everything you've ever wanted to know about Finland!

eMMI

steppenwolf wrote:

helsinki now (webcam): http://virtual.finland.fi/netcomm/news/showarticle.asp?intNWSAID=27690

thanks for the link.

enjoy our beautiful capital!

Scubascott

U-R wrote:

hehe nevermind, i dont think an american would understand what i said either, but an englishman/woman probably would.

i'll explain. i thought somebody was playing a joke on him/her. it's an informal saying, if somebody is "having a lend of you" or maybe "taking you for a ride" they're playing a joke on you

Hmm. Even I didn't follow that one. Are you sure you didn't pick that up in Canada?

Emmi. What about cats? Do you have these damn stray cats wandering around everywhere like they seem to have all around the Mediterranean? I hate the mongrel bastards. They fight and yowl and carry on all night long.

U-R

Scubascott wrote:

Hmm. Even I didn't follow that one. Are you sure you didn't pick that up in Canada?

nope, common phrase amongst folk i know "having a lend of ya"... basically a toned down way of saying "taking the piss"

Scubascott

U-R wrote:

nope, common phrase amongst folk i know "having a lend of ya"... basically a toned down way of saying "taking the piss"

Must be a victorian thing. Bloody mexicans.

U-R

Scubascott wrote:

Must be a victorian thing. Bloody mexicans.

lol you're a sydney boy i take it?

Scubascott

U-R wrote:

lol you're a sydney boy i take it?

No way! That'd be as bad as being a mexican. I grew up in rural NSW.

eMMI

Scubascott wrote:

Emmi. What about cats? Do you have these damn stray cats wandering around everywhere like they seem to have all around the Mediterranean? I hate the mongrel bastards. They fight and yowl and carry on all night long.

there's some amount of stray cats here but basically they're not that big of a probelm. they haven't formed some sorta societies or anything..

I love cats!

one problem here is that people tend to take cats as pets in summertime when they're spending time in their summer cabins but then they abandon the cats when fall comes. :(

there are cats that wander around here at nights, fighting and yowling but they often belong to someone and are just out for a walk.

Scubascott

eMMI wrote:

there's some amount of stray cats here but basically they're not that big of a probelm. they haven't formed some sorta societies or anything..

I love cats!

one problem here is that people tend to take cats as pets in summertime when they're spending time in their summer cabins but then they abandon the cats when fall comes. :(

there are cats that wander around here at nights, fighting and yowling but they often belong to someone and are just out for a walk.

No cat is ever 'just out for a walk'. They're out hunting innocent little birds and lizards, or plotting and scheming for the day when they'll rise up over the humans that they consider so inferior.

Sometimes I think there are more cats in this country than people. The other day I was walking home and heard this plaintive crying coming from the bushes in the middle of the big fish pond near the local kenyon (shopping centre). I was almost about to take my boots off and wade across the pond to rescue the poor baby that had somehow fallen into the bushes when it started making other, more cat-like sounds.

eMMI

Scubascott wrote:

No cat is ever 'just out for a walk'. They're out hunting innocent little birds and lizards, or plotting and scheming for the day when they'll rise up over the humans that they consider so inferior.

Sometimes I think there are more cats in this country than people. The other day I was walking home and heard this plaintive crying coming from the bushes in the middle of the big fish pond near the local kenyon (shopping centre). I was almost about to take my boots off and wade across the pond to rescue the poor baby that had somehow fallen into the bushes when it started making other, more cat-like sounds.

aww come on, how can you not love cats! they're so cute! lol.

if the cats wouldn't be hunting them something else would..
but I get your point. luckily our pretty boycat is a housecat, never goes out without supervision.

cats do sound a bit scary sometimes. human-like, but still so.. spooky. :eek:

Scubascott

eMMI wrote:

aww come on, how can you not love cats! they're so cute! lol.

if the cats wouldn't be hunting them something else would..
but I get your point. luckily our pretty boycat is a housecat, never goes out without supervision.

cats do sound a bit scary sometimes. human-like, but still so.. spooky. :eek:

Nope, they're scum. Nothing will ever convince me otherwise.

Do all Finns speak good english? When they start teaching you english at school?

U-R

Scubascott wrote:

Nope, they're scum. Nothing will ever convince me otherwise.

