Finnish and Japanese

[masao]

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. Still, I remember the teacher very well in my dreams. Maybe she was my first love.

t, masao

[Kyoko]

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 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....

[EP]

I have a Finn friend head-over-heals taken by sumo

Does he have a body that goes with it?

[Kyoko]

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]

Oh dear, this topic felt so interesting that I had to register

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]

I am new here!
Interesting site and topic!

[Dixie]

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.

[Mies Belgiasta]

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!!

[Bonnie0022]

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

[KuljinKauas]

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

[Rob A.]

[Matula]

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!!

Genders must be an Indo-European abnormality. Just like the verb "have".

[enk]

Genders must be an Indo-European abnormality

Oh so true. Not.

-enk

[Karhunkoski]

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.

[Hank W.]

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...