1) In a little over a week, my first semester of Finnish will be over. In about 13 days, I'll be on a plane headed to New York. My dad'll pick Rami and me up at JFK, and we'll be on our way to good old Barkhamsted, Connecticut for a pleasantly secular Christmas. I'm feeling fairly settled here in Lappeenranta, but I do experience bouts of homesickness, and I'm quite excited to get home. When I first arrived in late July, Christmas seemed impossibly far away. Now it's nearly here, and I can't wait to see all the lovely people I left behind.
2) In Finnish class today, it struck me that I probably know a good amount more about Finnish grammar than my husband does. And yet, he speaks it fluently whereas I speak it laughably. That got me thinking about the incredibly efficient nature of childhood language acquisition. It continues to amaze me when I think of it.
3) Also in Finnish class today, we were examining some pieces of junk mail and discussing them in groups of four. Our teacher asked us to bring in a couple of our own for tomorrow, and so, after coming home from the store this evening, I began sifting through the massive pile of advertisements that sits in our hall. (We recently put a sign on the door refusing all forms of junk mail because we had been getting so much of it, but we've been too slovenly to bother getting rid of what we still have.) I found one that looked promising -- it had electronics and other neat things on the cover -- but after flipping through it a bit, I came across a page on which there were two hot chicks posing next to an enormous dildo and what appeared to be a fleshlight. Good thing I didn't just pop that one into my bag to peruse in class. Opettaja, mikä tämä on? Paljonko se maksaa?
That's about all. I've been reading Russell Banks's new book, working on my novel, studying Finnish, and watching old episodes of Peep Show on youtube when I need a mental break. Life is boring, but very decent.
2) In Finnish class today, it struck me that I probably know a good amount more about Finnish grammar than my husband does. And yet, he speaks it fluently whereas I speak it laughably. That got me thinking about the incredibly efficient nature of childhood language acquisition. It continues to amaze me when I think of it.
3) Also in Finnish class today, we were examining some pieces of junk mail and discussing them in groups of four. Our teacher asked us to bring in a couple of our own for tomorrow, and so, after coming home from the store this evening, I began sifting through the massive pile of advertisements that sits in our hall. (We recently put a sign on the door refusing all forms of junk mail because we had been getting so much of it, but we've been too slovenly to bother getting rid of what we still have.) I found one that looked promising -- it had electronics and other neat things on the cover -- but after flipping through it a bit, I came across a page on which there were two hot chicks posing next to an enormous dildo and what appeared to be a fleshlight. Good thing I didn't just pop that one into my bag to peruse in class. Opettaja, mikä tämä on? Paljonko se maksaa?
That's about all. I've been reading Russell Banks's new book, working on my novel, studying Finnish, and watching old episodes of Peep Show on youtube when I need a mental break. Life is boring, but very decent.
It's funny you mention junk mail. It's the busy season at work, and we send several mailing to get new donors. We send envelopes that we pay for if someone sends us something back. We hope for donations, but that doesn't always happen. Sometimes we get nothing back, like an empty envelope, sometimes we get not so nice things written to us (for a charity that feeds the elderly who can't get around, nice), and then we get stuff, like your junk mail back. Suffice it to say I've gotten some porn ads, some Pro-Israel propaganda, and some pro-atheist propaganda, among others. Certainly breaks up the day.
ReplyDeleteHAVE A WONDERFUL TRIP!!!! :-D It'd make a very interesting conversation if you've brought it to class and ask those questions HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HEEEEE...
ReplyDeleteI always dread coming back to Indo or having a long holiday in a non-Finnish speaking country 'coz when I go back to Finland, I always have trouble resetting my brain to Finnish...and during holidays I'm too lazy to speak Finnish with my hubby ha ha ha ha...
Surprise, surprise!
ReplyDeleteNot talking about porn-ads in Finnish class but the fact that we foreigners generally know more about Finnish grammar than the Finns.
My example is always partitiivi:
We don´t have it in our languages (so often I don´t know whether I should use it or not), while the Finns use it like crazy!
Just try this: ask a Finn, any Finn, about partitiivi.
All you get is a blank facial expression because they have no idea what the hell you´re talking about. Still they use it from the cradle to the grave in almost every sentence.
Not to mention verb types or k-p-t vaihtelu…
I think you will find most foreigners know more about grammar than native speakers. And that includes English. Like, do you know how the superlative is formed in English? Or do you know why you say "I'm in the car" but "I'm on the train"? We can't learn languages as adults without rules, something that kids simply don't need. Oh to be a kid again, especially with my struggles with Finnish! Great post, keep 'em coming!
ReplyDelete@ D Jeez, can you imagine putting that much effort into disrupting some poor non-profit employee's day? Seriously, people, the're called "prank calls." Or, in today's world, I suppose "prank texts" are more likely. Just kidding. I hope you at least get some entertainment out of it.
ReplyDelete@ Amel Thank you! Yes, I'm already psyching myself up to study Finnish every single day, if at all possible. I hate to think of the degree to which my Finnish skills will atrophy while I'm not studying!
@ JottEff Partitiivi is, for me so far, the most troublesome case. I guess knowing exactly when to use it will come with practice and time. Astevaihtelu is at least fairly systematic. And has anyone ever said to you, "Oh, don't worry, you'll pick it up. You do live there, after all."? I hear this a lot, and it drives me nuts!
@ Olli Yeah, adult language acquisition always requires conscious study, which itself involves learning a great deal of grammar. I'm proud to say I do know how to form the superlative, but I'm not aware of the reason we say "in the car" and "on the train." I figured it was sort of analogous to "Suomessa" and "Venäjällä." Why is one in the inessive and the other in the adessive? And yes, I frequently fantasize about having the brain of a five-year-old. Might not help with most things, but at least learning Finnish would be easy! :)