Katsot Savon Sanomien arkistokolumnia. Tämä kolumni on julkaistu
22.12.2010 00:01
Kolumni
More Confusion with Finnish
Mary Nurminen
Kirjoittajan kolumnit
There are certain things people in Finland say that sound like they mean one thing, when actually they mean something entirely different. It can take years of living here before a foreigner understands them. Below are just a few of my favorites.
What a Finn says: "Mikä on sinun syntymäpäiväsi päivämäärä?"
What it means a lot of the time: "What is the date of your birthday?"
What it means when asked by a public authority: "What is your social security number, which starts with your date of birth but also has 4 other digits assigned to you by the Finnish national government when you are born or move to Finland? I want the full number though I'm only asking for the birth date part."
What it means when it's asked by the dentist's receptionist when you've called her to get an appointment: "I need to know what year you were born so I can figure out if you are in the age group which gets pretty full dental coverage, or if you are of the age group that has to pay more of the bill themselves."
What a Finn says: "Hän kirjoittaa ensi keväänä."
What anyone in their right mind would think it means (even though it makes no sense whatsoever): "He will write next spring."
What the Finn actually means: "He will finish his 9 years of mandatory schooling, plus 3 or 4 years of post-secondary education in an institution aimed at preparing young people for further academic studies, by participating in the huge national matriculation exams held twice a year. If he passes the tests he will graduate. If not, he will have to go through the pain of studying again for the tests he didn't pass, then try to pass those tests next fall."
How are foreigners supposed to get that from "Hän kirjoittaa"?
What a Finn says about a Swedish-speaking teenager, usually with a wink: "Tiedäthän…Pappa betalar!"
What I said when I first heard that: Huh? What does that mean?
The Finn: It's Swedish for "Daddy will pay"! You know, spoiled Swedish-speaking teenagers, that's their attitude.
Me: And that's different from the attitude of a huge number of Finnish-speaking teenagers….how?
The Finn: They're Swedish-speaking! You know, money! Their daddies do pay for everything.
Me: So do a huge number of Finnish-speaking daddies I know. So how's it different?
I still don't really get that, but it does lead me to translate what the Finn means as:
"The teenager in question is showing an distasteful attitude implying that they have no financial responsibility and their parents will give them anything they want, and this attitude is reminiscent of the attitude of rich and spoiled young Swedish-speaking Finns in earlier decades when it tended to be only the Swedish-speaking population who were the rich ones in Finland, though nowadays when we have lots of rich Finnish-speakers too whose children show the exact same irresponsible attitude, we still prefer to imply that this attitude is present only in the Swedish-speaking teenage population."
Vocabulary: Anyone in their right mind: anyone who has sense; Wink: silmää iskien; Spoiled: hemmoteltu, Be reminiscent of: muistuttaa; Decades: vuosikymmeniä
Mary Nurminen pähkäilee suomen kielen ja suomalaispsyyken kiemuroita.
