Arkea Suomessa -videomateriaali

[Jukka Aho]

Suomen Pakolaisapu (Finnish Refugee Council) has recently published a series of “how to” videos that present everyday living situations in Finland:

• Arkea Suomessa -videomateriaali

The videos seem to be primarily aimed at people arriving here from developing countries and having little experience with using electric stoves and similar modern amenities. Therefore, the subject matter may appear a bit funny to a westerner. They’re narrated slowly in Finnish, though, so maybe there’s some interest for a Finnish-learner to watch them through.

[Jukka Aho]

After listening to those narrations a little bit I’m not sure if I’m going to recommend them for Finnish-learners any longer. The narrator sounds like a native speaker (albeit with a somewhat creaky voice) but pronounces some words rather strangely, disregarding the difference between single (short) and double (long) consonants. Some examples:

1. “Jääkaapissa ei pala valo. Lamppu taitaa olla palannut.”
2. “Voit laittaa pyyhkeitä keräämään sulanneita vesiä.”
3. “Kun pakastinlokeron jäät ovat sulanneet, voi jääkaapin ja pakastinlokeron pyyhkiä rätillä.”

And I wouldn’t call it a pakastinlokero, either...

[Jukka Aho]

Here’s Iltalehti’s take on the subject... they also provide a link to further material (downloadable PDF files) concerning living and housing customs in Finland. Some of it has been translated to English, too.

[mrjimsfc]

And I wouldn’t call it a pakastinlokero, either...

Why not? Is it just a question of semantics? What word would you use?

[Jukka Aho]

And I wouldn’t call it a pakastinlokero, either...

What word would you use?

Well, if you click the provided link in the piece of text you quoted above...

Why not? Is it just a question of semantics?

Why not? Damned if I know. ;) Pakastelokero is just a more common term for that. (pakaste = a frozen food product, lokero = a storage box with a door, or an open storage compartment [a pigeonhole]; pakastelokero = a separate, colder storage compartment for frozen food products, inside your normal fridge.) A question of convention I guess. “Ventilation” could be commonly called “air circulation” as well – as in “I’m going to air circulate my room” – but it’s not that common, even though the latter would be a more descriptive term.

[priki]

After listening to those narrations a little bit I’m not sure if I’m going to recommend them for Finnish-learners any longer. The narrator sounds like a native speaker (albeit with a somewhat creaky voice) but pronounces some words rather strangely, disregarding the difference between single (short) and double (long) consonants. Some examples:

1. “Jääkaapissa ei pala valo. Lamppu taitaa olla palannut.”
2. “Voit laittaa pyyhkeitä keräämään sulanneita vesiä.”
3. “Kun pakastinlokeron jäät ovat sulanneet, voi jääkaapin ja pakastinlokeron pyyhkiä rätillä.”

And I wouldn’t call it a pakastinlokero, either...

That sounds terribly same than the annoying winter sports tv-commentator. I cannot remember all the words he is using, but for some odd reason he is doubling n:s all the time. Someone is 'kaatunnut', etc

[Jukka Aho]

That sounds terribly same than the annoying winter sports tv-commentator. I cannot remember all the words he is using, but for some odd reason he is doubling n:s all the time. :x Someone is 'kaatunnut', etc

It is rather obvious this is a dialectal thing but as the narrator does not seem to feature any other dialectal quirks in his speech, I can’t put my finger on what that dialect might be... (Of course, narrators on instructional videos or sports commentators on TV generally try to speak a dialect-neutral form of language.)