S-Market Story

On many occasions now, I have used this blog to make fun of my own ineptitude in Finnish (check out for example the Spare Moose post). But now comes a chance to laugh at a Finnish person's struggle with English.

Never Trust a Dictionary!

At a recent event, I wanted to say a few nice words in Finnish about someone dear to me. As there is no way I could ad-lib something like that with my limited command of the language, I decided to prepare my mini-speech beforehand, in writing.

A good thing I did too, because I came close to making a bit of a faux-pas.

May Day

Hauskaa Vappua! [Have a] Fun May Day!

And boy, do some Finns have fun on May Day!

The first time I was in Finland for Vappu, in 2007, I took part in the traditional celebrations in Helsinki, and was both amused and surprised by the decadence of the (normally reserved) Finns letting their hair down!

Happy Easter

The Easter Bunny must have been cooking. Not literally, not in the oven... perish the thought! I mean, the Easter Bunny must have found it tough going as he (she?) delivered all those Easter eggs in the UK this morning, because it's been unusually hot for this time of the year...

Mini-Post: Rubber Aunt

Talking to a Finnish friend the other day, instead of saying “sinä olet kummitäti” (“you are a god-mother”), I claimed “sinä olet kumitäti” (“you are a rubber aunt”).

That dropped "m" meant I had some explaining to do...

Turning Success into Failure

In life, the gap between success and failure, winning and losing is often a small one. But for Finns, that gap is tiny.

Words Don't Come Easy

Once, after successfully deciphering a whole paragraph in a Finnish magazine, I declared with pride: “I find that if I know all the words, I can understand what it says!”