Helsinki’s mayor has suggested it should become an English-language city, as Finnish is too difficult for foreigners. This isn’t forfeiting the country’s culture, it’s simply common sense – and others would do well to follow suit.
It’s easy being English. Too easy, sometimes.
Being a native English speaker is a blessing, but it can also be a curse.
My first real love was a Finnish girl. If only I wasn’t banned from Facebook I’d send this to her.
ReplyDeleteI have a military buddy that met a Finish girl on R&R and ended up marrying her when he retired as an Army Master Sargent. He was 14 years older than she was and they had a 4 year courtship. He has been in Helsinki for about 15 years where they have two kids. I can't imagine having toddlers in my 40's but the oldest is approaching his teens and my buddy is approaching his early 50's. My buddy is conversational in Finnish but not fluent.
ReplyDeleteIt was nice growing up in 1950’s and 60’s America without all of the foreign accented English. Being from Texas I do quite well with Spanish accented English but really struggle when talking to people from the UK and India because of their accent.
ReplyDeleteIn all fairness, Wagontent, I'm from the UK and find that you Americans have a variety of accents with the ones from the northern states only vaguely resembling English. As for the 13%, enough said.
DeleteAlso Brit. Many US regional dialects are the same as British Isles regional dialects.Many English would not understand the yokels living outside their town and certainly not someone from Belfast, Glasgow or Newcastle - unless they used their "school classroom accent". Some US dialect is still unchanged from when the ancestors immigrated.
DeleteExample- the use of gotten.
And English is not easy. Though, through, tough, plough, etc. Then there are all ways a word meaning depends on words around it.
Had to explain to a French lady who said to me, when I jokingly pretended to doubt her statement, "Would I lie sith you?" Had to explain the difference changing "with" to "to" made.
Then there are homonyms and homophones. In UK we find that using "programme" and "program" is useful, because they define different things.
English is good because it steals from every culture it comes in contact with. Reason English dictionaries are huge and growing. And maybe not so good, words change their meaning. What does "incredible" mean, and would you truly believe some statement claiming that something quite believable was "incredible". Ditto "ultimate" and many others.
So do not be smug. Our ex colonial cousins do not like it.
Never, EVER let a politician destroy your culture.
ReplyDeleteI think it's two late too teach anybody English, to.
ReplyDelete"it’s simply common sense"
ReplyDeleteGod. How many horrible things have been marketed using that phrase?
I'm starting to think anyone who uses that as an argument: 1) has nothing to back up their position so they insert that nonsense phrase, 2) probably knows they are lying (see #1), 3) needs to be - at a minimum - be slapped in the face.
Finland's Finnishness keeps the riffraff out. Hell, there were stories about Muslim "refugees" self-deporting because "it's too cold and too boring."
Sure Finland is a small country (5.5 million), but the people are generally intelligent, and are resourceful and tough. The benefits of being more "accessible" are FAR outweighed by the costs of "diversity". Fuck off, Mayor Vapaavuori.
The Finnish language was invented to frighten bears away.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I have to wonder about that mayor. Finnish is related to both Estonian and Hungarian, defined as Finno-Ugric language group. It is related to no other language group on the planet. If we Finns stop learning it/using it then there may be problems when it's time for us to return to our homeworld...
ReplyDelete