Blogit A year in South Karelia Funny Finnish
| Funny Finnish |
 |
 |
| Kirjoittanut Michael Child |
| 14.05.2009 12:38 |
|
Sometimes you just have to laugh. This advice has been especially useful since I began learning Finnish. Things began with one of my first vocabulary tests when I had to translate the word ‘engaged (to be married)’. I knew the word began with a’k’ and for some strange reason the word ‘kuollut’ came out of my pen. For those of you who don’t know, this means ‘dead’. My teacher was still laughing as she returned my test. She explained that she had almost marked it correct since most Finnish men confuse the words anyway! From that point I have had a wonderfully hilarious relationship with the Finnish language.
My motivation to learn as quickly as possible came soon after moving to Finland. After meeting my wife’s family for the first time I spent some time with two young five-year-old girls. Later, their mothers asked if I had taught them some English words. I replied that I had not and indicated that I was quite impressed with the fact that I could have a full conversation with them in Finnish. This was, in my mind, a major accomplishment – my first real Finnish conversation. Apparently though, the girls had earlier run excitedly to their mothers claiming, “Hei äiti, mie ymmärrän englantia!” (Hey, Mom, I understand English!). I knew that there was work left to do. So, my first task was to make sure I was hearing the language properly. However, listening in real life is not the same as the controlled environment of the classroom. I began to wonder why everyone was speaking of cheese (juusto) until I adjusted to the fact that it was something else (just joo, a common way of agreeing with someone). My logic wasn’t entirely wrong, though. Finland is full of people talking about another common food item – butter (Voi, voi!). Cheese wasn’t such a far stretch. Homonyms, or words that are spelled and pronounced the same, are a continuous source of humour for me. Listening problems also caused me confusion as a teacher. During a Christmas lesson, I once asked my students what Santa brought all the girls and boys who had behaved poorly. One brave young woman replied, “in Finnish we say risuja”. I was shocked. I asked, “Does Santa make you take your clothes off? (riisua)”. Sometimes I listen too well, though. A young relative, who had not yet mastered her beautiful, rolling Finnish ‘r’ sound, told me about ants. We had a delightful time playing with them. The only problem was that for some time after I believed that ‘ant’ was ‘mulkku’ (penis) instead of ‘murkku’. Although the pronunciation error was minor, the social error was huge. Another case of pronunciation blunder came on a train. I am quite sure I will not confuse the terms ‘Pasila’ (the name of a station) and ‘pissalla’ (to go pee) ever again. My next task was to learn some social language. I attempted to pay particular attention to how Finnish people open and close their conversations. While at a hockey game, I heard a friend say ‘Mitäs mies?’ (literally: how’s the man?) to someone he knew well. So, I decided to try it out myself the next day. However, I did not realize that this question is normally followed by the standard, hollow reply ‘Mitäs tässä?’ (how is it here?). When this second question was put to me, I proceeded to answer it quite literally, attempting to fully describe the situation around me. My friend looked very puzzled. I knew I was missing something important. I also knew I was missing something at the end of a conversation I once had on the street with a passing colleague. We had a nice chat – all in Finnish – and I felt pretty confident as we began to go our separate ways. But then I heard ‘Palataan!’ and stopped. I then walked back towards my friend, who had also stopped when he saw me returning. It was a moment of awkward confusion because ’palataan’ literally means ’let’s return’. However, it also means ’let’s return to this subject later’ in normal conversation. These are elements of language that never appear in textbooks or dictionaries and the only way to learn them is to figure them out as you go. Luckily, I’ve had lots of help solving my problems. In Canada, I had three excellent teachers who got me started (Kiitos Börje, Outi ja Hippe!). However, I have learned even more from the wonderful people of Finland. For example, a vendor near the Lahti ski jump taught me that I wanted ‘kuuma kaakao’ (hot chocolate) and not ‘kuuma kakka’ (hot poop). And a hairdresser explained to me the key difference between the word ‘kalju’ (bald) and ‘kalu’ (yet another slang term for penis). I had told her how I thought my bald spot was growing, but I was fortunate enough that mine was smaller than my father’s and smaller still than his father’s, which was really quite large. Next, a police officer suggested I say ‘tapaaminen’ (meeting) and not ‘tappaminen’ (killing) when arriving to meet someone at the police department. Lastly, a baseball coach took some time in the middle of a game to remind me of the essential difference between ‘ala mennä’ (let’s go) and ‘älä mene’ (don’t go). My colleagues over the years have been a tremendous help too. They have answered my many questions when I have come across new words, like ‘What’s a juoppohullu?’, ‘What does toki toki mean?’ and ‘Why is always windy at lunch time (lounastuuli)? They have also laughed with me while explaining they neither have a sore cucumber (kurkku kipeä) nor black socks (mustasukkainen). Family members have been perhaps the greatest help. They have taught me that I should not say things like ‘Mitä haistaa hyvältä?’ (What reeks good?), that ‘puoli ilmainen’ (half free) is not half price, a teenager (murrosikä) is not a crumb pig (muro sika) although there may be some evidence suggesting otherwise, and that when grandma says ‘Älä muuta sano’ (don’t say more) she is not telling me to ‘shut up’. Its equivalent in English would be ‘You can say that again!’. Regional dialects were my next challenge. Upon moving to South Ostrobothnia (Etelä-Pohjanmaa) I wondered what kind of crazy people must live there. A sign on the road suggested that they do horrible things involving kittens and moles (kissunpentut myyrähän). However, I soon began to get used to the people there…just in time to move again – this time to South Karelia. Because I had family there, I knew there were important regional pronunciations, like ‘mie’ and ‘sie’, for ‘I’ and ‘you’ respectively. However, I had not fully grasped the complete dialect. While visiting a doctor, my wife and I had to answer a number of routine questions. She answered hers quite well, but then the doctor turned to me and asked, ‘Entäs työ?’. I gave him my job description. Apparently, that wasn’t what he expected. Nor did a young girl expect such an odd answer to the question ‘Mis’ si oot?’. I replied, ‘ En minä ole missi!’. Indeed, sometimes you just have to laugh. And the best part about it is that I have a nation of people laughing with me, not at me. I do not fear my language mistakes. This is mostly because the Finnish people have encouraged me every step of the way. They have been my language helpers, not my language critics. For that I am deeply grateful. Palataan!
