I have been studying Finnish literally everyday, and I attend Finnish classes twice a week. Its not something that comes naturally for me AT ALL, and it takes A LOT of work for me, because nothing is the same as it is in English. It is really a difficult language for me to learn it, because it is so different!
But I have some very exciting news!!!
My host family has told me that I have officially, "graduated" from English!
They no longer have to explain things to me in English, and they can understand my Finnish enough to understand what I am trying to say. (MOST of the time...)
However, this does NOT mean that they don't have to talk super slow and use simple words all the time...I still have to always say, "Mitä?" (What) and "En ymmärrän" (I don't understand); and I always speak Finnish like a caveman.
BUT, It makes me SO happy that they can understand me enough to know what I am TRYING to say, and I can understand the general idea of what almost everyone is saying now; which is HUGE progress for me!
You have NO idea how JUST how GOOD it feels after spending two months not knowing a WORD that ANYONE is saying, or being able to express yourself with words. You are CONSTANTLY confused, and you are ALWAYS the last to know what is going on...and there are even times when you simply cant tell what so ever what is going on.
This past week, during one of the Exam days, I tried a little experiment with two other exchange students, and we decided to time with my cell phone how long we could go with only speaking 100% Finnish.
4 minutes and 38 seconds
Today my American Exchange Student friend, Patrick and I decided to repeat the SAME experiment, and decided to test JUST how long we could speak in 100% Finnish for.
1 hour and 08 seconds!!!
Can you believe that?! Two American Exchange students had an HOUR long conversation in FINNISH!
Which is AMAZING because just 3 days earlier we could only talk for 4 MINUTES and 38 SECONDS...Is it even possible to make THAT much progress in only three days?!
What we said wasn't grammatically correct, and we had to bring out google translate a few times...but I have to say that I have never felt so accomplished and proud of my Finnish Language Skills!
We got A LOT of weird looks and stares from EVERYONE in the café we were sitting in...But to tell you the truth, I don't think they were all staring because we were speaking so hilariously incorrect grammar. (Which we were...) I think it was mostly because we were both American and instead of communicating in our native language, we decided to try our very best to communicate in Finnish.
We probably sounded really funny, but I am really proud at the fact that we both TRIED, and that we both understood each other. It was really hard in the first 10-15 minutes or so, but after that we just kind of got into the rhythm and flow of it; even though it was technically incorrect.
It actually literally felt like a game we were playing, and that we had some sort of secret language that we both could almost understand. It felt so WEIRD and AMAZING to ACTUALLY speak Finnish, and I have NEVER gone that long before with ONLY speaking in FINNISH; and not saying a SINGLE word in English!
An hour might not be an "amazing" amount of time...but to spend an HOUR speaking in FINNISH with an ANOTHER exchange student is CRAZY!
I don't think you can understand JUST how amazing today was!
This week I told my host family that I am hoping to finally cut the rope with English in the next few weeks or so. My Finnish REALLY isn't good enough to speak it correctly, but people can get the general idea of what I am TRYING to say. My host mom made sticky notes for me, and put them all over the kitchen for me, and that helps a lot.
Its hard coming on exchange to a country where you have never heard the language before...and I don't think I can actually tell you the Finnish words for, "fork", "spoon", "knife", "street", "sign" or other daily things yet...Its REALLY difficult because you REALLY are just like a little toddler again. You cant understand ANYONE, and you can barely speak ANYTHING.
Although my host family and I speak Finnish all the time, I get embarrassed to speak it at school because of the reason I just explained. I feel like a little kid ALL the time, and its embarrassing being 17 years old, and speaking such broken language that you sound like a complete idiot!
I can only say a few phrases grammatically correct, but I have begun to force myself to try to think in Finnish and talk to myself in Finnish; which helps a lot for my Language Skills.
A LOT more people at school are talking to me in Finnish now, which makes me REALLY, REALLY happy; and I really DO think that it can be possible to stop speaking English in the next few weeks.
I KNOW I will sound silly and hard to understand for the next few months...but I really DO want to learn, and this is the only way it can be done.
It is actually hard for me to always switch between English and Finnish! The languages are SO different that I literally feel like the wires in my brain are being crossed the wrong way; and sometimes it actually literally hurts my head a lot to always switch between them. This sounds silly because I barely speak Finnish, but I am always speaking it with my host family and listening to it; and I am trying hard to soon speak it 100% of the time.
I feel bad when people come up to me and talk to me in English, and I actually have a hard time understanding and replying to them! Its NOT because of their accent OR that they are speaking it incorrectly...but its because when I spend a whole day listening to my family speak Finnish, I cant just switch to English easily.
I literally have to change the way I think and the way I speak; and its hard!
Its hard to explain...
My host family is trying REALLY, REALLY hard to teach me some of the endings in Finnish so that I can start speaking Grammatically correct, and less like a Caveman.
Its hard though, and I still cant really get many of the endings right...
But I have hope, and I really AM proud of the amount of Finnish that I can understand and speak! :D
In these next few weeks maybe will be able to study more in school and speak more with my school mates in Finnish. I am hopeful that I will soon be able to learn some of the endings and REALLY make that transition into only speaking Finnish! :)
Hei, minulla on uusi kysymys: Kun puhut, puhutko kirjakieltä vai jotakin murretta? Ja onko helpompi ymmärtää kirjakieltä vai jotain murretta?
ReplyDeleteMoi, mul o uus kysymys: Ku sää puhut, puhuksää kirjakielel vai jollai murteel? Ja onks helpompi ymmärtää kirjakielt vai jotai murret?
Hi, I have new question: When you speak, do you speak Finnish written language or something dialect? And is it easier to understand written language or something dialect?
I wrote Finnish, my dialect and English, because I just wanted :)
(And I don't know how do you say in English "murre" dialect or accent)
Minä ymmärrän kaikki mitä kirjoitti, mutta se on helppo lukea suomea koska minä ymmärrän paljon sanoja. ;)
DeleteMutta se on vaikea kun minä luen tai kuulla murretta koska minun suomea on ei hyvin. Minä en voi puhua hyvin, mutta minä haluan puhua suomea. minä puhun mitä minä voi suomeksi.
Mutta monet ihmiset ajattelevat minä en ymmärrä tai puhu suomea, joten he puhuvat Englanti. Mutta, haluan puhua suomea. :P
Mutta minä oppia paljon suomea, niin ehkä pian minä puhun hyvin. ;)
Hopefully you could understand my terrible Finnish haha! I know that it is difficult to read my Finnish, because I have only been in Finland for two months; but hopefully you could at least make out what I was trying to say! :D
Mun mielestä sun suomi on tosi hyvää jo kahden kuukauden jälkeen, se taivuttaminen on varmasti tosi vaikeeta! :) Mutta tosta ylemmästä kommentistas sai kyllä selvää, mitä tarkotit :)
ReplyDelete