Today, R and I went to the harbor for a couple of vetyä.
There's a tori near the water's edge where a man sells used books. He's there every day of the week. I often browse his collection, searching for items stupid enough to suit my Finnish literacy.
I've been slogging through Mies parvekkeella and I've discovered that, while it certainly is good for a mental workout, it's not something I can actually read. That is, I cannot run my eyes over it, understand most of it, and then look up the words I don't know. It requires quite a bit more work than that.
But what I want from my reading is to gain vocabulary, not simply to struggle towards something resembling comprehension. For me, grammar is the easy part. It's acquiring and retaining a decent vocabulary that's (very) difficult.
So, at the recommendation of quite a few people, I bought an Aku Ankka book from the tori last week. It proved to be quite beyond my reach within a few pages, and I've resolved to save it for when I'm a bit more advanced. I'm already reading one way-too-hard book. What I need now is a book that I can get through with some amount of ease and confidence, and which will allow me to learn a few new words without making me strain to comprehend their context.
Today, as I thumbed through the used books down by the harbor, I came across this shiny pink atrocity. "Well, I've been looking for young adult books," I thought. "But this one...I must find something else. Anything else."
All the rest of the young adult books were, in some form or another, about horses.
I approached the kind book seller very sheepishly. "Kaks euroa," he said. His skin was baked a deep brown from standing in the sun day after day. I blushed a princessy pink and handed him a 2 euro coin.
And that is how I began to read the third installment of The Princess Diaries.
Afterwards, we went swimming. I hesitated to bring this sparkly thing with me, but I thought, "Fuck it, I want to learn some Finnish while I lie in the sand."
It's exactly what I needed. I understand a great deal of it, including the context that surrounds unfamiliar words. Actually, I feel sort of badass as my eyes pass over the text somewhat fluidly. Imagine - me - able to read a book intended for someone fifteen years my junior!
I'm not complaining.
There's a tori near the water's edge where a man sells used books. He's there every day of the week. I often browse his collection, searching for items stupid enough to suit my Finnish literacy.
I've been slogging through Mies parvekkeella and I've discovered that, while it certainly is good for a mental workout, it's not something I can actually read. That is, I cannot run my eyes over it, understand most of it, and then look up the words I don't know. It requires quite a bit more work than that.
But what I want from my reading is to gain vocabulary, not simply to struggle towards something resembling comprehension. For me, grammar is the easy part. It's acquiring and retaining a decent vocabulary that's (very) difficult.
So, at the recommendation of quite a few people, I bought an Aku Ankka book from the tori last week. It proved to be quite beyond my reach within a few pages, and I've resolved to save it for when I'm a bit more advanced. I'm already reading one way-too-hard book. What I need now is a book that I can get through with some amount of ease and confidence, and which will allow me to learn a few new words without making me strain to comprehend their context.
Today, as I thumbed through the used books down by the harbor, I came across this shiny pink atrocity. "Well, I've been looking for young adult books," I thought. "But this one...I must find something else. Anything else."
All the rest of the young adult books were, in some form or another, about horses.
I approached the kind book seller very sheepishly. "Kaks euroa," he said. His skin was baked a deep brown from standing in the sun day after day. I blushed a princessy pink and handed him a 2 euro coin.
And that is how I began to read the third installment of The Princess Diaries.
Afterwards, we went swimming. I hesitated to bring this sparkly thing with me, but I thought, "Fuck it, I want to learn some Finnish while I lie in the sand."
It's exactly what I needed. I understand a great deal of it, including the context that surrounds unfamiliar words. Actually, I feel sort of badass as my eyes pass over the text somewhat fluidly. Imagine - me - able to read a book intended for someone fifteen years my junior!
I'm not complaining.
You seem to be making excellent progress!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm pleased with it, but the real challenge will be not to waste the whole summer eating vety at the harbor. :)
DeleteWell, there's always waffles, makkara and ice cream.
DeleteYeah, I'd better be careful, or I'm going to end up talking and looking like an American.
DeleteAku Ankka is an intimidating way to start, because hubby collects them and the first time I also tried reading them. I thought that the pictures would help me understand the text, but it was WAYYYYY to tiring he he he he...
ReplyDeleteENJOY THE BOOK!!! :-D And ENJOY feeling badass! :-D I LOVE it when I reread the books I read in the past (where I had to find/write so many difficult words) and then I realized that I've known many of them by heart by now he he he he he...Life (in our case progress) is to be understood backward!
The second Princess book I bought was light blue - my fave colour! :-D And I did enjoy it! :-D
Aku Ankka may seem intimidating, but at least the older ones used some really colorful and well written finnish.
DeleteWhen you're ready for it, I'd suggest getting your hands on some Don Rosa (and possibly Carl Barks) books. They've really paid attention to their translation into finnish, and it shows.
Elena, you are so right that vocabulary is the toughest part of learning Finnish. The grammar is tricky, but it is mostly logical and, furthermore, one can get away with getting it wrong. However, Finnish words simply cannot be guessed at (for listening/reading or indeed speaking/writing). If you get them wrong, people will not understand you how ever good your grammar. This is doubly challenging for me as my memory is just soooooo lousy!
ReplyDeletePS: I am really in awe of your progress! I feel like I am going nowhere. Last week I was in Finland, and even the simplest shop interaction seemed to be beyond me. Argh!
BTW, I notice you blog about *that book* is one of your most popular. It is on my blog also, and one of the top Google searches leading to my blog is "Finnish girls". Kind of frustrating that a post about a fairly poor book is the most successful of all, but to be honest I suspect the searchers are not looking for a book...
ReplyDeleteOh, there are times when I'm in a shop and something completely simple throws me for a loop. For some reason, listening comprehension is kind of below my other skills, and it drives me nuts! You're not alone there.
DeleteAlso, I'm glad to know someone else has lots of trouble with the vocabulary. In my class, I always felt as if I had the exact opposite skills and problems that my classmates had.
I think that book might actually be pretty popular among Finns who are interested in what foreigners think. I agree that it's a poor book, and I think the Finns should demand more from the people who satirize their homeland. :P I have gotten quite a few hits from people searching for "Finnish girls" as well. They're likely extremely disappointed by what they find in our blogs! ;)
Yay Elena!
ReplyDeleteI'm still on a steady diet consisting of the "Santtu Supervekara" series and Finnish translations of the Richard Scarry books. I seem to be learning a lot of words to do with children misbehaving and small animals operating heavy machinery.
Haha, hey, words are words. I bet you'd have a very easy time with this princess book, though. It's incredibly simple. :)
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