|
Warning: Some of the content of the text that follows may not be appropriate for children. This is NOT an attempt on my part to get you to read further. While I think there is good-natured humour in this story, others may not.Kuntalinkit
Tiedotelinkit
Kommentit
Olipa hauska lukea juttuasi! Lahetan sen edelleen ystavalleni, Sirpalle, joka opettaa suomea UCB'ssa, Berkeleyssa.
Hyvaa jatkoa.
I just cam along this site as I am looking for some sites which are interested in some link exchange with my horse site at German Sport Horses
If you also have your own web site and you like to sell (at affordable prices please) some banner space or text link space, please let me know. At the moment I am pretty interested in links from finish horse related sites.
Thanks a lot and have fun
Vera
Mahtava kolumni. Naurettiin vedet silmissä :)
t: Juha ja Jaana
Näin se menee..kieltä oppii käyttämällä sitä ja nipottamatta (without nitpick), huumorilla! Hauska ja ajatuksia herättävä juttu.
Yhdyn maaritiin ja jariin. (No i dont have sex with them. :) ) Just supporting the text.
Palataan!
Mut hauska tarina. :)
Tämähän oli varsin oivaltava ja hauska "tarina". Tekstistä huomaa, että motivaatio on korkealla sinulla opiskella suomenkieltä, enkä usko, että olen samankaltaiseen koskaan ennen törmännyt.
Keep it up, Michael!
I actually know a guy who moved from the States to Finland and he's been through stuff like that too. Hyvä ja hauska teksti :)
Its not required to register for it to see pictures and videos. -.-
Awesome text, i was laughing my head off! Have not even thought that in finnish language there is that kind of small "problems".
"hyvin sä vedät Michael ! " =) (not pulling good but doing great ^^ ) tiesitkin varmaan jo.
Onnea jatkuvaan opiskeluun !
Kuuma kakka >XD
jos suomalainen pilkunnussimiseen
ryhtyis suomea opiskelevan kanssa.
Suomi on veikeä kieli, eikö?
Kiitos kolumnistasi! En edes muistanut suomen kielen monimuotoisuutta virheineen päivineen! Pidä huolta itsestäsi :)
First off, sorry for not replying in Finnish but I'm sure I couldn't keep my vocabulary and structures at a level you'll understand. I even confuse Finnish people, in Finnish when i think I'm just talking normally...
Actually in a way I envy you. I hate the fact that I lost my eastern dialect. Nowadays I speak some hideous mixture of middle and eastern dialects.
Also you're doing really well! I personally only know of one person who's learned Finnish at an adult age, a Spanish father of a friend of mine, but he's an interpreter so he has an advantage.
Jatka samaan malliin!
Jos En olisi suomalainen, en kyllä koskaan alkaisi opiskella suomea..
Kunnioitettavaa =)
Olenko muuten oikeassa jos sanon että suomessa hankalimpia asioita noin kieliopillisesti on partitiivi?
I had to take I a break every once in a while when I almost fell off my chair because of laughing so hard. Especially the 'kuuma kakka' and the 'kalu' almost made me choke on my own laughter. : D
Good luck with learning this rather difficult language ja sait minut nauramaan!
Huumorilla ja sisulla selviää monesta asiasta :P myös uudesta kielestä.
We had an exchange student from the states (Oregon) here for 6 months and those are EXACTLY mine and his thoughts, well at least mine 'cause he is back at states :(
Suomi on outo kieli kaikkine murteineen ja slangeineen, mutta tosi hauska, kun sitä oppii tai näkee kaverin oppivan. Markonkin kanssa naurettiin päivät pitkät hänen hassunhauskoille virheilleen :D
Pidetään lippu korkeella.