10+ SURPRISING FACTS • LIFE IN FINLAND • CULTURE SHOCKS, etc. Want to visit Finland (Helsinki, Vaasa, etc.)? Here are some things you should know! An American reacts to Finnish culture, lifestyle, transportation, food, language, etc.
Best tip for pronouncing the Finnish Ä: it's just like the a in the English word "man". Practice that vowel, especially extending it (maaan, remove m and n) without any kind of bending or flair. I almost never hear a foreigner get it right, instead they just pronounce it like we pronounce A.
the stadi slang is hard to understand to finnish too i live in northern finland and i dont get half the stuff they monger down in helsinki... then again we too have our own sort of slang here in lapland rovaniemi
I once heard a definition for Sisu: When a Finn comes to a door that says push, he stares at the text and as a typical Finn, he starts to pull it... and he pulls the door until it opens. Though people in Finland are very law-abiding, they don't like others saying what they have to do.
That's a super funny one :D Never heard that before. Not far off from "Sisulla läpi harmaan kiven" - through grey rock with sisu, literally. Some alternative versions around from that too.
Well .. "Mun mummoni muni mun mammani, mun mammani muni mut" LITERALLY translates to "my grandmother laid an egg which was my mother who laid an egg that was me" but since in Finnish the "laying of an egg (muni)" can be translated as giving birth, the frase means "My grandmother gave birth to my mother who gave birth to me". :)
Reason why the sodas taste better is (I think) that we use sugar, not corn-melassis(?). - corn melassis is cheaper than sugar, that's why corporations use it in the USA.
I think the stadi language thing is true for a lot of southern Finland, with some extra which is true stadi like umbrella, sateenvarjo or in stadi soutsa. The younger generation use a quite a bit of english words turned finnish like "that is the most cool thing" "toi on koolein juttu" - notice the "ein" ending which is "the most" equavllient in finnish grammar. I wouldn't necessarily say finnish people are shy, I think reserved describes better.
