American REACTS to Finnish history, culture, language + food | Educational vlog on Finland 

If you ask a Finn how they are, you shoud not be amazed if they actually starts to tell you how they are. Small talk is not really a thing in here and you don't ask from people how they are unless you actually want to hear what is going on in their life. They might answer to you fine, what is the normal answer to that in States but they can also start to tell you their life story. Just a thing I think you should know.

He seems so genuinely fascinated by our small northern country while he's explaining, it's so nice to see.

Finland did actually turn to the western allies during the winter war and was met with sympathy, but no real aid ever arrived despite UK and France promising to help Finland with the fight (which was also later revealed to have been just an excuse for sending troops to Norway to secure the mines there, claiming they're on their way to help Finland). Sweden also officially decided not to interfere, though a lot of swedish volunteers arrived in Finland and joined the fight. Germany wasn't an option for the simple reason that they had a non-aggression pact with the USSR at the time. After losing the winter war, Finland started preparing for another war to reclaim the lost territory and now since Germany was at war with USSR, Finland agreed to fight alongside with the germans, though without officially joining the axis. This time in this Continuation War in 1941 Finland in turn went on the offensive and advanced beyond the old border all the way to the shores of lake Onega and river Sver, where they stopped the advance and the war turned into trench warfare. It wouldn't be until 1944 that the USSR would launch their offensive against Finland, which pushed the finns back. Again USSR tried to break through the defences but failed once again, though this time Finland was a lesser priority than Germany, so USSR left it at that and accepted the peace proposed by Finland against Germany's wishes, Finland losing the war once again, now losing even more territory than previously during the winter war. In the peace treaty USSR demanded that Finland gets rid of the remaining german forces on finnish territory (mostly in Lapland in the north) and since the germans felt betrayed, they wouldn't leave without a fight. This resulted in the Lapland war in which the finns fought against the germans, pushing them out of finnish lapland into Norway, while the germans would burn down everything they could as they retreated, including the city of Rovaniemi. Finland's part in WW2 ended on 27th of april 1945, when the last remaining german troops crossed the border into Norway. This is now the finnish veterans' day. Finland was left with the war reparations of equivalent to roughly US$5.34 billion in today's money to the Soviet Union, which Finland had paid off by the end of 1954, though the amount Finland had to pay had been halved by then.

Just a "minor" correction" at 3:34 - Russia was 50 times the size of Finland population-wise, not 10 times (like you, maybe inadvertently mentioned). Overall, 1,4 million Soviet troops took part in the Winter War, although at the same time the greatest number of men attacking was One million - but Finland's entire population was 3.8 million. And besides, it was the superioririty of armour, tanks, heavy artillery, total air superiority etc that mattered more, so it was indeed rather unbelievable that the attack was stopped.

Our history is more than just being under swedish and russian rule, we have the oldest cultural, linguistical and most importantly genetical family line in all of europe, the findings from finnish soil go back to atleast 10.5 thousand years, the Antrea fishing net is the oldest in history, dating back to 8500 bc found in finnish karelia in the early 1900s (a 27 meter net with complicated mathematical knots, which possibly couldve served a double purpose as a mathematical book, making it easy to visualise bigger sums besides just in fishing seals and big fish), also tens of temples resembling Stonehenge but thousands of years older called ”Jätinkirkot” (Churches of the giants), thousands of premieval and medieval swords, some said to be the most beautiful in the world and of completely finnish origin (but still they say ancient finns didnt have the ability to make swords and were only primitive forest people), and so much more, i could go on forever, the role of finno-ugric tribes in european history is literally one of the most overlooked things in world history, the amount of remarks about the people of the north is literally unbelievable (in over 20 civilizations) and cant be a coincidence, i suggest every finnish or any person interested in finland to read this, a blog on ancient finnish history, its in a disorderly fashion but still interesting: finnsanity.blogspot.com/2016/06/suomen-muinaishistoria-on-euroopan.html?m=1

It was not because of a miracle that Finland stayed independent, it´s thanks to our grandparents and the SISU of the finnish people that we prevailed.

