How is this introduction?

[Kuda]

Hei,
Minä olen Kuda. Olen Amerikkaalainen. Puhun Englatia ja Japani. Myös puhun suomea mutta vain vahan ymmärrän. Olen yliopisto opiskelija. Hauska tutustua.

--

Now I type in English. How well did I do? Pretend we're sitting in a classroom and the professor calls each of us to the front of the class to introduce ourselves. Is this what an introduction would sound like? Whether there are simple tiny tweeks, or someone says "What is this trash?" I don't really mind. I've been studying on my own, and my only other experience is studying Japanese. I sort of expect that I'll need a correction if not a major makeover.

Also, as it seems many have before, I'm having issues with pronouncing the vowel Y. The book I study came with an audio CD, and it's proved plenty helpful. It's simply unclear to me what Y is supposed to sound like. The audio always pronounces Y too fast for me to fully comprehend. The book said the Y in the english word You emulates the sound. Another book I found at the library used the word Bureau and said that the first U is like the finnish Y. (Too bad I spent most of my life pronouncing that word wrong..) After several times listening, for differences between vowels, it sounds sort of like a blur between how U and E is pronounced in finnish. This is as far as I've gotten. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you. ^^'

[leisl]

vähän
japania

The word order might be a little unusual but it's not "wrong" and you would certainly be understood.

The book said the Y in the english word You emulates the sound. Another book I found at the library used the word Bureau and said that the first U is like the finnish Y.

Correct, it's "you" without the English y-sound at the beginning. For an American it is literally "ewwwwww!" just don't say the w.

[tuttu]

Hei,
Minä olen Kuda. Olen Amerikkalainen. Puhun englantia ja japania. Puhun myös suomea, mutta ymmärrän vain vähän. Olen yliopiston opiskelija. Hauska tutustua.

i guess that's a little better.

about Y - i think the examples you got are not perfect.
Y is spelt like the german (or estonian) Ü. i wouldn't know how to explain it to a native english speaker (or a russian, at that).
you can listen how they call the little girl in the red dress "Pikku Myy", e.g. here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUIpX3XVVb8

[onkko]

Well anything goes since you arent a finn. Me tarzan you jane is acceptable and while your example is good and not total unknown tarzan. I understood what you wanted to say and what we want?

Y is... And i did talk alone with lot of YYs thinking how to explain.
Small open in mouth, think about non sexual kiss for childs, like a kid just round small little o smack. Think about most ridiculous "yes i will kiss" picture from 40s,. Tongue in low in your mouth and tip resting on low teeth. Mouth almost closed and sides on your tongue on your upper side teeth.

If you arent a finn by "i talked finnish when i were a child" you will have accent always. In some rare cases i have seen fluency in pronouncing but thats rare. I have seen russians and fellows who are fluent but still cant pronounce, we use that in war

For example russians say hyvä as hjuva Mostly 1st generation immigrants wont learn "fluent finnish" what sounds like a finnish.

[Kuda]

Thank you for the many quick responses. They're all helpful.
Is there a usual natural order in the way things are said? Like subject/verb/object or something? The book I study from mentions that yes/no questions reverse the order of of the sentence, but I'm not entirely sure what the proper word order is in the first place. I'd like to sound more literate and less like Tarzan.

As for Y, I was studying numbers when I realised how clearly the Y was pronounced in Yksi and Yhdekmän. That helped a lot. And nice song and visuals to work from, thanks. If not completely, I think I may have gotten quite close to the sound.

And now I have a new question about numbers. At the very beginning, it said that the very first syllable is the part of the word you put stress.

So for the number
Viisituhatneljäsatakuhdekmankymmentäyksi,
despite how long it is, you would only put stress on Vii?

[Pursuivant]

You always syllabize in your mind to get the rythm.

What the heck was you after, 5491

vii-si-tu-hat-ta-nel-jä-sa-taa-yh-dek-sän-kym-men-tä-yk-si

So you differentiate between the numbers.

[leisl]

Main stress on first syllable. Secondary stress on third, fifth etc.
But as Pursuivant indicated these enormous numbers are compound words, and the "main stress" resets at the beginning of each piece. You cannot know when it's a compound word unless you recognise the pieces as individual words so don't worry about it yet, you have bigger fish to fry.