"Anonymous Gaijin" <anonymousgaijin@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:13aaccf7.0310162114.4ee5aae1@posting.google.com...
> I've been in Japan 4.5 years, have a Japanese wife and a 4 year old
> daughter. We are planning to move to England next summer. Our
> daughter's Japanese is equivalent to a Japanese 4 year old, but
> her English is very poor. Japanese friends assure us that she will
> pick up English in no time and will probably forget Japanese.

It seems like this happens in most cases. Keeping up the second language
takes a lot of work -- it doesn't just happen naturally.

You might find the bilingual families mailing list useful.
http://www.nethelp.no/cindy/biling-fam.html

> I'm also worried about the
> effect of moving to a different country will have on a young child.

Kids are pretty resilient. And at least at this age, she isn't old enough to
have a real life outside the family to miss. I would just avoid making the
moves too frequent.

> Any advice on making the move easier for her or preventing her
> from forgetting Japanese gratefully received.

As far as the move, I would say get her involved, and try to keep familiar
things around. For not forgetting Japanese, check out biling-fam. There are
also a few good books. One that I liked was
The Bilingual Family : A Handbook for Parents
Here is a link to the Amazon page:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?K1AD65046

-- 
Regards,
Ryan Ginstrom