> (now remember that English isn’t Linus’ first language).
Nor even his second; I'm fairly sure it's his third (at least chronologically).
Why? As a Finland-Swede -- one of the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland -- he would have learnt Swedish as his mother tongue at home (and probably kindergarten / pre-school, if he went to any), and Finnish as his second, at the latest in elementary school. Perhaps in kindergarten / pre-school -- bilingual ones were rarer in his day, but some people put their kids in that of the "opposite" language explicitly to give them a head start on that. Then in around second to fourth grade he would have taken his first foreign language, which for an overwhelming majority is English (though it could also be German or French or something, and nowadays even more alternatives, like Spanish and Russian and whatnot, are available at least at central schools in larger cities). After that he may well have taken another foreign language in parallel, I have no idea (in primary school, up to and including grade 9, that is). I think in his school days, the 1970s / early 80s, that would statistically most likely have been German.
English being his third in stead of second language is not necessarily a disadvantage; on the contrary, I suspect it's actually an advantage for him to be at least tri- in stead of just bilingual: Knowing more languages in and of itself may make you more eloquent in all of them.
Not knowing him personally[1], so wild-ass guess: I'd tend to think he regards English as his second-but-close-to-first language now, having lived in the USA for so long. Probably still thinks -- to the extent one does that in any language at all -- and dreams in Swedish, and speaks it with his wife, but perhaps at least as much English with his kids who are born there.
At least that's how it works for me. Disclosure: second-hand knowledge of the Finnish school system by having a kid in it, first-hand experience of immigration twice over.
___
[1]: Met him once, about twenty years ago, when he signed a copy of Just for Fun for me.
Nor even his second; I'm fairly sure it's his third (at least chronologically).
Why? As a Finland-Swede -- one of the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland -- he would have learnt Swedish as his mother tongue at home (and probably kindergarten / pre-school, if he went to any), and Finnish as his second, at the latest in elementary school. Perhaps in kindergarten / pre-school -- bilingual ones were rarer in his day, but some people put their kids in that of the "opposite" language explicitly to give them a head start on that. Then in around second to fourth grade he would have taken his first foreign language, which for an overwhelming majority is English (though it could also be German or French or something, and nowadays even more alternatives, like Spanish and Russian and whatnot, are available at least at central schools in larger cities). After that he may well have taken another foreign language in parallel, I have no idea (in primary school, up to and including grade 9, that is). I think in his school days, the 1970s / early 80s, that would statistically most likely have been German.
English being his third in stead of second language is not necessarily a disadvantage; on the contrary, I suspect it's actually an advantage for him to be at least tri- in stead of just bilingual: Knowing more languages in and of itself may make you more eloquent in all of them.
Not knowing him personally[1], so wild-ass guess: I'd tend to think he regards English as his second-but-close-to-first language now, having lived in the USA for so long. Probably still thinks -- to the extent one does that in any language at all -- and dreams in Swedish, and speaks it with his wife, but perhaps at least as much English with his kids who are born there.
At least that's how it works for me. Disclosure: second-hand knowledge of the Finnish school system by having a kid in it, first-hand experience of immigration twice over.
___ [1]: Met him once, about twenty years ago, when he signed a copy of Just for Fun for me.