How long does it take to learn the Finnish language?

[Hank W.]

piña = conifer

so something resembling a conifer cone...

logical.

As potato is 'jordapfel' - "earth apple" and then there is 'adams apple' - people either use a loaned "exotic" word like "leijona" or then make their own "jalopeura". So what is a "noble deer" if not a lion?

How about "kameelikurki" or "kameleopardi"? Figure out sikanauta and kalakukko then, eh Aubergines and eggplants...

And remember not to forget...

The Portugese, despite their unintelligible language, are the first ones to have "been to places".

Hence in Japanese you drink arkooru from a biidoru... alcool (alcohol) from a vidro (vial, glass) and your chokki (jacquet=vest) of biroodo (veludo=velvet) is fastened with botan (botaõ)... and if you start tracing back you are in for a surprise. Tempura is not a "Japanese" dish is it?:twisted:

[Københavner]

BTW Köpenhamnare, you remember that Swedish picture from the 1600's which has the Swedish language originating from the bible and being the source of all languages

Uh no, but thanks for sharing!

As for getting back on topic, I'm glad the majority voted for 2+ years, it makes me feel a bit better about how slow I am with the language.

[Hank W.]

Ah, its probably from Georg Stjärnhem (Stiernhiem) who had this Gothic theory.

[Rob A.]

Ah, its probably from Georg Stjärnhem (Stiernhiem) who had this Gothic theory.

Thanks for the "heads up"... another interesting historic personality I hadn't heard of...my "limited" North American education, you know...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Stiernhielm

"George Starhelmet"...according to wikipedia, an assumed name once he became part of the Swedish nobility...but he seems to have been a well-accomplished "man-of-his-time"...

Interesting theories... the "Gothic Theory"... and not so far-fetched with the limited knowledge of the day... "Gothic" while, maybe, not the "common denominator" for all Germanic languages was certainly a forerunner of Germanic languages, in general... And, of course, it "influenced" Finnish... you know, "kuningas" and "äiti"... Thus, someone "grabbing the wrong end of the stick", and with limited information could even conclude Finnish had Germanic roots if they really wanted to support their "pet theory"...

Also discussed was his theory with the wonderful Latin name..."Vagina gentium"... that humanity originated in the Nordic countries... Ah well, it's always the same, isn't it?? In the absence of overwhelming evidence, people like to think they are at the centre of the universe...

[Hank W.]

I didn't remember the guys name, I remembered just the era, beginning of "enlightenment" when the Nordic scientists made all kinds of... well... advancements remembering Sweden was still trying to being a superpower so you need super-history. Not saying all the scientist had goofball theories, but in his time say Tycho Brahe was probably better known for his astrology than his astronomy work.

[Hare]

Exercise 1: Kun metsä oli kaskettu ja nauriit istutettu, istuivat metsäsuomalaiset kivelle ja nauttivat mehukkaat mäntyomenat.