Suomi - Finnish

didine · Post by **didine** » 22 Jun 2004 20:41

Moi kaikille,

Tiedän, että muutamat teistä opiskelevat suomea tai ovat kiinnostuneita kielestä. Tuli mieleen, että olisi kiva avata suomenkielinen topiikki, jossa voisimme puhua suomea tai suomen kielestä vaikkapa englanniksi. Voin myös yrittää auttaa jos teillä on kysymyksiä suomen kielen kieliopista tms.

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Hi everyone,

I know that some of you learn Finnish or are interested in this language. I thought it would be nice to open a Finnish language topic in which we could speak Finnish or speak about the Finnish language in English for example. I can also try and help you if you have questions about Finnish grammar or things of the kind.

Cãlin · Post by **Cãlin** » 22 Jun 2004 20:45

Moi, Didine!
Ja kiitos!
Minä rakastan suomea.

j u d i t h · Post by **j u d i t h** » 22 Jun 2004 21:03

Moi Didine!!

Good idea! - I'll try to write something Finnish later

j u d i t h · Post by **j u d i t h** » 23 Jun 2004 19:32

Moi!!

I'll make an easy start today - just began to re-read a Finnish book for beginners, and I hope to improve my Finnish during this summer!

So here we go:

Nimeni on Judith. Asun Saksassa. Minä olen työssä Hampurissa. Hampuri on kaupunki Pohjois-Saksassa.
Minä olen saksalainen ja puhun saksaa. Puhun vain vähän suomea. Opiskelen suomea kurssilla. Kurssi alkaa syyskuussa uudestaan.

Okay, Didine, did you understand me???

Cãlin · Post by **Cãlin** » 24 Jun 2004 13:27

Moi!

My turn, althought I am not as good as Judith.

Nimeni on Calin, minä olen romanialainen ja asun Romanian pääkaupungissä, Bukaresti. Minä on kielenkääntäjä; puhun (ja kääntän) romaniaa, engantia, ruotsia, tanskaa ja protugaliaa. Myös puhun vähän kreikkaa ja ranskaa. Puhun romaniaa äidänkielän.

I´ll be happy if 25% of what I wrote is correct.
the thing with "portugaliaa" was my own invention

, I didn´t find it in the dictionary.

didine · Post by **didine** » 29 Jun 2004 21:55

Anteeksi kun vastaan vasta nyt, oli kiire Juhannuksen aikana ja vähän sen jälkeenkin!

Judith, ymmärsin tosi hyvin, ei ollut yhtä virhettä tekstissäsi!

Zcalin, hauska tutustua! "Portugaliaa" oli melkein oikein. Kielen nimi on portugali, eli puhut portugalia. Haluatko, että korjaan muut virheet?

Nyt on minun vuoro esittäytyä. Nimeni on Géraldine, olen puolalais-ranskalainen, mutta asun tällä hetkellä Suomen pääkaupungissa, Helsingissä. Asuin Tampereella kaksi ja puoli vuotta, sitten piti mennä takaisin Ranskaan lokakuussa valmistuakseni. Opiskelen konferenssitulkiksi, ja toimin myös kääntäjänä.

If something's unclear, tell me and I'll explain/translate!

Cãlin · Post by **Cãlin** » 06 Jul 2004 07:22

Moi!

didine wrote:Zcalin, hauska tutustua! "Portugaliaa" oli melkein oikein. Kielen nimi on portugali, eli puhut portugalia. Haluatko, että korjaan muut virheet?

Yes, I want.

didine wrote:Anteeksi kun vastaan vasta nyt, oli kiire Juhannuksen aikana ja vähän sen jälkeenkin!

Judith, ymmärsin tosi hyvin, ei ollut yhtä virhettä tekstissäsi!

You are excusing yourself for something, absolutely unclear to me what... then you are saying something nice about Judith's Finnish, no mistakes in her text... Ymmarsin must be some sort of past tense, I suppose...

I love the Finnish language, and I admire those who can speak it, especially if they are not native speakers, because that have achieved something I have desperately tried myself. I have resigned to the idea that I am too stupid to learn Finnish, so I quit about 6-7 months ago (last winter), after attempting to learn this language for several years... In December I could read and understand an easy-intermediate text, now all has gone to hell, in these final months I have forgotten almost everything; I do not have the nerve to start learning Finnish again, so don't bother with me, besides I am very busy and I don't have the time. But if you girls continue to speak Finnish in this topic, I will be happy to read you conversation.

I understood your presentation very well. Kiitos, Didine!

didine · Post by **didine** » 07 Jul 2004 18:48

Thanks for your message, Calin, I understand you.

Nimeni on Calin, minä olen romanialainen ja asun Romanian pääkaupungissä, Bukarestissa. Minä olen kielenkääntäjä; puhun (ja käännän) romaniaa, engantia, ruotsia, tanskaa ja portugalia. Myös puhun vähän kreikkaa ja ranskaa. Puhun romaniaa äidinkielenäni.

