Funny Things Finns Do | American talks about Finnish people, culture, language, etc 

The Finns switch to English because they do not want to bother you to speak this old difficult language. So they just want to be polite. Not bothering other people is very Finnish.

Other people: "Talk to the hand." Finns: "Do not talk to my hand. Or me."

Your Finnish is impressive! I Really liked the video.

one good filler is "ööööööö"

Your finnish is super good! And we mostly switch to English just so non-finnish speakers don't have to bother with our language because it truly can be difficult! 😁 I promise we're not trying to be rude or condescending!

Like somebody already commented, people switching into English has more to do with not bothering the other person than anything else. And that is why people give you what you call "the Finnish hand". It is to politely to tell you that the person wishes currently to be left alone. (Especially since in all the bigger cities have people stopping you to tell you about some charity or business and many people are quite fed up with that. So stopping people on the street might not work for that reason.) The part about the filler words is an interesting observation. But a small correction: the word you pointed out "tota" / "tota-noin", is not the same word than 'totta' (the partitive of tosi, "true") even though they might sound the same. 'Tota' is actually a shortened form from the word 'tuota', (from the pronomine 'tuo', meaning "that"). It is just indicating that the person is thinking the thing through at the same time she or he is talking to you.

"We'll call him Mikko." It's not me but I felt immediately called out.

Its not condecending. Its for you. Because we have been learning english for many years in school. So we try to be nice and switch to the language we think you are more comfortable to talk.

No matter who you're or what you're selling, the "Finnish hand" is and should be the universal sign for go bother someone else

I'm glad it wasn't "olen paksuna" because that means "I'm pregnant."

When living in a country with dark seasons, it makes you appreciate the sunny days of summer all the more.. If it's almost always sunny, it's just another day among days.

It's "tota", not "totta". Tota is short version of "tuota", which means kinda like "uh... Well..." in that situation.

Dude, your Finnish is just amazing, congrats! You seem like the type of person who can be dropped anywhere in the world and you would do well. A sign of intelligence and the right attitude. Keep up the good work!

In spoken Finnish "tota noin" is the shortened tuota noin = "sort of" (In written language "tuota" is a whole different thing.

But why in earth would You go to speak to a stranger in a first place? Especially in Finland?

I think one of the best filler words in Finnish is "kyllä" (yes) after "ei" (no). For example: "Ei kyllä ole!" (No yes it isn't!). The overall meaning of "ei kyllä ole" is just the same as "ei ole". The only difference is that the "kyllä" word somehow makes the message "stronger" or something. But whenever you encouter this "ei kyllä" pair, you can just discard the "kyllä" word, only the "ei" word is meaningful.

2:05 Haha that finnish hand is so spot on. But I want to clarify it's not because they(we) don't want to talk to you as if they are not interested in you, they'd still probably watch your youtube videos and hear you speak, but finnish people are just not very comfortable speaking english or in general having a conversation with strangers, it's not about the other person, it's about their own shyness. I remember I was scared shitless when I had to speak english in school, I always felt so embarrassed because I knew I was butchering it badly, and I always feel shy meeting new people in general. And about the hand, they just want to let you know they are friendly towards you and not ignoring you out of rudeness, but their own discomfort of the social situation :D (especially english speaking)

Welcome back :) Puhut todella hyvin suomea.

If your going to talk to people was in relation to you being a missionary, then I'd say it's perfectly understandable if people give you the 'Finnish hand'. They've just made the assumption (or somehow came to the conclusion) that you're about to bother them with religion/petition/etc., i.e. you're not someone asking for help or instructions etc.

Welcome back😊 Great video!

Oh my! Your Finnish is incredibly good 😲! Wow!!!

Can I just say that your video completely lifted my heart...you seem like such a kind, gentle, intelligent person and that is so refreshing to see

Finnish bus culture: On the busstop: Stand at least like 5m apart from other people. In the bus: Sit in a FREE SPACE. Mind your goddamn business the whole time. Don't press the stop button IF YOU ARE NOT LEAVING THE BUS AT THE NEXT STOP. Leave at your stop. Thanks for coming to my presentation.

