Religion, or lack thereof?

[sysyphus]

P.S. I am not a native English speaker. English is the fourth language I speak after Urdu, Punjabi and Siraiki.

You have lovely written English skills! You obviously have an aptitude for language and you have the right attitude so I have no doubt that you'll do just fine!

How generous of you Cory, I appreciate it

[sysyphus]

I am aware of the monstrosity of the challenge that lies ahead ...

At its core, Finnish is a very systematic language, having relatively few "exceptions" to its rules. But there are about a million and one rules to learn, and it is important to learn each and every one of those rules. The best approach is to begin at the beginning, with such a simple thing as the alphabet and its correct pronunciation, and to then build your knowledge upon that, one step at a time.

Again, however, there are two forms of Finnish, one being "correct" and "proper" and the other being quite abbreviated. The correct and proper form is the one to learn first, as that teaches the rules of grammar, and learning those rules will introduce you to the abbreviated form.

Tuulen, what I can do is to make sure I am well versed in the building blocks of the language - alphabets and pronunciation - before I reach there. For me, when learning a new language, reading comes first and, it is followed by writing, speaking and understanding in that order. At least the words are pronounced exactly how they are written. Pneumonia wouldnt be namonia and psuedo would be 'pasoodo'.

[tuulen]

...

[Jukka Aho]

maybe “sects” rather than “cults”. Or depends on your definition of “cult”..

I take the classical definition of a cult; followers of an unorthodox religious sect who often live outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader. Nokia's revival would certainly qualify!

I take it you mean Tapani Koivuniemi’s religious society, not Nokia Revival (Nokia Missio)?

The other denominations seem quite out of the ordinary. Nothing you wouldn't expect in any other developed country. As long as they don't exert any political influence, it isn't a problem, IMHO.

Laestadians are said to do that to some degree in the local politics of northern Finland. I have no first-hand experience on that, though. They typically vote for the Centre Party and the National Coalition Party.

Do the Jehovah's Witnesses go about knocking on people's doors, handing out pamphlets, preaching their way of life?

Yes, it’s the same as everywhere, and the same publications — only translated to Finnish.

The wikipedia articles on Jussi Halla-aho were the most intriguing of the lot.

He’s a controversial figure. Some more or less admire him as a person who sidesteps the political correctness and consensus of the bigger, more established political parties and who has made it possible to discuss topics and question immigration policies and “official” immigration ideologies in ways which would have been considered taboos in public discussion still some years ago. Some others think he’s a dangerous, misguiding, venomous agitator one step away from Hitler and hate him with vengeance. The truth probably lies somewhere in-between.

Jussi's stance on Muhammed being a pedophile could not have been any truer. [...] But Jussi goes on to make sweeping statements like 'Islam is a religion of Pedophilia' (wikipedia), which is erroneous and not to be expected from an academician.

I think that claim should be taken in the context of the blog entry in which it was originally published. The original blog entry was essentially a public letter to the State Prosecutor Mika Illman where Halla-aho was deliberately hanging out some “baits” for him to test his hypothesis of the limits of freedom of speech in the Finnish society and to highlight the possible biases the State Prosecutor or the judicial system might have. Whether he now got the confirmation he was originally seeking for or whether the original “test” was flawed in some ways... well, you can decide for yourself. The original blog entry has been translated into English. It can be found by searching for the English title “A couple of baits for Mika Illman”.

[enkeligod]

Sysyphus, you do no need to break your head to speak Finnish language as the law is relaxing a bit.


Helsinki to stop requiring Finnish of cleaners

The city of Helsinki will no longer demand a good knowledge of Finnish of employees who don’t need it to do their jobs.
Does a cleaner need to converse in fluent Finnish? Helsinki’s deputy mayor, Ritva Viljanen, says no.

“Interaction with customers is very limited in carrying out the job. It doesn’t require particularly advanced language skills. Exceedingly strict language requirements can easily slip into discriminatory principles,” Viljanen points out.

The city wants to promote itself as an equal opportunity employer.

Source: Ylenews

[Pursuivant]

Do the Jehovah's Witnesses go about knocking on people's doors, handing out pamphlets, preaching their way of life?

Yes, but a mad scientist did some genetic splicing with Norwegian heavy musicians, an now we have people knocking at your door telling you to go to hell

My mum, though, is always going on about how it'll damage my liver or worsen my ulcers n stuff. But then she don't know I smoke like a chimney and that is more certain of upsetting my ulcers

You shouldn't tell your mum that you are going to study "how to start a business" in Finland, you'll be needing a full ass-transplant.

[Pursuivant]

“Interaction with customers is very limited in carrying out the job. It doesn’t require particularly advanced language skills. Exceedingly strict language requirements can easily slip into discriminatory principles,” Viljanen points out.