Cãlin · Post by **Cãlin** » 07 Jul 2004 20:24

didine wrote:Nimeni on Calin, minä olen romanialainen ja asun Romanian pääkaupungissä, Bukarestissa. Minä olen kielenkääntäjä; puhun (ja käännän) romaniaa, engantia, ruotsia, tanskaa ja portugalia. Myös puhun vähän kreikkaa ja ranskaa. Puhun romaniaa äidänkielnääni.

Wooooooooooooooooow

Unnnbeliiiiiiieveblllllleeeeee!
Now I'm really confused!
Kiitos, Didine!

Riikka · Post by **Riikka** » 17 Jul 2004 15:49

Hei kaikki!
Myös minä olen valmis auttamaan jos joku tarvitsee apua suomen oppimisessa tai tarvitsee apua esim. kääntämisessä

Hello everybody!
I'm also ready to help if somebody needs help in learning Finnish or for example in translations

didine · Post by **didine** » 17 Jul 2004 19:05

Tervetuloa Riikka!

Cãlin · Post by **Cãlin** » 23 Aug 2004 11:32

Hei kaikille!

I have a question now for anybody who has ever read - at least in part - Kalevala in original, and, of course, is a good (native or not) speaker of Finnish.

I am a great (read: fanatic) admirer (read: lover

) of the Finnish culture, language, literature etc., and I have already read Kalevala some 5 or 6 times, - in Romanian, of course. I also know quite a lot of "external / objective" facts about it, but there is a question that I've been seeking an answer to, and not found it yet anywhere.

How do you find the language of the text? How far is it from standard Finnish? How much of it is reagional? And how much is archaic? How much do you think that would understand a foreigner who has a fair command of contemporary Finnish?

I have a second question, but I don't like to mix the matters, I'll post it later...

Thanks in advance!!!

Kiitos kaikille!

didine · Post by **didine** » 23 Aug 2004 11:47

Hello zcalin,

You can buy three different versions of the Kalevala nowadays in Finland, apart from the foreign translations of course. There is the original Kalevala in old Finnish, the Kalevala in contemporary Finnish and the Kaleva in the Savo dialect.

The original version in old Finnish is not that close to contemporary Finnish, it is even a pain to read for native speakers of Finnish. The original version of the Kalevala is a bit of a Carelian dialect as those poems come from eastern Finland, but Elias Lönnrot really did standardise the language in his work at a time when differences between dialects were quite big.

I think you have to speak really good Finnish to read the Kalevala, as it has a lot of poetic terms which aren't used in the daily language. I'm not sure I would try and read it in Finnish myself...

Cãlin · Post by **Cãlin** » 23 Aug 2004 12:09

Moi, Dinine, ja kiitos!

Your answer takes me straight to the other question I had in mind...

I saw once - on an Internet site, but I don't remember exactly where - a map of Finland showing the dialects of Finnish. That map only had three colours on it: one for Swedish, one for the Western dialect (something like Lansimureet) and one for the Eastern dialect (Itamureet). But later on I heard that there is also la dialect called Savo. I understand a little bit of Finnish (spoken), and then I heard a guy speaking Savo, which, to my ears, did not soud at all like Finnish...

Is Savo the same as Ita-...something? Is there a standard Finnish, spoken all over the country? (I suppose the answer to this last question will be Yes.)

Could you please explain to me the main differences between the main Finnish dialects?

Take your time, I don't want to bother you...

Kiitos, Didine!

didine · Post by **didine** » 23 Aug 2004 21:33

Hello zcalin,

You're right, Finland is often divided into three areas where Swedish, länsimurteet (western dialects) and itämurteet (eastern dialects) are spoken. Those maps forget about Saami in northern Finland. There's a number of differences between the western and eastern dialects, I'll make you a list tomorrow.

When it comes to Savo, even though it's usually considered as being an "itämurre", it is definitely a language of its own. Finns that live outside the Savo region have a hard time trying to understand it. Quite a number of books and comic strips have been translated into Savo.

I would say that standard Finnish only exits as a written language, the official "kirjakieli" that is used in newspapers and in TV news for example. Otherwise, wherever you are in the country, there are quite striking regional differences. Each region has its own dialect. For example I spent over two years in Tampere, so I understand the Tampere dialect very well. Each Thursday, part of the Tampere newspaper, Aamulehti, is written in the Tampere dialect. There are even news in the Tampereen murre on the radio.

Now that I live in Helsinki, I'm getting used to the local dialect, stadin slangi.

I can also tell you that the dialect Finns find most horrific is the Turku dialect. For me it's ok, the ones I find really hard are the Oulu and Lapland dialects. My boyfriend is from Oulu and his grandfather from Rovaniemi, so when we go there, it's horrible for me just because of the way people speak in casual situations.

A series of small "Katekismus" have been written in the different Finnish dialects. It's more like for fun than a serious project, but it's a good way to compare the different dialects.