Pursuivant - Yes, actually. ::cough:: I've heard that quite a lot about that particular degree. Though I think it's rather silly to study any degree in English, anyway, because then you have to relearn everything in Finnish as well as just
learn Finnish in general (instead of learning Finnish better
while you study
in Finnish), and by the time you can actually speak well enough to get a job, you've had a couple years between school and work to forget everything you learned! At least that's how I was thinking about it when I made the decision.. plus, I had no interest in international business. xD
Rob - Well I didn't even want to go to a grocery store at first alone because I was so scared that there would be some problem and I wouldn't be able to communicate with anyone there. And after my first Finnish language course, it was suggested to me to get a harjoittelu place, but I sat on my butt the whole summer mainly because I thought that: why would anyone want
me as a harjoittelija? I thought they would just be annoyed having to try to communicate with me and I'd be more trouble than I was worth (okay, it's not like I didn't want a summer vacation, too, but that was just a plus that came with my fear). I felt like if I was doing free work, I'd be imposing on them somehow and just be a big annoyance. It may have been true, too, but it sure didn't help me any. I've since discovered that I learn a lot more a lot faster when I'm put/put myself into really uncomfortable situations where I'm forced to try to do things out of my comfort zone.
And you have to remember, too, that the guy behind the counter at the train station does get
paid to help people, no matter if they are still learning the language (and yeah, sounds like he was having a bad day in general
). Not saying you should
purposefully cause people trouble, but I, at least, have found that in the past even when I spoke very little very broken Finnish, people were relieved to listen to that instead of having to try their English on me. xD Plus, at least it shows you're
trying, rather than just assuming that you should be able to get by on English and don't need to learn the native language. I think most people, especially in Finland, can respect that (because I've gotten the impression at least from Finns, that they meet a lot of people who don't).
Oh, and that reminds me. I have a story like that, too. I was in a cute little flower shop just a few weeks ago, and I first said I wanted two of the same type, but then I said actually no, I want one of this and just one of those. The woman took two of the same one anyway, as well as the third. She said something about "let's see how these look," so I thought maybe she was just wanting to choose the better of the two, since she had been rifling through them looking for the two best in the first place. I wasn't sure, so I reminded her at the desk that I just wanted one of those. When she started wrapping the other one up, too, I tried to tell her again, but she didn't seem to react until her work partner said it to her. I felt pretty bad, especially since I had changed my mind after first asking for two of those.
I don't know if I was really speaking that poorly, or if she just didn't realize what I meant, but at least she hadn't totally finished wrapping it by the time she understood.
I'm also working now at a daycare as a harjoittelija for the summer, and there is one little girl there who, when I have to ask what she said because I didn't understand her the first time, gets this really annoyed looking face and yells it loudly like I am hard of hearing.
Most of them don't mind, though. I get my speech corrected by 5-year-olds, which is actually really good practice (especially for puhekieli!).
