Couple of exaggerations but otherwise more or less right. Agree that Savo is the hick accent, not Carelian.
Not all of these are true and some are greatly exaggerated or more like opinions. It’s probably meant to be a lighthearted article.
By the way, it’s a misconception that Finnish is completely gender-neutral. It’s true that it’s not as gendered as some other languages and ‘hän’ is used for all genders. However there are other words and endings that refer to gender. For example the feminine -tar/-tär ending.
(kuningatar – queen, tytär – daughter)
There are also plenty other words that are gendered in a more of less obvious way. For example many job titles are gendered with the word mies (man) in the title and they are used as a norm for all genders.
There are also some female gendered work titles but they are rarer and only used to refer to women. (lentoemäntä – air hostess) There are also some words that are hiddenly gendered. I.e. people assume that the word nurse refers to a female nurse even though in paper it looks gender-neutral.
There are also everyday words and sayings that are gendered and mostly masculine.
(jokamiehenoikeus – everyman’s right, Matti kukkarossa – literally Matt in a wallet aka being broke)
These are just some examples. So overall even though Finnish does have a gender-neutral word hän, the language is not void of gendered expressions.
23 fun facts, with pictures of “no niin”, yet no reference to the most useful phrase.
Nonnih.
Translating “tietokone” as “knowledge machine” is one that irritates the hell out of me. It’s “data machine” or “information machine”. When you translate from one language to another, and one word can be translated in several ways, you should pick the way that’s most appropriate with the context. I don’t care about “well knowledge machine is funnier”. It’s just wrong.
The “lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas” one also irritates me a lot. I’ve never seen that word in any other context than “look at how long Finnish words can be”. As far as I can tell, it has never been actually used in any constructive way anywhere ever. So, it’s only a theoretical constructed word and doesn’t reflect actual Finnish compound words at all.
For the one about “every dot matters”, I’d prefer examples of instances where “ä” is different from “ae” and “ö” is different from “oe”, because thanks to German, many assume that “ä” and “ae” are interchangeabled in Finnish along with “o” and “oe”. Like, “hän” and “haen” are completely different words.
> THE FINNISH ALPHABET IS BIGGER
8 of the 29 letters are never used in Finnish words. Finnish schools teach a superset of the Finnish, Swedish and English alphabets but it doesn’t mean that Q is part of the Finnish language.
Click bait. I did not have fun reading these recycled points.
The ultimate hick accent comes from around Kankaanpää. The combination of Satakunta, Häme and Etelä-Pohjanmaa dialects has no equal. No wonder the hillbilly tractor Martti in Cars speaks like he’s from Kankaanpää. It’s kinda cute.
I’m probably not getting the translation perfect but I love the literal translation of “universe” maailmankaikkeus, which roughly translates to “the worlds everything”.
Someone will probably correct me but my friends at work thought that was hilarious.
My favorite example of “dots matter” is “Näin äitiäsi” (I saw your mother) vs. “Nain äitiäsi” (I shagged your mother).
Though the letter Ö carries the same sound value as in Swedish, it is as native to Finnish as Ä. Only Å is a Swedish letter added into the Finnish alphabet.
11 comments
Couple of exaggerations but otherwise more or less right. Agree that Savo is the hick accent, not Carelian.
Not all of these are true and some are greatly exaggerated or more like opinions. It’s probably meant to be a lighthearted article.
By the way, it’s a misconception that Finnish is completely gender-neutral. It’s true that it’s not as gendered as some other languages and ‘hän’ is used for all genders. However there are other words and endings that refer to gender. For example the feminine -tar/-tär ending.
(kuningatar – queen, tytär – daughter)
There are also plenty other words that are gendered in a more of less obvious way. For example many job titles are gendered with the word mies (man) in the title and they are used as a norm for all genders.
(puhemies – chairman, esimies – manager, lakimies – lawyer)
There are also some female gendered work titles but they are rarer and only used to refer to women. (lentoemäntä – air hostess) There are also some words that are hiddenly gendered. I.e. people assume that the word nurse refers to a female nurse even though in paper it looks gender-neutral.
There are also everyday words and sayings that are gendered and mostly masculine.
(jokamiehenoikeus – everyman’s right, Matti kukkarossa – literally Matt in a wallet aka being broke)
These are just some examples. So overall even though Finnish does have a gender-neutral word hän, the language is not void of gendered expressions.
23 fun facts, with pictures of “no niin”, yet no reference to the most useful phrase.
Nonnih.
Translating “tietokone” as “knowledge machine” is one that irritates the hell out of me. It’s “data machine” or “information machine”. When you translate from one language to another, and one word can be translated in several ways, you should pick the way that’s most appropriate with the context. I don’t care about “well knowledge machine is funnier”. It’s just wrong.
The “lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas” one also irritates me a lot. I’ve never seen that word in any other context than “look at how long Finnish words can be”. As far as I can tell, it has never been actually used in any constructive way anywhere ever. So, it’s only a theoretical constructed word and doesn’t reflect actual Finnish compound words at all.
For the one about “every dot matters”, I’d prefer examples of instances where “ä” is different from “ae” and “ö” is different from “oe”, because thanks to German, many assume that “ä” and “ae” are interchangeabled in Finnish along with “o” and “oe”. Like, “hän” and “haen” are completely different words.
> THE FINNISH ALPHABET IS BIGGER
8 of the 29 letters are never used in Finnish words. Finnish schools teach a superset of the Finnish, Swedish and English alphabets but it doesn’t mean that Q is part of the Finnish language.
Click bait. I did not have fun reading these recycled points.
The ultimate hick accent comes from around Kankaanpää. The combination of Satakunta, Häme and Etelä-Pohjanmaa dialects has no equal. No wonder the hillbilly tractor Martti in Cars speaks like he’s from Kankaanpää. It’s kinda cute.
I’m probably not getting the translation perfect but I love the literal translation of “universe” maailmankaikkeus, which roughly translates to “the worlds everything”.
Someone will probably correct me but my friends at work thought that was hilarious.
My favorite example of “dots matter” is “Näin äitiäsi” (I saw your mother) vs. “Nain äitiäsi” (I shagged your mother).
Though the letter Ö carries the same sound value as in Swedish, it is as native to Finnish as Ä. Only Å is a Swedish letter added into the Finnish alphabet.
no niin