Do all Finns speak good english? When they start teaching you english at school?

she speaks better english than me by the sounds of it :S

Scubascott

U-R wrote:

she speaks better english than me by the sounds of it :S

Yeah, and me now that I read back over that last post of mine.

It amazes me how good people's english is here in Israel. One of the girls I work with really does speak better english than me. She can really express herself in English. She also speaks french.

In fact everyone else's linguistic abilities make me very jealous. Almost everyone here is fluent in at least two languages (english and hebrew). Then a lot of people are also fluent in a third language like russian, arabic, serbian etc, depending on where their family moved here from. And on top of all that, many of them have a decent working knowledge of spanish and/or portugese, because they travelled in South America, or they're fans of the south american soap operas on TV.

I feel like a poorly educated cretin with english as my only language (unless you count australian as a seperate language).

Scubascott

There I go again. Separate. Not seperate.

eMMI

Scubascott wrote:

Nope, they're scum. Nothing will ever convince me otherwise.

Do all Finns speak good english? When they start teaching you english at school?

I disagree. but you're entiteled to your opinion.

nope, not all. most Finns know at least a few words of English (must be because of all the TV shows and music..) but obviously everyone can't be good.
at school English lessons start on the third grade, when the kids are about 10 years old (school starts on the year you turn seven). although at that time (3rd grade) you can also start studying some other launguage (French and some others as choices) but usually not later than in 5th grade you start studying English.

eMMI

U-R wrote:

she speaks better english than me by the sounds of it :S

aww. thank you.

Scubascott

eMMI wrote:

I disagree. but you're entiteled to your opinion.

nope, not all. most Finns know at least a few words of English (must be because of all the TV shows and music..) but obviously everyone can't be good.
at school English lessons start on the third grade, when the kids are about 10 years old (school starts on the year you turn seven). although at that time (3rd grade) you can also start studying some other launguage (French and some others as choices) but usually not later than in 5th grade you start studying English.

That's interesting that you start school at seven. At what age do you finnish?

Ha! Finnish. Get it?

eMMI

Scubascott wrote:

Yeah, and me now that I read back over that last post of mine.

thanks to you too.

Scubascott wrote:

It amazes me how good people's english is here in Israel. One of the girls I work with really does speak better english than me. She can really express herself in English. She also speaks french.

In fact everyone else's linguistic abilities make me very jealous. Almost everyone here is fluent in at least two languages (english and hebrew). Then a lot of people are also fluent in a third language like russian, arabic, serbian etc, depending on where their family moved here from. And on top of all that, many of them have a decent working knowledge of spanish and/or portugese, because they travelled in South America, or they're fans of the south american soap operas on TV.

I feel like a poorly educated cretin with english as my only language (unless you count australian as a seperate language).

well, just learn some other language.

Scubascott

eMMI wrote:

thanks to you too.



well, just learn some other language.

I think being a native english speaker is a severe disability.

People from most educated non-english speaking countries get taught english at school, so straight away they get practice speaking another language, and warm up that part of their brain for more languages later.

I've been in this country for four and a half months, and I've hardly learned any hebrew, because the moment I try to use the little bit I know, the person I'm talking to hears my accent and automatically switches to english. I never get to practice.

eMMI

Scubascott wrote:

That's interesting that you start school at seven. At what age do you finnish?

Ha! Finnish. Get it?

yeah I got it.

when you finish obviously depends on how high education do you want.
but your learning obligation ends after 9th grade. (when you're about 15 years old) most kids though do go to either trade school or upper secondary school (I chose the latter and I'm on my final year. ) which usually last about three years.
after that.. it's basically either university (if you can get in) or polytechnic (you can also go to a polytechnic institution after upper secondary). then you finish when you finish.
but some also quit school after trade/upper secondary to get a job or to keep a year off before studying again.

eMMI

Scubascott wrote:

I think being a native english speaker is a severe disability.

People from most educated non-english speaking countries get taught english at school, so straight away they get practice speaking another language, and warm up that part of their brain for more languages later.

I've been in this country for four and a half months, and I've hardly learned any hebrew, because the moment I try to use the little bit I know, the person I'm talking to hears my accent and automatically switches to english. I never get to practice.

hmh. I've never thought about it like that..

maybe you could ask them not to switch to English.