Your pronouncing of finnish words is on point!👏🏼

salibandy translates (officially, I think) as "floorball" and it's popular also in Sweden (innebandy)

So cool to hear your experiences from Finland, kiitos! Excellent Finnish, welcome back.

Awesome video! Thank you so much. Puhut todella kauniisti suomea. Tervetuloa takaisin😍

Kiitos videosta! Tervetuloa uudelleen! :)

Now I got it... these are Latter-day Saint missionaries! So they have studied Finnish before coming here... 😀 That's why this guy and another girl on this channel had got "the Finnish hand". It is so easy to spot these missionaries and many of us are not interested in having those discussions. 😀

Todella hyvin puhuit suomea ja hieno video muutenkin!

Ihana video jälleen! Kiitos!

I haven't been in service industry in ages, but whenever someone tried to speak to me in Finnish, I always replied in Finnish. The problem was you don't know how much you have to simplify the sentences. Good humour sure always helps, but I understand the struggle! Because Finland has two official languages, Finnish and Swedish, I've had to study Swedish at school. But if I try to get service in Swedish while in Sweden, I often get service in English especially in Stockholm region 😄

Tota is colloquial (the most wide spread dialectal) version from the Standard Finnish tuota - '(of/about) that'. It's used like 'well' or 'so'. So it means Finns are buying time to answer, they are thinking (...about that). Totta is the partitive for tosi '(of)' true. The oldest from is tote, the I in the end caused a sound change - compare nation ('nashon') in English, it's not like 'nathy...on'; at least no longer. So totta is build like tot+ta (tote minus e), compare kieli, kieltä (old form kiele), or vesi, vettä. And tota is build like tuota - tuo + ta (in tota to+ta or toi + ta - but a vowel drop anyway).

I've born in november, when it was raining räntä (is it sleet? the wet snow raining from the dark sky) 😁 You are very sympathetic and your finnish is so good (especially pronouncing letter r !) that I wonder why people would switch to english when talking to you 🤔

Kiva kun pidit Suomesta! Kiitos mukavasta ja sydämellisestä viestistäsi! 😊

I am blown away by your language skills. You're doing great!

Stumbled upon your channel. I'm a complete heathen but your videos are truly fantastic. Please keep up the good work!

Puhut suomea todella hyvin! (You speak very well finnish!)

Jeebus your ending was so nice, practice and so on. Welcome back. I live in Sweden since 1969 moved here when i was 4 y old. You are brave and smart guy with big heart. :)

I have been on the both sides of the isles so I think I understand why Finns switch to English until you are fluent: for Finns the content of the conversation is the king, so you choose a language that is the easiest for both. I do the same with my partner whenever he tries to speak Finnish and likewise people speak English (or French by the older generation) with me as soon as I open my mouth to speak Khmer. It's because their language skills are stronger than mine and because they are delighted by the opportunity to practice. My Danish aunt would come to visit us in Finland every couple of years. My parents spoke perfect Danish and most of the younger generation could communicate with her if they spoke slowly in Swedish or German (the most commonly studied foreign language at the time). So my aunt learnt to speak very few words. The pinnacle of her Finnish was one phrase: "Kiitos kauheesta kahvista" (Thanks for the awful coffee) which of course became a running family joke... What she meant to say was Kiitos kauheesti kahvista (Thanks an awfullot for the coffee) a perfectly normal, colloquial expression.

Have to congratulate you about your skill in especially spoken Finnish! The way you did the "tota, tota" funny situation was so good.

This definitely makes me want to visit Finland! Just not in November 😀

I'm pretty sure you can just google floorball in usa and you'll find somewhere to play with other people...depending where you live or just start your own meeting with the guys playing floorball :) just go on amazon and get all that you need.

Wow..you Finnish is very good! :) talking like a native 🤗🤗🤗

Tää sai mut hymyilemään

Interesting! informative! thanks

Nice that you enjoyed your time!

Very good. Welcome back! But yeah, your Finnish was super impressive.

dude your finnish is amazing, hopefully you'll be able to come back soon!

