Sometimes it is difficult to live in Finland. I try and I try to learn to speak Finnish and when I speak I always make mistakes. Yeah yeah, I know I should be patient (I have only lived in Finland for 3 years) but it is frustrating as hell! My Finnish class started in September (again) and my brain feels like it wants to ooze out my ears. Seriously, stab me in the eye with a rusty dull spoon and gouge it out – it would be less painful! And for those of you Finns who read this, don’t you dare tell me that if the 4 year old of your former-university-roommate’s-brother’s-cousin’s-34 IQ-point-having-moron can speak it quite fluently, it can’t be that hard! It is! And no freakin PhD who wrote an article in the local paper saying that it isn’t that hard will convince me otherwise! “15 declinations of a Finnish noun” isn’t hard? MY ASS it isn’t!!!! “Oh, but our language is logical.” BITE ME! It is NOT. It is NOT logical to remove letters from some words and then ADD ones that never existed to the MIDDLE of the word so that it “sounds” better! Or, if there are an indeterminate number of items in a group you have a whole new case for that frickin word!!!! Jesus my brain hurts! Make the mean language stop Mommy! WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t believe I even passed the National Profficiency Exam! Talk about making my head spin and my eyes bleed!
Can anyone tell that I have encountered one of those barriers in my learning where it doesn’t make any sense and I am willing to opt for brain surgery so it will make sense before it drives me any more insane than I already am? I am told the key is to drink heavily and it will eventually sort of “click”.
*Note: The Author, even though she is in need of her medication, actually speaks (according to several credible sources – including her Finnish professor) fairly fluent Finnish with an very acceptable accent. Said author is well aware of the perceived “illogical” structure of the English language. She also has the same reaction some Finnish speaking readers are having presently whenever someone feels the need to remind her if the “illogical” structure of English: “Well, the 4 year old of my former-university-roommate’s-brother’s-cousin’s-34 IQ-point-having-moron can speak it quite fluently.” Which translated means: Shut the fuck up and quit whining you pansy assed moron.
**Another Note: In all seriousness, I really do like the Finnish language. So all of you Finns who were about drag me for a trip behind the wood shed can just calm the heck down over there. If I didn’t like the language, I wouldn’t have spent so much effort learning it for the sole purpose of making less of an ass of myself than I normally do. Well that and I am incredibly juvenile and learning new curse words in several languages can be fun.
2 comments:
Well zyou know, Finnish is a natural language ;)
Eläimet vievät koko omaisuuteni. Lompakkoni on hukassa, autoni kateissa, bassoni kanissa ja verokarhu on vienyt palkkani. Ja jos näin jatkuu, niin minut hukka perii.
:lol:
I've stuggled with Finnish for nearly 25 years. While I've finally figured out all the cases, now it's just a matter of learning more words.
My abilities grew quickly while I was working in Helsinki, though most of my friends spoke English, and for the sake of effeciency, we used that. I did find that booze helped a lot, and the more Lapin Kulta I drank, the easier Finnish became.
Fortunately, thanks to the Net and the iPod, I can read and listen from home (Ohio), and at least keep the skills I gained while there.
With reasonable studying and boozing, you'll be fine.
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