First ill start out a little bit by introducing the language I am learning, and introduce a bit of the basics when it comes to Finnish:
1.) Finnish is in the Finno-Ugrian language family. (Most European languages happen to be in the Indo-European family.) And the only other languages that are related to Finnish are Estonian, Hungarian and possibly Sami. (Which is the language spoken by the Sami people living in the very Northern Locations in Lapland.)
For example:
English- Winter
Finnish- Talvi
Estonian- Talv
Sami- Dal've
Hungarian- Tél
2.) There are NO articles in the Finnish language.
For example: A Car OR The Car doesn't exist...its just Auto.
3.) There is NO gender in the Finnish language.
4.) There is a lot of Free Word Order. (Which is both helpful, and confusing...I never know just where to put my words.)
For Example:
Panu lyö Jannea- Panu hits Janne
Jannea lyö Panu- Panu hits Janne
Lyö Panu Jannea- Panu hits Janne
5.) There are LOTS of endings and suffixes in the Finnish language!!!! (Ill just list a few to give you an idea of just how many endings there are in the Finnish language.)
A few Examples:
Autossa- in a/the car.
Autossani- in my car.
Autosta- out of a car.
Autoon- into a car.
Autolla- by/at a car.
Autolta- from a car.
Autotta- without a car.
Autoineen- with one's car.
Autot- the cars
Autoiksi- into cars. (transformation)
Autoihin- into cars.
6.) New words are created with endings and compounding. (Which is actually SUPER helpful.)
Examples:
Kirja- book Kirjasto- library
Sana- word Sanasto- vocabulary
Sanakirja- dictionary (word + book)
Tietosanakirja- encyclopedia (knowledge + word + book)
7.) Witten Finnish and Spoken Finnish ARE different. (It gets confusing.)
Examples:
Minä olen- written
Mä oon- spoken
Sinä menet- written
Sä meet- spoken
Minä- written
(dialects: Mä, Mää, Mie)
Sinulla- written
(dialects: Sul, Sulla, Siul, Siulla)
8.) Finnish is a phonetic language, (But you MUST pronounce ALL of the letters in each word, or else you will be saying a different word!!!)
Examples:
Tuli- Fire
Tuuli- wind
Tulli- customs office
Tapaan sinut illalla- Ill meet you in the evening.
Tapan sinut illalla- Ill KILL you in the evening.
9.) The letters A and Ä ARE different!
Examples:
Minä valitan hänestä- I complain about him/her
Minä välitän hänestä- I care about him/her
Minä näin hänet- I saw him/her
Minä nain hänet- I married him/her
10.) Finnish has NO prepositions...and the word for "He" and "She" is the same.
So, congratulations! Now you know more about the Finnish language than you did before! (Unless you are one of my Finnish friends who read my blog.) ;)
I thought it would be a good idea to write about how my Finnish is coming along, and introduce the Finnish language into my blog; because learning the language is a HUGE part of my exchange.
Studies have actually shown that Finnish is the hardest European Language for an English speaker to learn...but I have found that the Finnish language is not DIFFICULT, but that it is DIFFERENT. If you tell yourself that something is going to be hard, it will automatically become a challenge to you. However, if you tell yourself that things are only Different, then doors are open to you to find and create opportunities. Learning Finnish is one of those opportunities that I have to open for myself while on my exchange in Finland.
I have actually done research, and according to the Foreign Services Institute in the US State Department, it will take me 44 Weeks or 1100 hours to feel confident in the language I am learning. Although I study everyday, and work on my language skills during class time with flashcards or worksheets- I don't understand as much as I would like to. Its hard for me because in Finland they learn English at a very young age.
Almost everyone speaks English to me. Which actually frustrates me sometimes, because I don't expect people to speak to me in English. Its nice sometimes because then I have someone to talk to, but it makes me kind of sad that everyone automatically comes up to me and starts speaking English. A lot of kids in Finland don't expect me to learn Finnish; which is sad because I feel as though if I am going to be living in someone else's country, I should be respectful and at least try my very best to learn and speak their language.
It makes me kind of sad when kids at school teach me how to say very simple things like, "hi" in Finnish. Its very, very nice of them to teach me! ...But I wish that they knew that I had been studying Finnish 6 months prior to my exchange, so that I could attempt to have conversations with them in their own language. I may not understand a lot of Finnish, and I may not be able to speak a whole lot...but I just wish that sometimes kids at school would understand that I am here to learn their language and that I actually WANT to learn it. Its very, very kind of them to speak to me in my own language...but I am not here to speak my own language.
I actually wish that people would speak to me only in Finnish, even if I didn't understand. I wish that they would just say it over and over again until I understood what they said. It might be frustrating in the beginning...especially not being able to express myself at all; but I feel as though that would really help me learn the language.
I am really motivated to learn the language, and in a way, having kids at school mostly only speaking to me in English motivates me even MORE to learn the language. Eventually being able to surprise kids at school would be amazing! But it makes it hard to learn if kids at school don't speak to me in Finnish...I just wish that they knew that I want to learn!
However, its only been 3 weeks; and its rough to get a hang of ANY different language after only 3 short weeks in a different country. Hopefully in the next month or so ill be able to get the ball rolling and slowly be able to keep up with conversations instead of only picking a word or two out and getting the general idea of what people are talking about.
I'm actually really proud of the small amount of Finnish that I know so far though. (Which, is sad because I can barely have a conversation with someone.) But I do believe that all of the studying I did prior to my exchange paid off, because I can understand others a lot more that I would have without doing so.
So I guess in the end I shouldn't be TOO upset about the language. No matter which language I would be immersed in, 3 weeks isn't enough time to be able to understand conversations at full speed. (Especially in a language you barely know.) I plan to just continue studying, and in time let things fall into place. :)
❝If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.❞
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