Finnish Mnemonics

It's a tautology to say that you can't speak a language if you don't know the words. That is my biggest problem with Finnish.

I have documented on many occasions before my struggle with Finnish vocabulary. The trouble for me is that most Finnish words are not related to their equivalent in the Latin or Germanic languages that I know. This is compounded by me having a goldfish-like memory.

Out of the Mouth of Babes

It is often said that “out of the mouth of babes comes the truth”.

Sometimes that truth can be painful though.

Matti Nykänen

Last Monday, former ski-jumping champion Matti Nykänen started a 16 month prison sentence in Kupio for aggravated assault on his on-off wife Mervi Tapola in 2009.

This is just the most recent twist in the “car crash” life Nykänen has led since retiring from top-flight (fortuitous pun) ski-jumping in the late 1980s.

Review: How to Marry a Finnish Girl

This weekend I read a newly published book called “How to Marry a Finnish Girl”, by Phil Schwarzmann.

I have to admit, I was quite excited about reading it. How could I not be? After all the subtitle of the book is: “Everything You Want to Know About Finland, That Finns Won’t Tell You” and the back-cover also warns: “DON’T LET FINNS READ THIS BOOK!”

Finnish Jokes About Drinking

Drinking is a very important part of Finnish life. So it's no surprise that Finns have many jokes involving drinking.

I mentioned a couple of short drinking jokes in an earlier post, but now's the time to tackle this subject in earnest.

The Death of Gagarin

This week was an important one for The Death of Gagarin.

No, I am not referring to the death in 1968 of Russian cosmonaute Yuri Gagarin (R.I.P.). I am talking about the fabulous Finnish band of that name!

And this week saw the launch of their long awaited debut Album, “Nro 9”.

The i-Trick

This summer, a group of us were walking along Esplanadi in Helsinki on our way to the restaurant Kapelli, when Noah, aged 14 and visiting from the UK, declared: “I’ve been thinking... Finnish is quite easy really!”

Finnen von Sinnen - My Finnish Wife

This blog has been a little neglected in the past couple of weeks. But I have a good excuse: I was lazing around on the Caribbean island of Antigua. And, strange as it may seem, I found it hard writing a post about Finland, or even thinking of writing one (I realize sympathy towards me might be in short supply here, so I won’t dwell on this).

That said, I did put my down-time to good use, as one of the books I read was by a foreigner commenting on Finland, the Finns and the Finnish language. Sounds familiar?

Mini-Post: Happiness Finnish Style

Apparently, a common way of congratulating someone in Finnish is:

Onnea, onnea, onnea vaan!

Punainen tupa ja perunamaa!

Contratulations (x3)!

Red cottage and potato patch!

So forget the diamonds, forget the Ferraris, forget first class travel around the world, nothing can make a Finn happier than having a little red house and some spuds.