Friday, July 10, 2009

Language

Ok. well finnish is a language that is alone. its close relative, hungarian, actually doesnt sound like finnish at all and even the hungarian student that joined us in orientation here in finland couldn't understand it. soo that's to say how different and unique the language really is.

on first impressions, the words are extremely and unnecessarily long. and the words will change based on the subject. i am unable to formulate a sentence or question with the words i know, but i do know some phrases that a 5 year old kiddo named Ville helped me learn. he didnt understand english and he was really attached to me, so he communicated through my host bro, Miikka. and therefore i know how to ask "what did he say?" and "why?"

the subtitles on tv programs are in finnish, and i try picking up words by comparing the english to the concomitant finnish.

english english english....it's taught as part of the school curiculum and hence every teen has at least a basic understanding of it. Yet, finns being part of a shy culture, dont feel comfortable speaking it in the presence of english speakers like myself. according to a friend i've made here, finns are timid of their english speaking capabilities, which proved evident when her friend answered my questions asked in english but he replied in finnish (to her though).

here i have to speak clean english. meaning, i lose the bay area jargon of "hella". and i also don't say "like" every couple of words. i also have been forced to be as simple with my words as possible and not speak quickly in order for my host family to understand me. and that can sometimes prove to be difficult when explaining things unless, which is on rare occassions, that whom im speaking to understands more english than the typical finn...and thats happened like once.

at a baseball game, i realized how certain quirks were imprinted in their minds. engllish here is taught using an american basis, meaning it's without the accents and lingo of the UK. but still, i've heard numerous times of things like "we are in the shadow" and "chips" instead of "we are in the shade" and "fries". i explained the difference of shade and shadow to the well versed english speaker afore reffered interestingly enough.

sometimes i find myself relying on hand gestures to voice wha i am saying. this was the method i used when i explained shadow and shade, pointing to my shadow, a single image cast by myself and the sunlight, and then pointing to the collective shadow cast by many trees and telling her that's what we call shade.

i wish i could speak finnish more often, but my host family does speak english often. and therefore i do. when they speak finnish i just dont understand. hopefully a tide will change and i come out of this experience more well versed.

also, names here are usually foreign to me. so when i am introduced to someone, there is a 90% chance that i will not remember that someone's name a second later because 1. i dont know how to spell it and 2. i don't know how to pronounce it so i have obtained a habit of not even bothering to remember. but there are some names i really remember, when i meet the person again and i relearn their names a little more personally than just a handshake or when they have a name that i know and is found in america. like hannah or laura.

1 comment:

  1. =) Hand gestures--->universal language, you should go overseas and teach English now that you have the experience.

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