I once heard a pithy little truism about English compared to Finnish. Basically, if you imagine a triangle, point downwards, then that's English. You start at the bottom, and it seems dead easy to grasp a little and say some basic things. Then, as you learn more, it gets more and more complex the more you learn, until you're into a mass of synonyms, homonyms, rules that are more exception than rule, and random things that just don't make any sense at all, even to native speakers.tuulen wrote:So, begin easy, and then build on what you have learned.
Finnish, on the other hand, is like a triangle point up. You start at the bottom, and when you come to it, it's really complex looking and there's a lot to learn - but, like moving upwards in the triangle, you build upon everything you struggled to learn at the start. The further you get, the less you need to learn, because it already fits within the structure of what came below! When you're finally at the top, it's largely a matter of learning new vocabulary and keeping up with changing slang - just as the other native speakers have to, anyhow.
Hope that mental image helps
it certainly got me through many nights filled with tears and Finnish homework.
