Why does the superman outfit need the label "this cape does not enable the bearer to fly"?DMC wrote: Why tell people it is virtually impossible, that they only have a 1% chance, and claim that that is reality?
What is with this forum?!!!!!
This thread is starting to get a bit silly i think, the original poster hasn't even made an appearance for many a page.
One thing that does impress me is enk's Finnish, damn she is good! I really enjoy seeing how easily she writes quite complex stuff. If only i had that kind of grasp on the lingo...
Meikäläisen suomea on ihan vitun ruma, puhutaan niin huono laatu töissä että en oikein osaa semosta kirjakieltä olenkaan. No, ehkä kaikki muut puhuu hyvää suomea paitsi minä, joskus tuntuu että en ikinä pääse yli minun oma taso.
Mutta joo, onnea enk, loistava duuni!!
One thing that does impress me is enk's Finnish, damn she is good! I really enjoy seeing how easily she writes quite complex stuff. If only i had that kind of grasp on the lingo...

Meikäläisen suomea on ihan vitun ruma, puhutaan niin huono laatu töissä että en oikein osaa semosta kirjakieltä olenkaan. No, ehkä kaikki muut puhuu hyvää suomea paitsi minä, joskus tuntuu että en ikinä pääse yli minun oma taso.
Mutta joo, onnea enk, loistava duuni!!

OK....long posts...why don't I throw my opinions in too!!
In my view there are 2 types of foreign people who come to finland.
Group 1... qualified, get job before coming....everything arranged, pretty easy. This group lives in a bubble. If you lose your job, you realize how unreal your experience has been........often seen sipping tea in Kamp on company credit card
Group 2...come without work, with GF/BF, they struggle, they may learn language, may get work, these people tend to integrate or leave. In my view this group could make it anywhere.
Very few people from group 1 truly integrate. The company language is usually English, and so Finnish doesn't seem to get learned. (I am in this boat, although I am finally really starting)
One other (general) point, there is also a kind of invisible ceiling for foreigners..... you can only rise so high without Finnish...remember real work is done in the sauna...in Finnish.
I had a reality check recently, I went from one of 4 foreigners in a team, to being the only one. All of a sudden I am excluded from a lot.
My view is that its not impossible to make a life in Finland, but without Finnish, it is a very fragile existence.
In my view there are 2 types of foreign people who come to finland.
Group 1... qualified, get job before coming....everything arranged, pretty easy. This group lives in a bubble. If you lose your job, you realize how unreal your experience has been........often seen sipping tea in Kamp on company credit card

Group 2...come without work, with GF/BF, they struggle, they may learn language, may get work, these people tend to integrate or leave. In my view this group could make it anywhere.
Very few people from group 1 truly integrate. The company language is usually English, and so Finnish doesn't seem to get learned. (I am in this boat, although I am finally really starting)
One other (general) point, there is also a kind of invisible ceiling for foreigners..... you can only rise so high without Finnish...remember real work is done in the sauna...in Finnish.
I had a reality check recently, I went from one of 4 foreigners in a team, to being the only one. All of a sudden I am excluded from a lot.
My view is that its not impossible to make a life in Finland, but without Finnish, it is a very fragile existence.
- Hank W.
- The Motorhead
- Posts: 29973
- Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2002 10:00 pm
- Location: Mushroom Mountain
- Contact:
Last PubQuiz you'd been !"#¤% yourself with a couple of people off here yabberin offPete wrote: One thing that does impress me is enk's Finnish, damn she is good!

Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.
Yeah Pete, enk speaks great Finnish!!! I only hope that my Finnish will some day be as good as my homegirl from Chicago
Mä ymmärrän paljon suommea, muut puhun vähän. Puhun vain perusmuotto koska en muista kaikki sanoija
. Minun suomalainen kaveri haluaa puhuu kanssa vain englantia. Voi helevetti, did that even make sense? LOL, I know I can't spell in Finnish worth a damn, muut yritän 
And I agree, this thread IS silly. People shouldn't give advice based on what they "think" supposedly usually happens when someone emigrates to Finland. Everyone's story is different and I don't know what makes them experts on every single immigrant in Finland (especially anyone giving advice who doesn't even live here). I moved across the Atlantic when I was only 17 with just $500 to spare, have since lived in 3 Nordic countries, made a good living in a career that has enabled me to travel extensively throughout 5 of the 7 continents and I didn't even have a work permit or residence permit when I first arrived. I acquired everything after having a look around at the situation and deciding I wanted to stay. I'm not advising anyone to do this, I'm merely proving that there are some people who have come here with little preparation and made a good life for themselves. I now have a child and live in an expensive part of Helsinki just a few blocks from the center. Sure my life isn't perfect, but it wouldn't be ANYWHERE in the world. I've vented out some frustrations I have about certain aspects of living here, but that's just life no matter where in the world you live. Ups & downs, highs & lows, yins and yangs. Don't let anyone discourage you from doing anything you think you're capable of accomplishing. Some people ARE able to make things happen if they believe in their ability to do it. As Doctor Emmet Brown (
) once said, "If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything" and that has been the story of my life.

