Living in England
Jul 28th 2021, 9:40 am
#1
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2021
Posts: 1
Living in England
My partner wants to move to England for work. He says the life there would be better for us because the job opportunities over there are better.
I am Swedish and have lived my entire life here.
I am not excited about moving abroad. I am not convinced of the quality of life that England has to offer compared to the nordics.
I would like to teach my future children the language that everyone in my family can speak (my partner and I don't speak this language together.)
I am afraid that even if the UK was better financially speaking, we would pay a high price for it. I have an image in my head that the education in the UK is not the best, they attend to school early.. how would I then teach him my language? Also living abroad without any family is scary to me.
Tell me your opinion about England and what pros and cons it has compared to the nordics?
He wants to move permanately.
I am Swedish and have lived my entire life here.
I am not excited about moving abroad. I am not convinced of the quality of life that England has to offer compared to the nordics.
I would like to teach my future children the language that everyone in my family can speak (my partner and I don't speak this language together.)
I am afraid that even if the UK was better financially speaking, we would pay a high price for it. I have an image in my head that the education in the UK is not the best, they attend to school early.. how would I then teach him my language? Also living abroad without any family is scary to me.
Tell me your opinion about England and what pros and cons it has compared to the nordics?
He wants to move permanately.
Jul 28th 2021, 10:43 am
#2
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2012
Location: Noord Holland
Posts: 568
Re: Living in England
Hi Justme, I think your post would be better in the Moving Back Home forum - not many people will see it in the Cyprus forum.
I'm not best placed to judge as I live in the Netherlands. I am guessing that your partner is British and wants to return home. This means he will need to get a job there with sufficient income to support you before you are granted A visa to move.
With regard to your children, I understand your fears. Future children implies you don't have any yet? Most parents are encouraged to speak with their children in their mother tongue - they are sponges for languages and will be bilingual before their second birthday, all being well. You will have to make a determined effort to buy books to read with them so that they learn more than just verbal communication, but it's very, very easy for children to speak two languages from birth.
As for schools, it very much depends on the area where you live, and full reports are available online to help you choose an area to settle down in (don't be forced to move to where your partner wants to live, if future education is important). Starting school early is not necessarily a bad thing, especially when you realise how expensive childcare is
The UK has universities ranked higher than many in Europe, and if your child(ren) has dual nationality, there is no reason they can't study in Europe later if they choose to.
As for being scared about living abroad without family, that's an entirely different matter and you really need to decide if this is something you can handle indefinitely. If you need that close support, I guess it's a deal breaker already?
I'm not best placed to judge as I live in the Netherlands. I am guessing that your partner is British and wants to return home. This means he will need to get a job there with sufficient income to support you before you are granted A visa to move.
With regard to your children, I understand your fears. Future children implies you don't have any yet? Most parents are encouraged to speak with their children in their mother tongue - they are sponges for languages and will be bilingual before their second birthday, all being well. You will have to make a determined effort to buy books to read with them so that they learn more than just verbal communication, but it's very, very easy for children to speak two languages from birth.
As for schools, it very much depends on the area where you live, and full reports are available online to help you choose an area to settle down in (don't be forced to move to where your partner wants to live, if future education is important). Starting school early is not necessarily a bad thing, especially when you realise how expensive childcare is
The UK has universities ranked higher than many in Europe, and if your child(ren) has dual nationality, there is no reason they can't study in Europe later if they choose to.As for being scared about living abroad without family, that's an entirely different matter and you really need to decide if this is something you can handle indefinitely. If you need that close support, I guess it's a deal breaker already?
Jul 28th 2021, 12:20 pm
#4
SUPER MODERATOR
Joined: Oct 2007
Location: In a darkened room somewhere.............
Posts: 34,033
Re: Living in England
Hi, welcome to BE. Can't help with comparing England to Sweden I'm afraid, but we have several Swedish families in our little village so it can't be too bad in comparison! Your children will learn Swedish just by you speaking it to them at home, we have lots of friends with bilingual children, including our Swedish friends.
Education will depend on where you go, I live in one of the best areas for schools in the UK, so we've been very lucky. My daughter is just coming to the end of her schooling and it's been incredible, she's planning on university at Oxbridge/Russell Group/Ivy League uni's, and that's down to the excellent education she's received here. Personally starting school at age 5ish has worked well for my children, both of them were eager to start but it's mostly play at that age anyway, so just teaches them to interact with their peers etc.
Our children have had the best life here, a very safe and fun upbringing, lots of cheap sports and clubs to do. But again, it will depend on where you choose to live, we live in a very safe and rural area of the UK (we don't lock our doors), if we lived in inner city London I'm sure their upbringing would have been very different!
If you don't have children yet (as your post implies), then it's much easier to just try it and see what you think, assuming of course your husband could get a visa to live/work here?
Best of luck deciding.
Education will depend on where you go, I live in one of the best areas for schools in the UK, so we've been very lucky. My daughter is just coming to the end of her schooling and it's been incredible, she's planning on university at Oxbridge/Russell Group/Ivy League uni's, and that's down to the excellent education she's received here. Personally starting school at age 5ish has worked well for my children, both of them were eager to start but it's mostly play at that age anyway, so just teaches them to interact with their peers etc.
Our children have had the best life here, a very safe and fun upbringing, lots of cheap sports and clubs to do. But again, it will depend on where you choose to live, we live in a very safe and rural area of the UK (we don't lock our doors), if we lived in inner city London I'm sure their upbringing would have been very different!
If you don't have children yet (as your post implies), then it's much easier to just try it and see what you think, assuming of course your husband could get a visa to live/work here?
Best of luck deciding.
Jul 29th 2021, 8:04 pm
#5
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: May 2010
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 9,660
Re: Living in England
My partner wants to move to England for work. He says the life there would be better for us because the job opportunities over there are better.
I am Swedish and have lived my entire life here.
I am not excited about moving abroad. I am not convinced of the quality of life that England has to offer compared to the nordics.
I would like to teach my future children the language that everyone in my family can speak (my partner and I don't speak this language together.)
I am afraid that even if the UK was better financially speaking, we would pay a high price for it. I have an image in my head that the education in the UK is not the best, they attend to school early.. how would I then teach him my language? Also living abroad without any family is scary to me.
Tell me your opinion about England and what pros and cons it has compared to the nordics?
He wants to move permanately.
I am Swedish and have lived my entire life here.
I am not excited about moving abroad. I am not convinced of the quality of life that England has to offer compared to the nordics.
I would like to teach my future children the language that everyone in my family can speak (my partner and I don't speak this language together.)
I am afraid that even if the UK was better financially speaking, we would pay a high price for it. I have an image in my head that the education in the UK is not the best, they attend to school early.. how would I then teach him my language? Also living abroad without any family is scary to me.
Tell me your opinion about England and what pros and cons it has compared to the nordics?
He wants to move permanately.
