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I'm an American who's been living in Finland for six years (damn!). I started this blog to address some of the political, cultural, and current event issues in Finland and the United States.

...but mostly what you'll find here is: Finnish and American stereotypes, Funny YouTube videos about Finland, rants about our high taxes and low salaries, and [not-so] comedic differences between Finns and Americans. Enjoy! :-)

13.11.2009

Proof that Finnish is way harder than English

Tags: Finnish Culture & People, Trying to be Funny — Author: Phil @ 4:57 pm

Here’s a sign at an entrance to the Finnish restaurant, “Rosso” (think TGIF Fridays). The *exact* same thing is written in both Finnish and English. Which language would you rather speak??

proof_finnish_is_hard

Comments (22)

22 Comments »

Finnish.

Comment by hmies — Fri, Nov 13th, 2009 @ 5:58 pm
Well, the English doesn’t even make much sense.

Comment by Bobby — Fri, Nov 13th, 2009 @ 6:15 pm
The content isn’t even the same.

Btw, who goes to Rosso? It’s a place for white trash.

Comment by EU Civil Servant — Fri, Nov 13th, 2009 @ 7:41 pm
“Be so kind as to step in further, you may freely choose your table”

- I think the Finnish *exact* same thing is’t that much longer. However there really isn’t a really short shorter version.

Comment by Hank W. — Fri, Nov 13th, 2009 @ 8:17 pm
I wouldn’t say that’s “the exact same thing” in both languages. For example “ja käykää peremmälle” doesn’t exist in the english version at all nor is it necessary addition in the finnish version.

In finnish “the exact same thing” would be: “Olkaa hyvä, vapaa istumajärjestys”. “please/olkaa hyvä” is totally unnecessary though.

In the original finnish version the part of “please” makes more sense. In Finnish it says exactly this: “Please step in, you are free to choose table”

Comment by S.Y — Fri, Nov 13th, 2009 @ 9:45 pm
Btw, who goes to Rosso? It’s a place for white trash.

I’m white trash.

Comment by Phil — Sat, Nov 14th, 2009 @ 1:29 pm
We knew that

Comment by Anonymous — Sat, Nov 14th, 2009 @ 5:44 pm
Only a lazy twat who hasn’t bothered to actually study Finnish would conclude these mean the *exact* same thing.

Comment by fistfightingliberace — Sat, Nov 14th, 2009 @ 10:06 pm
I’ve tried to learn a few words a phrases..my pronunciation is fairly good. (I think).

Yay White Trash!!!! You know I wear my pajama bottoms to the grocery store

Comment by Larjmarj — Sun, Nov 15th, 2009 @ 4:22 am
Only a lazy twat who hasn’t bothered to actually study Finnish would conclude these mean the *exact* same thing.

Only a complete retard would not know I’m joking around.

Comment by Phil — Sun, Nov 15th, 2009 @ 10:16 pm
I am retarded. Shortbus IT Consultant lmao

Comment by Andreas — Mon, Nov 16th, 2009 @ 10:50 am
Perkele!!!

Comment by Andreas — Mon, Nov 16th, 2009 @ 10:51 am
The content in the two sentences OBVIOUSLY isnt the same; the finnish one is a welcome, while the english sentence simply offers chairs free of charge for those in need.

Comment by Olli — Mon, Nov 16th, 2009 @ 2:36 pm
The Finnish is more polite. Who would’ve guessed.

Comment by sepisp — Mon, Nov 16th, 2009 @ 7:05 pm
Well…and nobody pointed out that the English is rather unbearably comic. Generally, in a restaurant (in the US) you will find one of two variations on this theme – 1) Please wait (for (a) hostesss) to be seated or 2) Please seat yourself. The former being /far/ and away the more common sign as seating yourself is generally assumed unless otherwise told or the context gives you doubt, e.g. nice restaurant with maître d’.

“Free seating” in English implies that the chairs are there for the taking It’s one of those situations where English shows the non-native speakers the depth of their skill and/or lack thereof since ‘free’ can be used in the same context, ala ‘take any free seat’, and while natives will know what you mean without stealing the chairs for the comic value of it, it wouldn’t be used as ‘Please, free seating.’

The Finnish in the same sign is rather formal mouthful of dots and double letters though.

Comment by hfb — Tue, Nov 17th, 2009 @ 3:05 pm
“Please, free seating” asks me to grab loiterers and malingerers and yank them out of their chairs so my group can sit down and generate revenue

Comment by v.i.lenin — Tue, Nov 17th, 2009 @ 4:21 pm
v.i.lenin…not entirely as the comma makes all the difference, e.g.

“Please free seating” (imperative voice indicating a hun will be along shortly to separate you from your chair)

vs.

“Please, free seating” (not sure the exact terminology but changes the ‘free’ from a verb to an adjective.)

Comment by hfb — Tue, Nov 17th, 2009 @ 9:44 pm
Olkaa hyvä, valitkaa pöytänne. <- exactly the same and only one more word.

Comment by Kekkuli — Sat, Nov 21st, 2009 @ 12:56 pm
Only a failed comedian would leave a smiley at the end of a heckle.

Comment by fistfightingliberace — Fri, Nov 27th, 2009 @ 3:18 pm
Just becuase finnish does not have the word please its harder?

Comment by Nick — Mon, Nov 30th, 2009 @ 4:49 am
The lack of the word “please” does make it harder. However, nowadays you can say “pliis”.

Comment by Sirkuspelle — Sat, Dec 5th, 2009 @ 11:29 am
Either way seems that Finland is the best country to live, I still am willing to go there.

Comment by May — Tue, Dec 22nd, 2009 @ 3:03 am