Mistä olet sinä kotoisin?

Great Eng..Brit..UK-land Isles (jne) by C.G.P. Grey via Holy Kaw and @stephenfry


One of the first things you learn in Finnish language lessons is the simple question 'Where are you from?'
What people don't always understand is that may not be as straightforward a query to answer as you might think... now all I need to do is translate the video* into Finnish. Or maybe make a t-shirt of that Venn diagram.

[suomen kielien kurssissa]

• Opiskellija 1: Hei 
• Opiskellija 2:  Moi
• Missä sinä asut?
• Asun Helsingissa. Olen asunnut suomessa noin kolme vuotta.
• Mista olet sinä kotoisin? Oletko englantilainen?
• Olen englannista, mutta myös iso-brittaniasta ja brittein saarista ja u.k:sta
• Mitä!?
• Olen britti ja englantilainen kyllä. Mutta minun passini kertoo 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'
• Kirja vain sanoo 'maa: englanti, keili: englantia,  kansalaisuus: englantilainen - englannista...
• Tiedän, mutta on monimutkainen maa. 
• Sitten... oletko irlantilainen myös?
• En ole. Ihminen voi olla irlantilainen ja iso-brittanista, mutta ei aina.
• En ymmärrä sinun maa!
• Määt - monikko. OK. Sinun vuoro. Mistä sinä...
• Opettaja: Oletteko valmis seuraava harjoitus?

I wonder if there is a video to explain London, Greater London, Inner London, Central London, London Boroughs and City of London...


---
* Arguably there are still a few inaccuracies in this video. Or possibly sarcasm. See the comments on 'Holy Kaw' here.

A Rare Finnish Export?

"Just before the first snow of winter falls, professional hunters begin their work. The long process of tracking, hunting and transforming this king of the forest into a finished product is a time consuming process, but the final outcome is a reason to celebrate" Rare Exports Inc. 

I first came across the Rare Exports short films about five years ago in London at a Finnish film festival at the Barbican. In amongst the subtitled darkness of Louhimies' Paha Maa ('Frozen Land' - although paha literally translates as bad or evil) and a brace of painterly and bleak yet comedic Kaurismäki's* (such as Kauas pilvet karkaavat or 'Drifting Clouds') were two short interlopers directed by Jalmari Healander revealing the 'real' story behind Finland's most famous seasonal and rare export... (which can both be seen here)

Tyhjä arkki tympäännyttää

headspace: from Biennale 2010

Prevaricate. Procrastinate. Vacillate. Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow? Hedge. Dodge. Delay. Beat around the bush. Sidestep. Equivocate. Temporize. Stall. Evade. Hem and haw.

English is full of synonyms for viivytellä - the art of not doing something quite yet. And unfortunately (as you may have got an inkling from this blog... or rather it's recent lack thereof) I am somewhat prone to this condition myself. I have also been developing Prevaricate 2.0 - not doing something because I should be doing something else and because although I am not doing that either not allowing myself to do the other thing as that would be an excuse for not doing what I should be doing, thus removing any excuse (but still failing to do what was meant to be done in the first place - in case you were wondering).

So, to cut a long story into small pieces, stick it back together badly, and end up with something even longer and more confusing that the original, my unbelievably lame excuse for not posting here is that I should have been too busy doing other things... like trying to learn finnish, run my business efficiently, get more work, exercise, ja niin edelleen...

And without further ado, ladeez an' genelmen, may I introduce "the lost posts" ...

Pyöräilyretkimme Ahvenanmaan ympärillä

Kartta / Map: From Åland cycle tour 2009

Olen päättänyt kirjoittaa Ahvenanmaasta pyöräilyretkistä suomeksi ja ilman Konnan apua. Todennäköisesti huonosti. Toivon että en tee lian paljon isoa virhettä, tai ymmärretään vahan kuitenkin. Tee kommentti niin että minä voin korjata niitä!

Ehkä minun pitää kääntää sitä englanniksi myös...


I’ve decided to write about our Åland cycle trip (probably badly) in Finnish and mostly without Konna’s help (unless I’m really stuck). I hope that I don’t make too many big mistakes, or it can be understood at least. I have asked the Finnish speakers to make comments so that I can correct the most glaring errors.

Of course the irony is that Swedish is spoken in Åland, not Finnish, so I didn’t get much practice there!

Almost forgot: I think we’ll put up the posts with retrospective dates so they will be before this post; and some photos are already here if you just can't wait for the blog.