Rauma region speaks about the most difficult Finnish dialect :)

Terve! It's so nice to hear about your experiences in Finland and points you are able to make as a non-native person (-to us Finns). Also good job with Finnish! I have to add: you got me rather curious, what made you choose Finland as a country to come in as missionaries? Don't get me wrong, as long as you are not loud you are 100% welcome here. It just seems like a bit weird choice as Finland is a christian country. Mo.

You have the softest voice. Like an asmr 🥰

Great video, thanks!! I was born in Rauma, now live in Tampere. In summer time once or twice in a week riding with my Indian to Rauma for dinner 😊 Did you know that Rauma has it’s own language?

I’m really impressed by your Finnish. The meaning of the Finnish hand: Hello nice to meet you I would really want to talk to you but not really because I don’t really know that should I trust you and I am kind of busy right now but maby I will see you around (not really but anyway) goodbye I hope you have an awesome day. I’m my self just a young teen who has been in a English class for six years that has about 60%-80% English and some of my classmates have gotten a lot better in Finnish and me as a Finn I think my English is pretty good but it is just my opinion. Yeah we are really introverted until you get to know us and as I have been watching your videos I have noticed that I do it too and it really funny to me that you don’t really have that in the us. Mä oon todella yllättynyt sinun suomen taidostasi. Toivottavasti pääset Suomeen taas joskus.

Hahah true that they use totta alot LOL 😂😂😂 awesome!! Never thought it that way

I used to switch to english with foreigners. Purely because it was awkward to have to constantly ask "What?" and try to understand what the other person is trying to say. And in my mind if it's awkward to me it's super awkward to the other person. So, as a finn I don't like awkward situations and therefore switchin straight to english was easy way out. Nowadays, after meeting and getting to know a lot of foreigners I understand the importance of doing conversations in finnish until the other person switches to english.

Terve Herra Cook. I totally enjoyed your summation of Finland. My grandparents were born in finland. Here in the u.s. they learned english but didn't speak finnish to us. When I started to learn finnish, I'd say or ask them Something in finnish and they'd answer in English. I've been to Finland 3 times, once as an exchange student and I can barely carry on a lengthy conversation. However I'm happy I can get along with the finnish I know.

Wow, you speak so good Finnish, olet ihana

Dude your finnish is great GJ!

thanks for the lovely words!

Oh man the darkness is the reason I and many of us finns want to move abroad... to some sunny and warm country. Or to live the winter months abroad and summer in Finland like my grandparents do. It’s hitting right now, the fall-time depression😂👍🏻 I’d call my fellow finns as survivors..🙈

Tota would translate more to "so". "Totta" would be true..

They are not insulting your Finnish if they speak in English to you! They spend 10 years (depending) in school learning English and many only get to use it when they are on holiday in Greece or Spain or Turkey or wherever. So it is nice for them to use it when they are at home in their own country. And of course they think they are being helpful now expecting you to speak Finnish.

This is a funny story, but at the moment it didn't feel great. One morning I was so hangover my only prayer was that I wouldn't have to look anyone in the eyes while walking to the local shop. I was almost back home when missionaries stopped me, gave me the book and I just didn't have any resistance in me.

“It’s a dark place” 😂😅

I think, as a Finn, that we like to talk and practise our english, it's a kind of honoure to talk in english (or other foreign languages) with a Foreigner! I never thought it that way you said.

Totta= True tota is more like well.. just to clear up the confusion :D

How an earth did you learn fairly fluent English in a short time? Amazing. Funny video too.

November is certainly the cruellest month (sorry, T. S.), and Finnish people live in and for the long summer days and it really dominates our thinking. During the autumn there comes the moment when the day has shortened so much that the sun sets about at six o'clock, which is the eternal sunset time for the "sunny" countries in the south. But what do Finns think then? Of course "But the days have gotten so short again..."

Sun suomi on kyl tosi hyvä! :)

If you really want to challenge yourself you should learn some different Finnish dialects. I was in this convention in Helsinki and met this guy from USA. He said that he doesn't really speak Finnish but he understands it. So I asked my friend (we are both from Eastern Finland) to speak with me in Savo's dialect. The American guy just looked us and he thought that we were joking. He was sure we were speaking a total gibberish.