You have the makings of a linguist AND a historian. I'm impressed by the effort you've made to understand our culture and language. And this praise comes from an inveterate atheist. Peace.

Finland gained independence 1917.

Incredible! The way you actually learned the history and the language. I don't know how long you lived in Finland but you don't look that old to have lived here long enough to speak so well :) What you said is true: No need to worry about the endings that much. You'll be understood. Also, you can just switch to English :)

I have to congratulate you about the quality of your vowels. Seldom have I heard an American say e.g. 'y' in the Finnish way as well as you.

You got excellent Finnish there, well done 💪

This video made my day. Thanks for the smiles. ❤️ 🤗

Thanks! Good introduction to Finnish history and lifestyle. Maybe you should cover somewhat of the civil war 1918. At least that it took place in our history.

Country build in 100 years to the one of the first world countries :]

You know more about Finland than most Finns

Fantastic video. Thank you!

So great Finnish! Always amazed to hear LDS Finnish!

Hello. I much enjoyed your video about Finland. You sure speak the language well. My husband has tries to learn it but since he don't hear it much he keeps forgetting. I miss many Finnish foods very much...like leipa, fish, fish egg paste, maksalaatikko, mammi, pizza and so many many things. I'm from Tornio and also lived in Turku 💗 Thanks 👍😀👋

Does your milk and bread really last many weeks as eatable in the US? 😮 9:53 P.S. You speak Finnish really well and your pronouncation is great!

Herra, suomenkielen taitosi on hämmästyttävän hyvä!👍🏽🇫🇮

Where do such smart young people come from? Amazing videos.

You can get root beer actually. But usually only from the biggest supermarkets.

We do eat Reindeers ,bears and all other game animals, mostly what you get during hunting seasons. If you haven´t already, you really need to try Carelian stew :)

I love finnish! I love having no prepositions! It's the only thing you really have to learn a bit. everything else Is way easier than in other languages IMO :) I also love the simplicity that always the first vowel is pronounced ^^ Very intelligent video, great job!

I worked at Kokkola for some time, in a store. Sometimes customers did'nt speak finnish. Understood though, they spoke swedish I spoke finnish. All went well.

Hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää!

Finland declared its independence on 6 December 1917

And When you learn Finnish you probably have learned Finnish the normal way but there are like a gazillion dialects for every province and for a foreigner it might sound like an exact different language.

Take a bowl of Mämmi (rye pudding). Pour milk on it until it's almost covered. Now pour a little bit of cream, just to make the milk change color. Enjoy! The best thing there is! You're welcome.

When you ask "mitä kuuluu" from Finn, you should notice that we don't do small talk at all. You probably would get really short answer, or really long. Finns does not like to talk without reason (small talk is usually quite pointless). When you ask something, you should prepare to get reply and you should also listen when someone replies to you. So ask something, only if you really mean it.

Sometimes in the winter I just keep cursing the cold ant the darkness here. And the f*cking peruna (potatoes) in every single food. But, when i get sick, healthcare is almost free, I've spoken english since i was 10 and educationsystem is awesome, you learn to think by yorself, not for the tests, we have public beaches by the lakes which are pretty well managed (are they common in other countries?), air is clean and fresh, we have reliable police, stable government (even though we fight ẃith it all the time, but you can not get better eithout critisism), we have free press, as a metalhead i think we have the best metalmusic in the world, most independent judicial system in the world, country is safe, the food is cleanest in EU apart from my hate towards potatoes, if you want to make a blueberrypie you can get those berries from the nearest forrest, etc. Then, when i go to soldier's graves, and holy hell the feeling of respect and gratitude i get, how our grandparents fought for the land to grow these potatoes. Ofcourse we have some serious PTSD as a country, and our behaviour and identity comes from it. I guess it will get easier as the generations pass by. But you can not blame us for it, being the emo-kid in the skandinavian family of countries. All my great-uncles fought in the winterwar, and i coulsdsee it my late grandfther eyes, and in my grandmothers behaviour when i say anything about wars, afterall she was there, under white sheets (blends you into the snow so aircraft wont see you) running from her home to the bomb shelter). My grandfather keps a gun in the house until he died. My foreing friends might be confused when some of the badasses start sobbing in our indepenceday, but when you know our history, you dont question it. Thank you for sharing our potatoes and fish, so the world knows also, that we are pretty awesome!