I do have some reference material at least...

Hot Air

Viivi ja Wagner © Juba via Helsingin Sanomat

Did I mention Konna keeps saying (about ten times a day now) that it would be ihana if I bought her an ilmapallon for Vappu? Cue skywards eye roll. 

I wonder if I can get a turtle shaped one...

Mikael Agrikolan päivä - suomen kielen päivä

Ship's Flag: From Stockholm trip 03/09

Oh-ho.  The flag outside has just been taken down and we haven't said anything about it being Finnish Language day & Michael Agricola's day - expect a tirade from that tonttu thing at any moment... 

Hang on a minute - I'm supposed to write this one in Finnish. Oh-ho...

Laskiainen

Pikkan laskiainenpulla Porvoosta (manteli, ei hilo)

Tänään on laskiassunnuntai ja on seitseman viikkoa ennen pääsiästä (Easter). Myös tänään on kaksi päivää ennen laskiaistiistai - englanniksi Shrove Tuesday. Syödään laskiainen pulla (kanneli manteli tai hillo) suomessa. Englannissa tehdään pancakes (lettuja) laskiaistiistaina. Pidan lettuasta enemmän kuin laskiainenpullasta - ehkä minun täytyy tehdä niitä itse Konnalle ja Hiirille.

As well as eating those slightly strange cream and almond (or jam) buns, laskianen Sunday is traditionally celebrated with a 'sliding festival' of sledging and other winter sports - but don't ask me why!

Pikku hiljaa

Pikku = small

Hiljaa = quiet

'pikku hiljaa' = slowly

Yesterday we moved back to Mellunmäki (Lit: noises-hill) from Itäkeskus (east-centre), where we have been flat sitting for the last  six or seven weeks. (Actually it is much quieter here). Internet access was a bit spotty there (which is one of my excuses for the paucity of blogs) but mainly it was the novelty of unfettered access to a leather sofa in front of large, new TV with cable, a recorder, DVD and Xbox hooked up to it that distracted me in my spare time. Since we don't have sole use of the (old) TV here, and it doesn't have the peripherals I expect to be spending more time with my laptop again.  I've also go a few posts I started writing but didn't finnish to catch up on, so expect a spike in activity from hölynpöly towers...

Setä ja täti

Olemme nyt setä ja täti - minun veljanpoikani syntyi pari päivää sitten. No niin, onnantoivotukset keskiveljalleni ja hänen puolisollensa! *

Last week the topic in my conversation course was perhe - family. Which was a subject on my mind anyway for the reason mentioned above.  Compared to English, Finnish is sometimes a bit funny when it comes to words for relatives, being alternately vague, very specific or over endowed. You may already know that there is only one word for he/she (hän), which gives you an idea of what I'm getting at. 

• Children (lapset)
  
• Poika - boy or son
  
• Tytär - girl or daughter
• Sisko, sisar, systeri - sister
• Veli - brother

• Nephew - no specific word, but the compound: veljanpoika / sisarenpoika (brother's son / sister's son) is used
  
• Niece - again no specific word: veljantytär / sisarentytär (brother's daughter / brother's daughter)

• Setä - Uncle (Father's brother)
  
• Eno - Uncle (Mother's brother)
  
• Täti - Aunt

• Käly - Sister-in-law
  
• Lanko - Brother-in-law

• Puoliso - spouse, partner
  
• Mies - husband, man, mister, male, bloke, etc... (could be confusing); Aviomies - husband; Avomies - cohabitant/common-law husband (i.e. not actually married but in finland has same rights - which is lucky if you miss the i out on a form...)
• Vaimo / Aviovaimo - wife; Avovaimo - cohabitant/common-law wife

And for especially for my mum:

• Grandmother - isoäiti, mummo, mummu, mummi

* If all that didn't help translate, it says: We are now uncle and aunt - my nephew was born a couple of days ago. So, congratulations to my middle brother and his partner!

Runebergin päivä

Runebergin Torttu: Hfb:lta Flkr:lta

Tänään on Runebergin päivä, ja on lippu päivä Suomessa (minun täytyy sanoa, koska Sähkötonttu kiroilaa jos unhotaan lippu päivä). Johan Ludvig Runeberg on Suomen kansallisrunoilija. Hän oli suomalainen ruotinkielinen runoilija, kirjailija ja toimittaja, ja hän syntyi 5. helimikuuta 1804 ja kuoli 6. toukokuuta 1877. 

