Underthtanding Finnith Kidth

When you are learning a language, there are a few greater challenges than understanding young children.

In theory, it should be easy, as their vocabulary and their sentences are relatively simple. The problem however is their pronunciation.

When Lisa's More

There is Canadian writer by the name of Lisa Moore (pictured here). There is also an Australian avant-garde pianist by the same name (not pictured here).

Now, the amusing thing about their name (if you are an easily amused Finnophile), is that in Finnish "lisaa" means "more".

Finnish Jokes About Swedes

One of the top searches for this blog is "finnish jokes about swedes". I thought it was about time I obliged, and so am sharing here a collection of jokes about Finland's western neighbours that I found on the web (the jokes, not the neighbours).

The Moose Test

It’s been very cold and very snowy in Helsinki this week. Good thing that I am a fully-fledged winter rally driver then!

Insane Finnish Letters (Part 2)

My last post about the crazy transformations the letter “t” undergoes in Finnish seems to have resonated with many people. Clearly, dear readers, you want more Finnish grammar!

I aim to please, so here is more on the exciting subject of consonant gradation.

Insane Finnish Letters (Part 1)

It’s been a while since I had a good moan about the trickiness of the Finnish language, but it’s now time to tackle one of my pet grievances: the instability of Finnish letters.

This is such a wide subject, that I will have to cover it over more than one post. I know you all love a bit of grammar really…

World Design Capital – Wassat?

This is a very special year for Finland's capital, Helsinki. It is the World Design Capital for 2012, no less!

When I first heard about this, I thought “that’s cool!”, or something equally meaningless but nonetheless expressing the appropriate mix of surprise and admiration.

But then I wondered: “Actually, what does that mean?”

End Of Year Review 2011

And so 2011 comes to an end. Time to reflect on a whole year of blogging about Finnishy things.

Guest Blog: Santa Writes to the Children of the EU

Dear Children of the European Union,

Greetings from Finland! Yes, I am Finnish, despite what you might have heard from people on the other side of the Atlantic. And yes, they do call me "Christmas Goat" (joulupukki) here, but it's got nothing to do with how I smell, OK?

Anyhow, I wanted to write a letter to you, because I think I need to set expectations this year.