Finnish learning thread!

[Bobriha]

Pessi, the list is really amusing! I especially like No 3, "juosta pää kolmantena jalkana". When I image a person indeed running in such a manner, I can't help but cackle. And it express being in rush so brightly.
Lohikäärme is a fine word too. (Btw, Russian dragon is also a snake - Zmey). And as far as I know scandinavian dragons are wormes?

[Pessi]

:finland: Skandinaaviset lohikäärmeet kuuluvat käsittääkseni luokaan "orm", käärme, eikä "mask", mato, vaikka tavallisesti niitä kai kutsutaan nimellä "drake". Suomen sana "lohikäärme" on todennäköisesti osittainen käännös vanhasta skandinaavisesta lohikäärmettä tarkoittavasta sanasta "floghdraki", lentokäärme.

:uk: As far as I know the Scandinavian dragons belong to the class "orm", snake, not "mask", worm, though usually they seem to be called "drake". The Finnish word "lohikäärme" is probably a partly translation of the old scandinavian word for dragon, "floghdraki", flying snake.

[Bobriha]

I because of unknown reasons thought "orm" is for "worm". Thanks for clearing it for me!
And there are some Finnish words I would like to find about:
nään like in "vaikka pilvien nousun nään".
eli like in "että kerran keskellä kesää elin suurta ja säteilevää". Is it an equivalent of oli?

[Pessi]

:finland: Nään on runollinen ja puhekielinen lyhenne sanasta näen. Se muuttaa kaksitavuisen sanan kätevästi yksitavuiseksi, mikä on kauhean käytännöllistä runoilun kannalta.

Eli on hankalampi, en keksi sille suoralta kädeltä muuta englanninkielistä vastinetta kuin "so". Latinan sana ergo on kai lähin vastine. "Cogito, ergo sum" = Ajattelen, eli olen [olemassa].

:uk: Nään is a poetic and colloquial shortening of the word näen, "I see". It turns a two-syllable word neatly into a one-syllable word, which is terribly practical for making poems.

Eli is more difficult, I can't straght out think of any other English counterpart than "so". I guess the latin word ergo is the nearest counterpart. "Cogito, ergo sum" = I think, so i exist.

[Auleliel]

Eli is more difficult, I can't straght out think of any other English counterpart than "so". I guess the latin word ergo is the nearest counterpart. "Cogito, ergo sum" = I think, so i exist.

Would "therefore" also be a good translation, then?

[Bobriha]

Thanks, Pessi!
This eli seems to be a verb, doesn't it? There is another sentence I've met it:

Haaveet onnellisesta tulevaisuudesta sulhasen kanssa elivät vahvoina Harmajan mielessä.

It conjugates like a verb.

[Laufey]

Would "therefore" also be a good translation, then?

Yes, I would translate eli as "therefore" myself.

Thanks, Pessi!
This eli seems to be a verb, doesn't it? There is another sentence I've met it: It conjugates like a verb.

"Haaveet onnellisesta tulevaisuudesta sulhasen kanssa elivät vahvoina Harmajan mielessä."

That's actually another word altogether, a conjugation of the verb elää (= to live). It looks deceivingly similar but is actually a completely different word than eli.

[Bobriha]

That's actually another word altogether, a conjugation of the verb elää (= to live). It looks deceivingly similar but is actually a completely different word than eli.

Got it!
What a tricky word it is.

[Pessi]

:finland: Ups, anteeksi Bobriha. En lukenut mallilausettasi ollenkaan, kun aloin suoraan pohtia, miten "eli" kääntyy englanniksi. Totta, se on myös yksikön kolmannen persoonan imperfekti verbistä "elää".

:uk: Oops, sorry Bobriha. I didn't read your example at all, just started to wonder straight away how to translate "eli" to English. True, it is also singular third person imperfect of the verb "elää", to live.

:finland: Tämä on muuten hyvä esimerkki siitä, miten suomen sanoista saa hauskoja pulmatehtäviä tyyliin "mistä kaikista kantamuodoista voi johtaa sanan 'paloin'" (minulle tulee mieleen vain kolme vaihtoehtoa, mutta niitä saattaa olla enemmänkin).

:uk: This is btw a good example of how you can create funny puzzles from the Finnish words like "list the alternate basic forms for the word 'paloin'" (I can only think of three alternatives, but there may be more).

:finland: Kiitos Auleliel, therefore on juuri oikea sana. Englannintaitoni kohenee silmissä =)

:uk: Thank you Auleliel, therefore is exactly the right word. My English skills are growing wildly =)

[Bobriha]

Pessi, thet's OK! It was good to find out of therefore-eli too.

[Bobriha]

Just wanted to share this beautiful piece.

[Auleliel]

Oh, wow, that is gorgeous!


EDIT: So I went on a search to try to buy the CD for this song, and it's not on the group's website, and it's not on iTunes, and it's not on Amazon... How can I buy this song??? I want it sooo much...

[Pessi]

:uk: Mastorava (the CD that song "Kuulin äänen" is on) is 14 years old, so it may be it's no longer available. According to the web page of MeNaiset it has been sold through Digelius, which doesn't have it any more, and Jukeboxshop, which doesn't seem to have even a web site any more. I'd say the best you can do is contact the group and ask them. Their web site gives two contact persons, Anna-Kaisa Liedes (aliedes (at) siba.fi) and Maari Kallberg (maarikallberg (at) gmail.com).

:finland: Mastorava (CD jolla laulu "Kuulin äänen" on) on 14 vuotta vanha, joten se ei ehkä ole enää myynnissä. MeNaisten verkkosivujen mukaan sitä on myynyt Digelius, jonka valikoimassa se ei enää ole, ja Jukeboxshop, jolla ei näytä olevan enää edes sivuja verkossa. Sanoisin, että parasta on ottaa yhteyttä suoraan yhtyeeseen ja kysyä heiltä. Heidän verkkosivuillaan annetaan kaksi yhteyshenkilöä, Anna-Kaisa Liedes (aliedes (at) siba.fi) ja Maari Kallberg (maarikallberg (at) gmail.com).

[Pessi]

I thought I'd share with you a thing I found amusing: I just read a Child Health Center's recommendation that Finnish parents should read a lot to their small children, for otherwise the children won't learn the standard language since no one actually speaks it. This is totally true, but I've never before actually realised it in my whole almost-forty-years of life of which the last 13 has been spent bringing up my own children =D

Lucky thing I've read to my kids anyway just for fun and partly also to make them realise what fun books are.

[Bobriha]

I thought I'd share with you a thing I found amusing: I just read a Child Health Center's recommendation that Finnish parents should read a lot to their small children, for otherwise the children won't learn the standard language since no one actually speaks it.

I wonder, how weird would look a person that tries to speak standard Finnish in daily life for average Finn?