Eilen me söimme runebergin torttuja kun kävimme sähkötalon aaltokahvilassa jälkeen minun suomen 'keskustellaan' kurssi.

Lost in Translation

-  I think I might try making some mince pies for Christmas for people to try. I'll have to make the mincemeat from scratch though.

- Ihana. Can you get all the ingredients here?

- Most of them are fairly easy; but I haven't seen candied peel or suet anywhere. What do you think?

- Mitä heleveti on suet!?

- It some sort of shredded fat. In the dictionary it translates as tali, if I ask in the shop do you think they'll have it?

- Ehkä... in a pet shop. That's what we call the ball of fat we put out for the birds!

- Perhaps we'll stick to joulutorttuja...

But is it as good as a mince pie? via by Robmcm

PS: Somehow I managed to scrape a 5 in my latest Finnish exam. 

Well actually I know how really: a) it was a fairly easy exam (compared to the course ); b) they lowered the pass mark for this grade as it has so many new grammar concepts in it. I would have got a 4 normally, which is still better than I expected. They are actually going to split it into two modules in the future (i.e. 8 weeks to cover instead of 4) this make sense as we had to cover - passiivi present & it's three past tenses, i-monikko one the plural forms (there are at least three I know of; this one applies to the 6 local cases, partitiivi and genitiivi, and is probably the most complicated thing to learn the rules for), the imperative, and more sentence types e.g. prediktiivi; all in only nine lessons. Actually maybe the sentence types are the hardest thing.  Although it was the passive I messed up on in the exam, so maybe... oh, never mind.

Anyway, this was the last part of the intensive basic grammar course I was doing, so next year I am looking for something more about actual spoken and written communication.  I'll probably will go back and do their advance course (levels 5-8) sometime though...

kun olen tehnyt kaksi tavaraa

Who made all the pies? 

As I had passed another language test - level 3 with a grade 4 (out of 5) since you ask - and to avoid doing anything really useful like my portfolio or making christmas cards (or god forbid - cleaning!) I made a couple of quiches/flans (what is the difference anyway?) one tuna, pesto, onion & pepper the other mushroom, cheese & tomato. The latter was more photogenic, but the former more tasty.  This is another first for me in the cooking area now I have discovered how to make pastry.  Well, reasonable pastry anyway if you don't mind it very short. One disappeared  yesterday as it was sauna night, and the rest goes with us to yet another weekend mökki retreat with Konna's käverinsä.  

The weather is now more realistically wintry outside - a dusting of snow and five-below, with a few fat flakes drifting around for effect.  Although Hiiri did say that there looked like there was more of a snow storm in her kitchen after I had finished with the flour... lucky she liked the end result, otherwise that might have been the end of my baking for a while.

The 3rd thing (he says referring to the title) was that I now officially exist here and have my very own personal identity code from the Helsingin maistraatti to prove it. Next on the list - kela kortti.

Imperfection / Learning nothing

As I just said in the previous post, today (Tuesday) is another language exam, so I had really better do some revision.  As I am in a sharing mood you, oh lucky reader, get to revise alongside me the glories of Level 3 Finnish for Foreigners.  Those with uncomfortable memories of attempting to learn a language at school may want to look away now... The rest of you may need the following reference materials to join in properly: Suomen Kielen Alkeisoppikirja, Harjituskirja, Suomi-Englanti-Suomi Sanakirja, Hyvin Menee!, Finnish: An Essential Grammar, and a Finnish speaking person may also come in useful in a pinch...

So what have we done the last three weeks? Ah the mysteries of the past, the past tenses that is: Imperfekti (I did...), Perfekti (I have done...), and Pluskvamperfecti (I had done...); Konditionaali (would/could/should); Omistusliite (possessive suffixes); and Indefiniittipronominit.  Here's an example

• Imperfekti (the imperfect or 'simple' past tense):
  

Basically (for the positive) you chuck an i into the verb - most of the time anyway.

