Studying finnish crazy or what?

turbodank23 · Post by **turbodank23** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 11:55 pm

If anyone knows any schools in the Pennsylvania region on studying finnish please let me know I live 20 minutes away from HARRISBURG,PA
please help me online courses are not for me thank you in advance. Daniel Elder

**Sponsor:**

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 10:07 am

http://www...com/bb/viewtopic.php?t ... rn+finnish

kalmisto · Post by **kalmisto** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 10:52 pm

Hi Dan !

It surprises me that you want to move to Finland. How much do you know about Finland? Finland is not a paradise on Earth. Many foreigners find life in Finland very difficult. Finnish is not an ordinary language like French or German. It is much more difficult to learn than most foreigners believe.

Colin from England has tried to learn Finnish. He calls Finnish the most terrifying language in Europe :

http://www.insidecolinshead.com/baltism.html

turbodank23 · Post by **turbodank23** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 6:14 am

Hi yes ive been told many times that im crazy but im just seeing if i like it while me and my girlfriend attend university in helsinki and if i land good job and her too hey we might stay if not we can always go to states where i live is all farms so i kinda wanna travel ive played travel ice hockey for ten years been to almost every state on east cooast and been to montreal toronto ottawa and iceland sweden finalnd and estonia and would like to see more of europe while studying so hey it might be nuts but you only live once

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 12:31 pm

I like your attitude turbodan

you need to do it while young.

Dara · Post by **Dara** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 2:07 pm

turbodank23 wrote:Hi yes ive been told many times that im crazy but im just seeing if i like it while me and my girlfriend attend university in helsinki and if i land good job and her too hey we might stay if not we can always go to states where i live is all farms so i kinda wanna travel ive played travel ice hockey for ten years been to almost every state on east cooast and been to montreal toronto ottawa and iceland sweden finalnd and estonia and would like to see more of europe while studying so hey it might be nuts but you only live once

errr... ! What's with the missing punctuation?

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 2:46 pm

Dara wrote:errr... ! What's with the missing punctuation?

Haven't you heard? They've cut back school funding. I suppose they can afford only "one size letters fit most", and puctuation is only given to valedictorians.

Post by **neil** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 3:06 pm

Dara wrote:
turbodank23 wrote:Hi yes ive been told many times that im crazy but im just seeing if i like it while me and my girlfriend attend university in helsinki and if i land good job and her too hey we might stay if not we can always go to states where i live is all farms so i kinda wanna travel ive played travel ice hockey for ten years been to almost every state on east cooast and been to montreal toronto ottawa and iceland sweden finalnd and estonia and would like to see more of europe while studying so hey it might be nuts but you only live once

errr... ! What's with the missing punctuation?

I'm totally out of breath after reading that one!

Interesting avatar.

boO_fi · Post by **boO_fi** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 6:30 pm

not to make you feel discouraged from your goals of learning Finnish..but from a personal experience, i'd have to say that Finnish is bloody hard to learn.

right now i'm in the 4th level of grammatical studies and i find it harder to learn than spanish and latin which i took in high school! i thought latin was a bitch back then but now that i study Finnish, that's taken the award for being a right pain in the arse.

but more power to you..i hope you do well in your studies and excel!

kalmisto · Post by **kalmisto** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 6:51 pm

Dan

Click on this : http://www.finlandiafoundation.org/ then choose Pennsylvania and you will get a contact address in your state.

Great Scott · Post by **Great Scott** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 8:25 pm

Don't be so put off. Finnish is hard but not impossible. I'd say after a good 2 years of living here you'll have a good shot at starting to speak well. That's about how long it took me....

Andrew_S · Post by **Andrew_S** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 8:55 pm

Various foreigners who simply had to learn Finnish have said it takes about 18 months to reach the level where they can understand the majority and express themselves adequately. That's 18 months in Finland mostly studying Finnish full time.

So studying part-time possibly without immersion is going to take proportionately longer.

I've met people studying towards a degree in Finnish (at Univ. London) for over 1 year who are not really fluent.

In contrast, an English guy doing Swedish was said almost to sound like a native by Finland Swedish speakers after 1 year at Univ. London and 6 months at Åbo Akademi.

For Indo-European speakers Finnish is a real challenge. It can be done though.

turbodank23 · Post by **turbodank23** » Sat Dec 06, 2003 4:20 am

I apologize for the missing punctuation. I will try to do better in future thank you for comment on avatar, but just because it is bob marley does not automatically mean i smoke marijuana. Although a number of close friends of mine have. I think drinking and driving is worse than smoking and driving oh well. thanks for all the support yes im young and very inexcperienced at alot of things but, I might as well follow my intuitions. Im also very much in love with a beatiful finnish girl name is Heli Lindroos if anyone knows of her or family. Also i really think helsinki is fun but ya know im a small american town kid so thanks again your pal dan

Ace · Post by **Ace** » Sat Dec 06, 2003 10:51 am

turbodank23 wrote:I apologize for the missing punctuation. I will try to do better in future

http://www.politicsforum.org/images/fla ... ame_30.php

Slothrop · Post by **Slothrop** » Sat Dec 06, 2003 2:04 pm

Ace wrote:
turbodank23 wrote:I apologize for the missing punctuation. I will try to do better in future
http://www.politicsforum.org/images/fla ... ame_30.php

Ace.. Well spotted! This should DEFINITELY become a new forum sport. Kind of like collecting the cards in PG Tips packets or the old bubble-gum cards. Get the whole set. They could even be isolated in their own special thread as and when new specimens arrive...

And, at the risk of invoking a second grammarian sighting, I'd say this entire thread rather depends on what you mean by "fluently". Anyone who thinks English, for instance, can be learnt to "fluency" in five years need only read the majority of posts on this board to discover that for many it is a lifelong task that will never be accomplished. And that's just the native-speakers...

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