Oh, they're just following in the footsteps of YLE. i mean its evident to work for their English pages you don't need to speak any.

[sysyphus]

Sysyphus, you do no need to break your head to speak Finnish language as the law is relaxing a bit.


Helsinki to stop requiring Finnish of cleaners

The city of Helsinki will no longer demand a good knowledge of Finnish of employees who don’t need it to do their jobs.
Does a cleaner need to converse in fluent Finnish? Helsinki’s deputy mayor, Ritva Viljanen, says no.

“Interaction with customers is very limited in carrying out the job. It doesn’t require particularly advanced language skills. Exceedingly strict language requirements can easily slip into discriminatory principles,” Viljanen points out.

The city wants to promote itself as an equal opportunity employer.

Source: Ylenews

Thankfully, finding a job isn't one of my concerns (although it seems I am a rarity, feel sorry for the people in the job section). Free tuition means I can live like a boss and partayyy my socksss off! Would have to do some compulsory job placement as part of my degree but I am guessing that would be in an English speaking environment since my DP is in English. I am worried about not being able to integrate in society, find myself some kickass Finnish buds. You gotta do in Rome as Romans do you know
P.S. I would NEVER work as a cleaner even if they paid me in gold!

[sysyphus]

Do the Jehovah's Witnesses go about knocking on people's doors, handing out pamphlets, preaching their way of life?

Yes, but a mad scientist did some genetic splicing with Norwegian heavy musicians, an now we have people knocking at your door telling you to go to hell

My mum, though, is always going on about how it'll damage my liver or worsen my ulcers n stuff. But then she don't know I smoke like a chimney and that is more certain of upsetting my ulcers

You shouldn't tell your mum that you are going to study "how to start a business" in Finland, you'll be needing a full ass-transplant.

She knows -_- As long as its a BBA (bachelors in business administration) she is fine. She has made me promise that I'd work my arse off towards a transfer to Häaga-Helia after the first semester. I am confident that I'll manage to do so with considerable ease.

[sysyphus]

that claim should be taken in the context of the blog entry in which it was originally published...The original blog entry has been translated into English. It can be found by searching for the English title “A couple of baits for Mika Illman”.

Let me read up on that and I'll get back to you.

Regarding the polarising opinions about the man, the world exists in contrasting halves. Moral and immoral, black and white, night and day, ying and yang and the list goes on. It is a bit of an exaggeration comparing him to a German suffering from an Aryan-superiority complex. The world has learnt its lesson anyways - even the Germans too for that matter lol and they still haven't managed to rid themselves of the miasma of guilt. I mean look at Angela Merkel. My personal feeling is that the only reason the chancellor remains stubbornly committed to a unified Europe and by extension continues to bail out countries like Greece, who have only themselves to blame, is because of a subconscious need to make up for their Nazi past. It's as if the Germans feel they owe to rest of Europe and see it as their path to salvation.

[sysyphus]

Do the Jehovah's Witnesses go about knocking on people's doors, handing out pamphlets, preaching their way of life?

Yes, but a mad scientist did some genetic splicing with Norwegian heavy musicians, an now we have people knocking at your door telling you to go to hell

My mum, though, is always going on about how it'll damage my liver or worsen my ulcers n stuff. But then she don't know I smoke like a chimney and that is more certain of upsetting my ulcers

You shouldn't tell your mum that you are going to study "how to start a business" in Finland, you'll be needing a full ass-transplant.

And Pursuivant, stop trolling!

[Cory]

P.S. I would NEVER work as a cleaner even if they paid me in gold!

This is a dumb ass statement on a board full of students who really do have to find some way of supporting themselves whilst they are here.

Respect is earned. If you want to fit in to the mainstream with the natives (and non-natives), loose the attitude.

[Pursuivant]

P.S. I would NEVER work as a cleaner even if they paid me in gold!

Ah, but you know what the BBA asked the engineer?
-Do you want fries with that?

[sysyphus]

P.S. I would NEVER work as a cleaner even if they paid me in gold!

Ah, but you know what the BBA asked the engineer?
-Do you want fries with that?

Applies only to BBA's trying to make a life in Finland. I graduate and move to pastures anew or back home where I shall be treated like a boss!

[sysyphus]

P.S. I would NEVER work as a cleaner even if they paid me in gold!

This is a dumb ass statement on a board full of students who really do have to find some way of supporting themselves whilst they are here.

Respect is earned. If you want to fit in to the mainstream with the natives (and non-natives), loose the attitude.

I didn't mean to sound elitist, my apologies if anyone got offended. Those students who really do need to find way to support themselves are actually the ones who SHOULDNT be NEEDING a way to support themselves. The only reason the government grants them a residence permit is because they have sufficient resources to finance their stay. If they don't, then they are cheating the system, abusing it and are BIG FAT LIARS!