Last night, my Finnish teacher mentioned to me that some people from Yle would be coming to film our morning class. My first thought, as it often is with these things, was en fucking jaksa. But they were actually quite unobtrusive, and we nearly forgot about them altogether. To my great relief, I was not chosen as an interviewee; that honor went to Krisztina, and I think she did an excellent job. They also filmed the class next door. The shots of people milling around are of our class. The shots of people poring over what looks like Suomen mestari 1 are from the other class.
Here it is. Our story begins at about 4.30.
Furthermore, I find it quite touching that the people of Lappeenranta are interested in what their ulkomaalaiset do all day. I thank them for caring and not recoiling. There certainly is prejudice here (though I'm pretty much never the object of that prejudice), but, on the whole, this place should be proud of its cultural tolerance.
Here it is. Our story begins at about 4.30.
Furthermore, I find it quite touching that the people of Lappeenranta are interested in what their ulkomaalaiset do all day. I thank them for caring and not recoiling. There certainly is prejudice here (though I'm pretty much never the object of that prejudice), but, on the whole, this place should be proud of its cultural tolerance.
COOL!!!! You're on the news and you look LOVELY! And you did look natural - as if none of you really felt disturbed by the crew. :-D
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's a good thing to be covered and to let people know that foreigners DO need more Finnish classes and competent Finnish teachers! :-D KUDOS to all the people who care! :-D
Thanks! Yes, I think it's a good thing for them to catch a glimpse of their "tax euros at work," so to speak. We do work hard, and have a real desire to learn as much and as quickly as possible. :)
DeleteWay to go!! You're the one wearing glasses, right? If I recognized you correctly, you look terrific on camera! You do all look very focused and happy to be there. I was glad to see YLE doing a report like this. My own Finnish class (at työväenopisto) is similarly full of people who try hard every day to improve their language ability, so that they can function more effectively in Finnish society. I must say, too, that our teacher is highly experienced and really excellent. Good teachers + motivated students makes for a great combination.
ReplyDeleteThanks! And you spotted me correctly. :)
DeleteAnd though the theme of the piece was more about course shortages, I hope that it also serves to demonstrate that we work hard. We want to integrate, not sit around on the dole, scoffing at how difficult Finnish is to learn. :P
I'm glad you have a good teacher. It makes an ENORMOUS difference, for sure.
wow.. What a great experience you had! Living in a foreign country far away from home is not always easy. Lot of people give up half way. Believe me, i know what im talking about. I think you are doing great so far. Let your experiences turn into a shining band of gold of future!
ReplyDeleteThanks for such kind words! And you're right, it's certainly not always an easy experience. That's why I'm lucky to have these classes. :)
DeleteAre there no male ulkomaalaiset in Lappeenranta? :-) Looks like your class is a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteHaha, our lack of men is something of a running joke. We now have 3 men in a class of 20 or so, but around the middle of last spring we were down to just one.
DeleteThe class is tons of fun, yes. :)
I believe the correct Finnish expression is "ei vittu jaksa".
ReplyDeleteYou may notice the colloquial lack of commas bring a subtle change in meaning, but then again the expression should never exist in written form.
Do you mean parenthetical commas surrounding "vittu" ? Would one ever construct the phrase that way (written or otherwise)? It's hard for me to imagine.
DeleteI just find it amusing to combine English with Finnish, particularly when there are curse words involved. It's a juvenile inclination that I can't rightly explain.
I suppose it's just a round-about, colloquial way to distance oneself and frame it as a general complaint/status statement by using a third-person construct. Similarly "ei pysty" = "can't do it".
DeleteSure, I just thought I'd offer a fully Finnish equivalent of sorts. Anyway, mixing languages can get you to a no end of trouble. Especially with Finnish, inflection plays merry havoc with your messaging. You may end up talking pidgin in both languages.
I wonder if it has something to do with skill level. I wouldn't do that with English anymore but my Swedish sucks and I think I might see myself doing that.