Mä ymmärrän paljon suommea, muut puhun vähän. Puhun vain perusmuotto koska en muista kaikki sanoija


And I agree, this thread IS silly. People shouldn't give advice based on what they "think" supposedly usually happens when someone emigrates to Finland. Everyone's story is different and I don't know what makes them experts on every single immigrant in Finland (especially anyone giving advice who doesn't even live here). I moved across the Atlantic when I was only 17 with just $500 to spare, have since lived in 3 Nordic countries, made a good living in a career that has enabled me to travel extensively throughout 5 of the 7 continents and I didn't even have a work permit or residence permit when I first arrived. I acquired everything after having a look around at the situation and deciding I wanted to stay. I'm not advising anyone to do this, I'm merely proving that there are some people who have come here with little preparation and made a good life for themselves. I now have a child and live in an expensive part of Helsinki just a few blocks from the center. Sure my life isn't perfect, but it wouldn't be ANYWHERE in the world. I've vented out some frustrations I have about certain aspects of living here, but that's just life no matter where in the world you live. Ups & downs, highs & lows, yins and yangs. Don't let anyone discourage you from doing anything you think you're capable of accomplishing. Some people ARE able to make things happen if they believe in their ability to do it. As Doctor Emmet Brown (

You know Hank, why do you always gotta be such a smart ass? enk is american too in case you didn't notice and there are plenty more here as well. I always appreciate your advice, but in this thread I just wanted to chime in with my own story which happened to contradict a lot of the advice that you & some others have given. Why can't you just handle that? You're not this way in person, so why must you always snap on here the second anyone contradicts anything you say? Relax...Hank W. wrote:Yes well Americans shouldn't use the word "think" as they lack the upper functions of the brain to start with![]()
You're free to give your advice based on your fluffy feeling of flying esoteric elephants.
Why is it that a small group of people on FF always want to instigate arguments with everyone?

- Hank W.
- The Motorhead
- Posts: 29973
- Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2002 10:00 pm
- Location: Mushroom Mountain
- Contact:
Sweet tapdancing jehovah, I thought the hippie infestation in the attic was bad enough, but now you say I've got a drum circle in my back yard? Darn, next thing I'll know theres a mormon in my kitchen!ScubaGirl wrote: enk is american too in case you didn't notice and there are plenty more here as well.
Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.
kiitos, mutta tarvitsen sanoa se ei ole oikesti totta.Hank W. wrote:BTW Richard up there ain't bad speaking either once the blue moon one sees him.
Olen aika ylpea etta Mä voin puhu jotain, mutta normalasesti se on niin etta
se on roska mutta ymarrtava

(Disclaimer: I studied Finnish hard for 6 months then everything else has
come in the 5 years since by osmosis, so whilst my verbal skills recognise
¨'s and double consanents, my writing skills are way behind)
I always thought that I was talking in English and that my wine was talking suomen kieli!! se ole lintu, se ole lentokone.....ei se somen super-mies!!Hank W. wrote:It is by far worse if the content is rubbish, despite how eloquently it is put.
(I remember some people speaking quite fluently, I think it requires some Laphroaig to achieve the abessiivi )



but your pronunciation was impressive...Richard wrote:kiitos, mutta tarvitsen sanoa se ei ole oikesti totta.Hank W. wrote:BTW Richard up there ain't bad speaking either once the blue moon one sees him.
Olen aika ylpea etta Mä voin puhu jotain, mutta normalasesti se on niin etta
se on roska mutta ymarrtava
(Disclaimer: I studied Finnish hard for 6 months then everything else has
come in the 5 years since by osmosis, so whilst my verbal skills recognise
¨'s and double consanents, my writing skills are way behind)
Get in there...