soumi ??

[sammy]

so do you prefer to be called Suomi respectively ?

Erm, it's not that important - easy rule: if you talk in English, then say "Finland" or "Suomi", both are completely okay... but if you'd speak Finnish then to use "Finland" would not be impolite, it would just be somewhat strange... it's the same in Sweden for example... Swedish speakers would hardly ever say "Sweden", they'd say Sverige. Norway -> Norge (or Noreg - this particular difference escapes me at the mo)... or my fav, Hungary -> Magyar (Köztársaság) - and so on.

It's simply that "Finland" isn't a Finnish language word.

[Hank W.]

if anyone came to the US, and called it umm..... Birdland or something, I would really be shocked.

Estados Unidos?

[sammy]

thats just odd i guess, its like all the other countries in the world are calling your country Finland

Yes, almost all - isn't it Soomi or Soom in Estonian (Hank?) But that's because Estonian is a closely related language, physical proximity doesn't mean much in this regard. Probably Finn-something in Latvian, Lithuanian etc.

[Hank W.]

Well, the beloved children have many names... for example Deutschland is Germany, Allemagne or Saksa if you ask its neighbors.

[Hank W.]

Probably Finn-something in Latvian, Lithuanian etc.

Biedrība Latvija-Somija (Latvia-Suomi-seura)
Lietuvos ir Suomijos Draugija.

[sammy]

Probably Finn-something in Latvian, Lithuanian etc.

Biedrība Latvija-Somija (Latvia-Suomi-seura)
Lietuvos ir Suomijos Draugija.

Cripes! That was new to me. I stand corrected!

[Jukka Aho]

thats just odd i guess, its like all the other countries in the world are calling your country Finland basically

and you call it Suomi.

For the most part, that’s true... but see “Finland” in this table and you’ll find several variations of Suomi as well.

What that list reflects, I think, is the influence of foreign cartographers and their maps (and the names they chose to give to places and people) back in the ancient and medieval times. And, of course, the (lack of) political importance of the Finnish language during those times. Not to mention that the written form of Finnish – or indeed the idea of there being some greater merit to writing and reading Finnish – was not really established until the 16th century...

if anyone came to the US, and called it umm..... Birdland or something, I would really be shocked.

Well, prepare to be shocked...

so do you prefer to be called Suomi respectively ?

I think Finns, by and large, just take it for granted that we’re known by different names in different languages – thinking nothing of it. (After all, if you check out the “foreign names” for the other countries and nationalities in Wikipedia, that kind of plurality is not uncommon.)

If you’re concerned about the English word “fin” and the (possibly funny?) associations that it might create in relation to the words “Finn”, “Finland”, and “Finnish”... well... that’s more of a random “false friends” problem with the English language than a problem with the name itself. (Which, according to Wikipedia, comes from “finnr, a Germanic word for a wanderer/finder”.)

[Paul_D]

if anyone came to the US, and called it umm..... Birdland or something, I would really be shocked.

In Finland for a short visit, it's best to use the words "yes, no, please, sorry, Finland, Finnish" etc. You may even pronounce wrongly the first names and last names of people, it won't be an offense, it will be at worst a funny thing (like the way Conan O'Brien says "Tar-dja" instead of "Tar-ya", for the first name of the finnish president, Tarja Halonen). And Finns aren't the latin-type of person; if they are offended, they keep quite and even smiling, they won't punch you in the face impulsively or threaten you with a weapon, especially if it's just for a mis-pronounced word. Even if you mispronouce the first name "Vesa" into "vessa" (toilets, loo).

Trying to use Finnish, without knowing much of it, could cause funny misunderstandings, harder to defuse than a consistent use of English: Tapaan sinut huomenna (I will meet you tomorrow) should not be pronounced like Tapan sinut huomenna (I will kill you tomorrow). You will also get some weird look, if you say for instance koti (home) instead of kiitos (please/thanks), or antinski (the "ski" of Antti) instead of anteeksi (pardon me). Not to mention something like "I like your country, Suo is beautiful", because you would have remembered only the first half of the word "Suomi" (Finland), i.e. "suo" (swamp).

/Paul

[sammy]

For the most part, that’s true... but see “Finland” in this table and you’ll find several variations of Suomi as well.

Fionnlainn or Suòmaidh (Scots Gaelic)

On the other hand, it seems that our other linguistic relative (Hungarian) seems not to have the "Suomi" form but Finnország (for the original poster: Finnish and Estonian are much closer to each other than Finnish and Hungarian; the Suomi-forms of Latvian and Lithuanian are "strange" in the sense that those two languages come from the so-called Baltic languages, different from our Finno-Ugric language branch)

This was interesting, haven't checked these names before

[enk]

Yes, almost all - isn't it Soomi or Soom in Estonian (Hank?)

Soome. But the fun starts when you say it in Skolt Sámi: Lää'ddjânnam. \o/ Northern Sámi
is boring and uses Suopma. *sniff*

-enk

[sammy]

Soome. But the fun starts when you say it in Skolt Sámi: Lää'ddjânnam. \o/ Northern Sámi
is boring and uses Suopma. *sniff*

Hmm.. does this "Lää'ddjânnam" word have any hidden meaning, like "junantuomien valtakunta" or something even more horrible?

[interleukin]

shawn1980ma wrote:if anyone came to the US, and called it umm..... Birdland or something, I would really be shocked.

Where I come from we call the US "Bandaríkin". Shocked yet?

[rob34]

thats just odd i guess, its like all the other countries in the world are calling your country Finland basically

and you call it Suomi.


if anyone came to the US, and called it umm..... Birdland or something, I would really be shocked.

so do you prefer to be called Suomi respectively ?

soooooo meeee is that how it is pronounced, I learn something everyday, i might as well get this all right

I just wanna know my s**t if you know what i mean, when i visit

In Finnish it's pronounced "sue oh me" ... but the "sue oh" is really one syllable... kind of like the "ou" in "bought" is one syllable.

And I asked the girlfriend "do you consider Finland a proper moniker for suomi" and she said "no, not really".
Then I asked if she thought it would be weird if someone came to Finland and said "suomi" in an english conversation instead of saying "finland" and she said "yea".

Then she got tired from talking so much and went back to peeling potatoes.

[Deman]

if anyone came to the US, and called it umm..... Birdland or something, I would really be shocked.

shawn1980ma, it's "Amerikan Yhdysvallat" or normally just "Yhdysvallat". And please try not to be offended just because somebody is kind enough to answer your question.

Just a couple of other things to point out...

YES I ALREADY ESTABLISHED I HAD A TYPE- O

Caps are rude a indicate shouting and anger.

and what do you mean by YOU, your saying only us people in the US, call german duetch, thats what they call it not us....

so your being sarcastic in saying im not wrong...

im under the impression suomi (ues i meant with the u first)type-o
that its a word that the finns use....

Lack of punctuation makes messages unclear and can lead to confusion and can also be disrespectful to the recipient.

[enk]

Soome. But the fun starts when you say it in Skolt Sámi: Lää'ddjânnam. \o/ Northern Sámi
is boring and uses Suopma. *sniff*

Hmm.. does this "Lää'ddjânnam" word have any hidden meaning, like "junantuomien valtakunta" or something even more horrible?

AFAIK, it refers back to that lovely word the Sámi have for non-Sámi, especially Finns: lantalainen (that's the Finnish version for
those of you who don't know Finnish yet), so it'd be something like Lantalaisten maa.

-enk