Hauska tarina

[Pinelopi]

Hi to all,
I am learning finnish and i have to write a funny story for my school. The story is about foreigns making mistakes and understanding different things in finnish. I personally dont have any funny story to write about. Can anyone share something funny that happened to him when he came to Finland?

Thanx in advance

[Pursuivant]

Mormonilähetyssaarnaaja meni parturiin. " Saisinko ympärileikkauksen".
round cut vs. circumcision

[tuulen]

...The story is about foreigns making mistakes and understanding different things in finnish...

I am a native English speaker and am now learning Finnish. The fun in learning Finnish is that when I think I understand how to say or write something I then often discover that I have made a mistake. Oops! Then, I try to make every mistake I make into a lesson, so that I will not make that same mistake again. And, having a sense of humor about my ability to make mistakes helps to make learning Finnish easier!

[Bavarian]

I once saw an article in the food section of one of the Finnish newspaper sites about pasha, and thought it said paska.

[jamie_designer]

Two similar stories come to my mind, both having to do with vocabulary.

1. A foreign friend of mine wrote out a whole bunch of Christmas cards and sent them off to teachers, friends and family. On every card my friend had wanted to write was:
Toivon että, tapaan sinut tänä jouluna. Basically I hope, that we can see (meet up with) you at Christmas.

What my friend actually wrote:
"Hauskaa Joulua! Toivon että, minä tapan sinut tänä jouluna." Merry Christmas I hope that I kill you this Christmas.

2. Different friend was working at a winery owned by a well known Finnish person and he was recollecting about his weeks of employment there, when another friend asked did you get a chance to see "him" referring to this well known Finn when you were working there. To which my friend replied.

Minä nain häntä viinikellarissa pari kerta.

I'll leave you to do that translation.

[Rob A.]

Two similar stories come to my mind, both having to do with vocabulary.

1. A foreign friend of mine wrote out a whole bunch of Christmas cards and sent them off to teachers, friends and family. On every card my friend had wanted to write was:
Toivon että, tapaan sinut tänä jouluna. Basically I hope, that we can see (meet up with) you at Christmas.

What my friend actually wrote:
"Hauskaa Joulua! Toivon että, minä tapan sinut tänä jouluna." Merry Christmas I hope that I kill you this Christmas.

2. Different friend was working at a winery owned by a well known Finnish person and he was recollecting about his weeks of employment there, when another friend asked did you get a chance to see "him" referring to this well known Finn when you were working there. To which my friend replied.

Minä nain häntä viinikellarissa pari kerta.

I'll leave you to do that translation.

Yeah....the "pitfalls" when learning Finnish.....and not only do you have to get the spelling exactly right...which apparently is dead easy for native speakers, you also have to pronounce the words EXACTLY right, or you won't be understood....and the native speakers don't seem to have any sense of humour about this stuff either... There is simply no room for any sloppy drawls as in English...

[AldenG]

A Finnish woman doesn't want to admit Mormon missionaries to her apartment while she's there alone.

They aim to ask, as near as she can figure out, "Saammeko tulla myöhemmin tapaamaan Teitä miehenne kanssa?" May we come later to visit you together with your husband?

Instead they say, "Sammakko tulee myöhemmin tappamaan Teidän miehenne kanssa." More or less, "A frog will come kill your husband, too."

I'm not very familiar with Mormon mythology, but I wonder were they talking about the giant salamander who revealed the golden tablets to Joseph Smith? I always wondered what would happen if I refused to answer the door.

It's a true story. Really. Word for word. I knew a guy who knew a friend of the actual woman.

[paddyharper]

One of my mistakes was in a restaurant with my wife very soon after moving to Finland. I wanted to ask the waitress for a cup so what I should have said was: "Haluaisin kuppi". What I actually said was "Haluaisin kuppa". I'll let you google for the meaning of 'kuppa'.

Now I always ask for a juomalasi just in case I get them mixed up again

[Upphew]

kuppi is for coffee, juomalasi is for water