|
 |
Finnish | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| akinokurisu Newbie Australia Joined 5535 days ago 1 posts - 1 votes Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 13 17 February 2010 at 3:27am | IP Logged | |||||
|
Hey there. I was considering picking up Finnish at some point. It's a very beautiful sounding language, but I get the impression a lot of Finns know English rather well. How widespread is English usage there? I'm concerned that while I'll be making efforts to learn the language, I'll be hampered by English learners / English presence. Though, in retrospect that sounds a tad silly / petty. Not sure.
Also, what challenges have you run into when learning Finnish. The language is always portrayed as this frightening monster, but having looked into it, it seems like a pretty straightforward suffix-laden tongue. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| kyssäkaali Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5552 days ago 203 posts - 376 votes  Speaks: English*, Finnish | Message 2 of 13 17 February 2010 at 4:14am | IP Logged | |||||
|
I'm a native English speaker but I've been studying Finnish continuously for the past two or two and a half years, and I've lived in Finland for 4 months.
English is so incredibly widespread it's ridiculous. However, it still is possible to run into people who don't speak a word of it. Some of the older generation speaks 0 English and in my experience a lot of policemen, firemen, bus drivers, taxi drivers and older sales clerk don't speak a word of it. The thing is, if your accent isn't nails-on-chalkboard horrible and you don't speak haltingly, people WILL continue in Finnish after you have addressed them so, but as soon as you ask "Mitä?" or "Anteeks?" or give someone a blank look, 50% of the time it's straight to English even if you honestly just didn't hear them. People will sometimes take one look at you and address you in English. I really do wonder how often native Finns get mistaken for foreigners and addressed in English. I tell you though, fooling a native Finn into thinking you too are a Finn is like a linguistic orgasm. As for it being a monster, it really isn't. For the most part, it's written exactly the way it's pronounced with a few exceptions (inflected forms sydän, magneeti, signaati, etc.) Dialects are widespread and are written on the internet, making Finnish forums very difficult to read for a beginner. I myself speak a hybrid of standard and Savolainen Finnish. The cases, while numerous, are NOT difficult to get a hang of at all. Conjugation is easy and irregular verbs are almost non-existant. Pronounciation is laughably easy. I say go for it! 10 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7155 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 3 of 13 17 February 2010 at 4:27am | IP Logged | |||||
I'm curious, how did you get a handle on the partitive and the cases for direct object? I still get tripped up by them more than I would like. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| kyssäkaali Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5552 days ago 203 posts - 376 votes Speaks: English*, Finnish | Message 4 of 13 17 February 2010 at 4:45am | IP Logged | |||||
I didn't. In speaking and writing, I just use the partitive, accusative or nominative based on what sounds right to my ears, and yet I still make mistakes. I've found that often the recipient of a direct, physical action will use the accusative. Minä tapan SINUT. Minä potkin PALLON. Hän löi MINUT. This is of course not always true. Minä näen SINUT. More "telepathic" actions use the partitive (or other cases, of course). For some strange reason I can't think of any examples off the top of my head. But like I said, other cases will be used for telepathic actions rather than the accusative. Minä tykkään SINUSTA. Minä uskon SINUUN. Minä soitan SINULLE. With many exceptions: Minä suutelin HÄNTÄ. Negative clauses use the partitive because of incompleteness. Minä avaan OVEN. Minä en avaa OVEA. There are set rules for the partitive and the accusative but I never memorised them, I just go by what sounds right or wrong to my ears and usually I get it right. A native speaker should be able to give you a better answer. I'll also add that the usage of partitive rather than the accusative indicates some sort of sense of incompleteness, like I explained with the negative clause. Näin hirven - I saw a moose. Näin hirveä - I saw part of a moose (such as splattered body parts of one on the side of the road) Ammuin karhun - I shot a bear and killed it. Ammuin karhua - I shot at a bear and am speaking cryptically because I'm a lousy shot and it got away. Luin kirjan - I read the (whole) book Luen kirjaa - I am in the ongoing process of reading a book or I will read a book in the future. Edited by kyssäkaali on 17 February 2010 at 4:55am 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7155 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 5 of 13 17 February 2010 at 5:09am | IP Logged | |||||
|
Thanks, kyssäkaali. I guess that it boils down to practice now. I'm aware of the rules in isolation, and am familiar with all of the principles that you've mentioned above. It's just a matter of putting it all together - sounds as if I need to hit the drill books or use the language more. Perhaps I'm a little hard on myself on this one as I've been grappling with Finnish for about 4 months. Yet I don't recall Hungarian giving me quite this much trouble. The Hungarian system of indefinite and definite conjugation is MUCH less elaborate in comparison to the Finnish set-up of whether the object is negated, whether it's a whole, whether it's an object of a completed action, etc.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Johntm Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5421 days ago 616 posts - 725 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 6 of 13 17 February 2010 at 5:35am | IP Logged | |||||
Edited by Johntm on 17 February 2010 at 5:36am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| FinnDevil Triglot Newbie Finland Joined 5391 days ago 7 posts - 15 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, Swedish | Message 7 of 13 19 February 2010 at 8:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
Actually, you should say: Minä potkin PALLOA. (but with the verb "potkaista" you could use PALLON) Hän löi MINUA. The other sentences are correct. Read more about the partitive: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitive_case#Finnish 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| kyssäkaali Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5552 days ago 203 posts - 376 votes Speaks: English*, Finnish | Message 8 of 13 19 February 2010 at 10:02pm | IP Logged | |||||
Really? Wow, that really took me by suprise, especially "Minä potkin palloa." I really should do some reading about this case because honestly, I never have. xD Guessing what's right and what's wrong only gets you so far I suppose. 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