So with verbityypit 1, 3 & 5 if the verb 'stem/body' (vartalo) ends with o, ö, u, y you add an -i- before the persoonapääte (the personal prounoun suffix), but if the vartalo ends a, ä, e, i you drop that vowel (vokaali) before adding the i. eg:

SANOA (to say)> sano-> sanoi- > eg: sanoimme (we said)

LUKEA (to read)> lue-> lui- > eg: luin (I read); he lukivat sen eilen (they read it yesterday). [Note the disappearing/reappearing K. This is known as 'type 1 verb consonant gradation' but doesn't apply to the hän (he/she) and he (they) person]

AJATELLA (to think)> ajattele-> ajatteli- > eg: hän ajatteli (he/she thought); ajattelitko asiaa? (did you think of something?) [Note the gaining of an extra T. This is known as 'type 3 verb reverse consonant gradation, which applies to all the personal versions]

However, if any of these verbs have just two syllables were the first and last vowels in the vartalo are both a then instead of just substituting i for the last a, you put -oi-

eg: ALKAA (to start) > al-a- / al-ka > alan (I start) > aloin (I started) [there goes that K again]

Type 2 verbs are complicated in that double vowels (VV) lose 1 and get an i as expected, but -uo, -yö, -oi, vartalo endings lose the first vowel and then get an -i- 

eg: SAADA (to get/receive) > saa- > saitte (you [plural/polite] received);  hän sai lahjan (he/she got a present)

SYÖDÄ (to eat) > syö- > söin omenan (I ate an apple)

Type 4 verbs are different as they have -si- added instead of -i- 

eg: HALUTA (to want)> halua-> haluasitko? (what did you want?)

For negative imperfect constructions you have to use the negatory verb ei with the perusmutto of the verb (that is with the end chopped off, which is not the same as the vartalo) then add the ending  -nut/-nyt for singular and -neet for plural. Usually. eg:

VT1: SOITTAA (to call/ring) > en soittanut (I didn't call); emme soittaneet (we didn't call)

VT2: SYÖDÄ (to eat) > et syönyt (you didn't eat); he eivät syöneet (they didn't eat)

VT3: MENNÄ (to go) > hän ei mennyt (he/she didn't go); ette menneet (you [pl.] didn't go)

VT3: TULLA (to come)> en tullut; emme tulleet

VT3: PESTÄ (to wash)> en pessyt; emme pesseet

VT4: HALUTA (to want)> en halunnut; emme halunneet

VT5: VALITA (to choose) > hän ei valinnut; he eivät valinneet

I'll skip most of the rest (otherwise I might as well write my own Grammar book) except for the indefinite pronouns - someone, something & no-one, nothing, which I need some practice on anyway:

• Joku - someone; some; someone in/on/from/... (human)

case : - malli / example

nominative: joku - Joku soitti sinulle / someone rang (to/for) you

vartalo: jo- + ku-

partative: jotakuta - Etsittekö jotakuta / Are you searching for somebody?

accusative: jonkun - Tapasitko jonkun siellä? / Did you meet someone there?

genetive: jonkun - Täällä on jonkun lompakko / Here (there) is someone's wallet

illative: johonkuhun - Kaisa on ihastunut johonkuhun italialaiseen / Kaisa has 'fallen for' someone Italian

inessive: jossakussa -

elative: jostakusta - Juoruatteko se taas jostakusta / 

allative: jollekulle

adessive: jollakulla - Kun jollakulla on nimipäivä, juhlitaan / When someone has (a) name-day, celebrate.

ablative: joltakulta - Sinulle tuli kortti joltakulta / To you came (a) card from someone

plural nom.: jotkut

• ei mikään - nothing; none; not anything; nowhere; not somewhere (non-human)

nominative: ei mikään - Häntä ei kiinnosta mikään / He/she is not interested in anything

partative: ei mitään - Eilen en tehnyt mitään / Yesterday I did nothing

genetive: ei minkään

illative: ei mihinkään - Paula ei mennyt mihinkään juhannuksena / Paula didn't go (to) anywhere at Juhannus (midsummer)

inessive: ei missään - Hän ei ollut missään juhannuksena / She had gone nowhere (for) midsummer

elative: ei mistään - Me emme halua puhua mistään / We didn't want to talk about anything

allative: ei millekään - En halua osallistua millekään kurssille / I don't want to take part on (in) some course

adessive: ei millään - Millään ei ole väliä / On nothing is/be care = 'nothing matters'

ablative: ei miltään - Eikö suomalainen ruoka maistu miltään? / Doesn't Finnish food taste of (off/from) anything/something?

So, I guess the question is, have I learnt 'nothing' yet?

