was crucial during the first
period with their new son.
(They'd been learning some fun expressions and colloquialisms, too, which
incidentally also seemed to charm their adult contacts in Romania as well.)

Apparently, for months now the boy has been wanting to speak only English.
The parents are the ones speaking Romanian so that their son won't
completely forget it. :-)
I'm told that he's been doing well in school and has advanced the
equivalent of several grades in his English-language reading ability (he
had never been read to in the Romanian children's home) and in his math
skills.
Not only that, but he's been taking Spanish, too.

A separate mailing list exists for adoptive parents of children from
Romania, so there's probably such a list for  parents adopting kids from
Russia. That would probably be a good resource, although I suspect that not
all couples in the U.S., alas, are as sensitive to the language issue as
the people I had the pleasure of tutoring.

Best of luck,

Sandra Layman
Romanian/English interpreter
Translator specializing in Romanian into English
sandL at compuserve.com