Kiva video.

did you mention sauna?

Next time try the "raw" smoked salmon on bread, with creme fraiche and some lemon, then tell me again what you think about it :D I normally dont like fish either

Holy shit. That "ruisleipä" pronounciation was so on point.

One thing people forget to mention is that finnish products are generally very safe! Especially food products. They have really strict regulations and rules and they make sure that everyone follows the rules. So even streetfood is very safe and you do not have to worry that it would upset your stomach or that you would get any disease. Generally you can trust finnish products pretty much blindly.

I’m living in Kristinestad (Kristiinankaupunki) and we are more Swedish talking Finns here😂😁

"Hauska tappaa" means "Fun to kill". "Hauska tapa" means "Fun habit". "Hauska tappara" means "Fun battle axe". Be careful out there.

Kokkola or Kokkeslbyy... Coccola means "a hug" in italian.

I live in kokkola and i speak mostly Swedish.

🤗💚🙋‍♂️

Mitä kuuluu? - what do you hear? Can you hear me? - Kannussa sinä täällä minä Sunglasses - poikaluokkia To be or not to be - ampiaiselle vai ei God only knows - Jumalan ainoa nenä I have been there - minulla on papu siellä Give me a break - anna minulle jarru Just in case - vain salkussa I'm going to make you mine - menen tekemään sinulle kaivoksen a notebook - nuottikirja We are the champions - Olemme herkkusieniä Nice to meet you - mukava liha sinä I'm a huge fan of yours! - Olen valtava tuulettimesi a watchtower - rannekellotorni reinforcement - sadepakote

I think sisu means perseverance in english

Don't worry i'm not good at speaking Finnish either even when i am from Finland😂😂

Ole hyvä can sound impolite, at least to me. It sounds aggressive. Kiitos is much more polite. ”Istu, kiitos” sounds much ”softer” than ”Istu, ole hyvä”. Ole hyvä is kind of like ”you’re welcome” or ”there you go”. So you’d use it if someone says thank you or if you are giving something to someone.

China didn't become a part of the Soviet Union either. Also winter in Finland is awesome.

Mitä kuuluu ? The Rumor goes when Mr Bell founded TELEPHONE - He asked MITÄ KUULUU ? KUULO / KUULUA - are different ! Are You hearing Me - Mitä kuuluu ?

I live in kokkola and i hate when i cant get job because my swedish is so bad

1. We did no lost or win The war. We just kept ar independence. 2. We payed war debts to Russia not USA.

And not many great amount of people didnt speak swedish in Finland even when it was part of the great Swedish empire.

Mitä kuuluu = What's up moon bone.

Silli is good

Best RAINDEER! :D It's really like Brits' beeing horrified about horse meat.. IT'S SO GOOD! ;D Just eat it.. It's not dog, it's not cat.. It's horse and raindeer.. MMMmmm-GOOD! :D

Saunanan takana on tilaa.. jokke

Finland's ranking is dropping at a breakneck pace. Education had been independent in schools. Now Politicians and this senior officials make themselves important and, in their own opinion now, “invent” good new methods and projects to make the system more efficient. The teaching is now mixed up. The ranking will drop drastically.

Suomi mainittu. TORILLE!

Again, only comments from Finns :)

YOU CAN GOOGLE ITS TRUE, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Yeah, as a vegan, I won't be trying many of these things!

Are you serious that you like mämmi? Personally I hate mämmi and I'm glad I don't need to eat it anymore. hehe

Finland became independent country in sixsth of the december 1917 and that is the end of it!!!!!!!!

"God protected Finland" Amen!

finland is a country of socialist oligarchy. everyone should understand that.

Swedish is dying language in Finland.