Finnish and Japanese

Learn and discuss the Finnish language with Finn's and foreigners alike
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masao
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Post by masao » Sat Oct 07, 2006 6:04 pm

Back to the topic but off-topic.

The first time I’ve come across with Japanese language was at a local primary school in Waikiki suburbs. There was a Japanese teacher who taught us the numbers 1 to 10 in Japanese. Her name was Ain’t-No-Way. According to her, the numbers were Itch, knee, sun, she, go, rock, hitch, hatch, Q, and Jew. I used to think that Japanese was related to English, then. Later, I’ve learnt that her real name was Ms. Inoue.

Years came, years went. Now my childhood dreams are all gone. Instead, I’ve got a pair of nice boobs. :oops: :oops: :oops: Still, I remember the teacher very well in my dreams. Maybe she was my first love. :oops:

t, masao


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Kyoko
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Post by Kyoko » Sat Oct 28, 2006 11:17 am

Wow... gosh I really thoroughly enjoyed this topic!! Thanks all for such a great discussion. I'm new here, and am Japanese, and I have a Finn friend head-over-heals taken by sumo ( Japanese traditional wrestling ) :) , which eventually got him sooooooo much into Japanese-language. As giving him little help here and there, I am coming to realize how different and also how close Japanese and Finnish languages are. And it's always fun to see.


the numbers were Itch, knee, sun, she, go, rock, hitch, hatch, Q, and Jew.
She must be a very good teacher :thumbsup: It makes a lot more sense to teach foreign students numbers like this than boring ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, shichi, hachi, kyuu, juu..

Oh, my dear Kimiko-san.
Love me or leave me lonely.
Setsunai desu ne.... :rose:
Last edited by Kyoko on Sun Oct 29, 2006 12:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

EP
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Post by EP » Sat Oct 28, 2006 12:39 pm

I have a Finn friend head-over-heals taken by sumo
Does he have a body that goes with it?

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Kyoko
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Post by Kyoko » Sat Oct 28, 2006 4:41 pm

EP wrote:
I have a Finn friend head-over-heals taken by sumo
Does he have a body that goes with it?
He does, yes. :) But one does not have to have golden muscles to be a sumo fan.

muhaha
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Post by muhaha » Tue Dec 19, 2006 10:41 pm

Kompostiturska wrote:Oh dear, this topic felt so interesting that I had to register 8)

The most obvious resemblance is the thing matildemichi already mentioned. The indicator of a question. In Indoeuropean languages, for example, a question is made by changing the order of words. In Finnish, Estonian and Japanese, a question is indicated with "-ko/-kö" (FIN), "kas" (EST) or "ka" (JAP).
Nihongo o hanashimasu ka?
Puhutko suomea?
Kas sä räägit eesti keelt?
If those three aren't close relatives, I'll eat my socks. Another thing very similar is the indicator of possession; in Japanese, "my (something)" is "watashi no(something)", which is very similar to the Finnish genitive form, most surprisingly "-n".
What about connecting Indo-European and Uralic:

Uralic 1. person pronoun: "mi(n-)" IE: "me(ne)" (Finnish minä, English me, mine)
Uralic 2. person pronoun: "ti(n-)" IE: "tu"/"te" (there is "s" in Finnish "sinä" because some thousand years ago "t" became "s" when next sound was "i", English "thou"/"thee")
Uralic "ku-"/"ke-", "-ko", IE: "kwi", "kwo", "kw-" (Finnish kuka, ke-, kuinka , -ko, English who, what etc, Latin qui, quo etc)
Uralic "to-", IE "to-" (Finnish "tuo", English "the", "that")
Uralic "wete", IE "wed-", "wodor" (Finnish vesi, English wet, water)
Uralic and-clitic "-ka/-kä", IE "-kwe" (Finnish "eikä" = "and not", Latin -que as in Senatus PopulusQUE Romanus)
Uralic locative "-na", IE preposition "en" (Finnish "kotoNA", "takaNA", English "in")
Uralic accusative "-m", IE "-m" (Finnish "-n" - m becomes n when it is the final sound, Latin acc. "-m", English pronoun acc. "whoM"
Uralic ablative "-ta", IE "-d" (modern Finnish partitive)
Uralic "nime", IE "nomen" (Finnish "nimi", English "name")
Uralic "kala", IE "(s)kwal" (Finnish kala=fish, English whale, Latin squalus)
Uralic "too-" IE "daH" (Finnish "tuo-" = bring, Latin "dare"=to give

Here's some Latin verb conjugation (to give), does these endings sound any familiar:

Present indicative do das dat damus datis dunt
Present conjunctive dem des det demus detis dent
Past passive participle datus, data, datum

In Finnish (to bring):

Present indicative tuon tuot tuo tuomme tuotte tuovat
Past passive participle tuotu

vanamond1
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Post by vanamond1 » Sat Dec 30, 2006 9:54 pm

I am new here!
Interesting site and topic!

Dixie

Post by Dixie » Sun Dec 31, 2006 7:27 am

A Finnish friend of mine once suggested that spoken Finnish perhaps could sound somewhat like a combination of Spanish and Japanise. I do not speak Spanish, and I do not speak Japanise, yet even I could agree.

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Mies Belgiasta
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Post by Mies Belgiasta » Wed Feb 07, 2007 5:29 pm

Well, grammar wise Japanese is close to Finnish I think :) In the 3 years studying Japanese and now picking up Finnish I'm noticing some resemblances in structure. AND, no genders!! :wink:
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Bonnie0022
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Post by Bonnie0022 » Mon Mar 05, 2007 3:23 am

not sure if this has been mentioned previously, but Inari is a lake in Finland, and Inari is a type of Japanese sushi...

KuljinKauas
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Post by KuljinKauas » Mon Mar 05, 2007 7:46 am

Even as a Japanese myself, I still think that a connection is highly doubtful, although the post-positions are kind of similar.

Rob A.
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Post by Rob A. » Tue Mar 06, 2007 4:26 am

:)
Last edited by Rob A. on Wed Jan 06, 2010 8:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Matula
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Post by Matula » Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:27 am

Mies Belgiasta wrote:Well, grammar wise Japanese is close to Finnish I think :) In the 3 years studying Japanese and now picking up Finnish I'm noticing some resemblances in structure. AND, no genders!! :wink:
Genders must be an Indo-European abnormality. Just like the verb "have".

enk
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Post by enk » Mon Mar 12, 2007 4:24 pm

Matula wrote:Genders must be an Indo-European abnormality
Oh so true. Not. :roll:

-enk

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Karhunkoski
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Post by Karhunkoski » Mon Mar 12, 2007 4:40 pm

Ach, don't waste your breath enk. Most of Matulas' posts are either factually wrong or highly misleading and I can't recall a single time when the author returned to defend them when challenged.
Political correctness is the belief that it's possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

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Hank W.
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Post by Hank W. » Mon Mar 12, 2007 4:42 pm

The class usually labeled "feminine", for instance, includes the word for fire and nouns relating to fire, as well as all dangerous creatures and phenomena.

These guys are onto something...
Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.


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