Oh i am from Rauma. How did u like the old Rauma

There's a song about November in Finnish - Marraskuu

Tota... = Well... And in VERY formal (written) form it would be something like "Tuota..." and it depends how you say it on where you live, in north it's more like tuota, in south tota... :)

i thought the "paksu" thing would go to "paksuna"

Finland is world's happiest country!

I have to ask. I have followed some Wildwood Vagabond, AKA Rachel, another missionary who was in Finland. And I must admit both of you have learned Finnish surprisingly well, in relatively short time. Then on my adventure of "foreigners tell their opinion about Finland", I have encountered few times on phrase , "Finnish is very hard to learn, unless you are missionary, or special case". What makes Finnish easy to learn for missionaries?

Tota is abbreveation of the word tuota. The word tuota is not an easy word to translate. I would translate it roughly to: "Wait a minute , how did you say it again, let me think" .

I'm pretty sure floor hockey is played in a the US. :-)

Your finnish sounds great and tervetuloa takaisin Suomeen. :)

Sinun suomen kielen taito on erittäin hyvä 👍

Americans are SO funny: the S-word. Lol. But your Finnish is very good!

Wow this guy is so cute, i wish i could get to know him😍

Wow great finnish!

Kirjoitan suomeksi;) en ole itse kristitty, mutta vaikutat mukavalta, niin kirjoitan. Ensinnäkin suomesi on todella hyvää:) ota huomioon suomessa, että hyvin suuri osa suomalaisista on myös ns. Pakanoita. Halusin vain sanoa, ettei tämä tule shokkina sinulle. Pääsääntöisesti suomessa on niin monen eri ismin ja liikkeen kannattajia, että tulemme melko hyvin toimeen keskenämme:) halusin vain että huomioit asian😉

LoL I use "Tota noin niin" too often. Did you happen to be in Oulu? 🤣 I never realized before how it sounds for foreigner.

In Finland we have this thing called "suu suppuun ja muista turvaväli".

Tule imatralle :D Meillä on aivan erilaista kuin muualla suomessa, ihmiset saattaa jopa puhua sulle julkisesti :D

I think "Helmikuu" is more dangerous than "marraskuu" cause then there is very cold and if it is a rainy year then it's going to be so slippery.

Dear me, your are so good with the language, a natural. And it is a really weird language indeed for an indo-european language speaker...

My Finnish friend’s uncle only spoke Finnish. I did not. And so when we visited him, my friend would translate. Laurie would speak what seemed like a paragraph and then he’d say tota.

Now this guy speaks good Finnish! Finnish simply has so much grammar that getting it wrong here and there does not matter.

Your finnish is very good!

Finns say funny things also - hands down the funniest people in Europe (in English, which is even more impressive) and I've been to every country, like every 4th or 5th person I met would have me in stitches

❤❤❤

Tota is our like 😅

Just to clarify... "totta" and "tota" are too completely different things that have nothing in common, although the spelling is pretty close...

"Marras" is such an old word that hardly any finns know that it means "dead/death" anymore. But yeah, even for finns the November-December time is HORRIBLE. I'm a finn and every mid-November I go into a "haze" and would just rather do like bears and curl up to hibernate. Usually permanent snow comes around Christmas or in January. And that multiplies the little light we get and also it's less cloudy then. It can get quite cold but I don't mind the cold. It's beautiful and snow is fun. ...But the climate change is changing all that :( Last year the snow _never_ _came_ in southern Finland. That has pretty much NEVER happened before. To be honest I don't think I will survive mentally winters if they're gonna be just plain dark and wet with no snow.

You Will come here next 5 years. Not today. But you Will. And grow up as person Who you really are

I like to listen to this. We swedish finns feel that we're diffenrent from Finns. We talk more i would say, ofc we have some same traditions but not everything is the same as finns. But i do speak swedish and finnish both are like my native languages (but, to be specific my mum and dad speaks swedish so it's my native language) . Btw you speak good finnish already! 😊 .Jatka samaan malliin!