Kielikuva

Mobile Shadow in Kumu: From Tallinn

As Konna seems to have gone blog crazy this week (warning: much like her postcards, there are still more to come!) I thought I would try to get a word in edgeways while she isn't looking. As you may be getting blog post fatigue I'll just point out:

• New pictures (from our Tallinn trip) on the sidebar and on Picasa;
  
• A short video of the NOFLUXUS light installation on YouTube (and on the sidebar);
• New links 'cloud' also on the sidebar (finally found how to do it by looking at the More Breaking Waves blog and then got code from phy3blog)
  

And some words I am enjoying a the moment (just don't ask about negative imperfect...)

• Kielikuva - figure of speech (literally: tongue picture)
  
• Crapula - hangover (really!)
• Suomentaa - to translate into Finnish
• Aakkonen - the word for a letter [of the alphabet] is the first word in the dictionary
• Meilailla/Meilata - to send an email (Meilaan - I send email; en meilaa - I don't sent email; meilasin - I sent email; En meilanyt - I didn't send email - okay I admit it, that is the negative imperfect of the Meilata form)
• Kaamos - the winter period of dark and cold above the arctic circle

And the best one:

• Hajuvesi - perfume (literally: smell water)

Any other suggestions? Obviously there are some strange English constructions when you think about it too.

Let me know when you have recovered from Konna's onslaught...

Apologies (redux)

Michael Fish, via

Firstly, apparently I left everyone (well my mum at least) with a bit of a cliffhanger last week because I didn't reveal the outcome of the dread suomenkielin testi.  Well I was pretty surprised to find I actually got a better mark in this one - viisi (5) - which is the top mark in the Finnish university grading system (0=fail, 1=50%, etc).  Although I did still make a couple of stupid mistakes and struggled with partitiivi/akkusitiivi objekttilause (malli: minä kirjoittan bloggin sitten katson televisiota) I pretty much cracked omaslause (to have...) malli: minulla on iso pää; nessesiivi lause (must/to have to) malli: sinun täytyy lukeä tämä bloggi joka päivä; 

I suppose I should also say anteeksi for reinforcing the stereotype lots of people have that Finland is cold all year. Before I came across that old chestnut from the days of nil point, I was originally going to write a serious post about the weather and daylight, particularly as Daylight Saving Time just ended. And if you question the advantage of BST in UK (particularly if you are in Scotland) - ask yourself what the hell is the point in Finland, except to synchronise with the rest of Europe? As this article points out (despite getting confused about GMT and UK time) Finland has plenty of light in the summer, and being in the east west half of the GMT+2 timezone (as shown on this map) is naturally half an hour into 'summer time' anyway. That is also (I guess) why the work day here is pushed to the morning - start work by 8am, lunch at 11:30, go home at 4pm.  Anyway, for anyone wanting to know about Finland's climate they can always look here and remember Helsinki (on Finland's southern coast) is at the same latitude as Lerwick whilst it's Lapland border with Norway is over 1000km further north.  For the record though: 

In Helsinki the average July high temperature is actually 22°C (which is only 1º lower than London).

The highest temperature ever recorded in Helsinki is 31.6°C. The highest temperature ever recorded [in Finland] is from July 9, 1914, when 35°C was exceeded in several places (the maximum being 35.9°C in Turku).

The lowest temperature recorded in Helsinki is -34.3°C (1987). The lowest temperature recorded at any weather station in Finland this century is -51.5°C (1999).

Now compare that to UK recorded extremes (via Met Office):

Highest: 38.5 °C 
Brogdale near Faversham (Kent), 10 August 2003.

Lowest: -27.2 °C
Braemar, Aberdeenshire, 10 January 1982 and 11 February 1895.
Altnaharra, Highland, 30 December 1995.

But enough from Michael Fish for now.

[edited 28.10.08 23:05]

Sääpäiväkirja

Keskiviikona, 22. lokakuuta: Tänään on vahan pilvista ja vahan aurinkoista. Myös tuulee. Ulkona on 10 astetta laminta. Helsingissä aurinko nousee kello 8.56 ja laskee 16.56.

Nimipäivät: Anita, Anitta, Anja, Anniina

Pilvista päivää. From Around Helsinki.

One of the things we have been doing on the suomen kielen korssi the last few weeks is to keep a weather diary (sääpäiväkirja) for each day. Since this entails looking out of the window (which I am well practiced at as my school teachers would probably remember) and looking at the outdoor thermometer (which almost every Finnish home has) this is not exactly hard work. For those of you unfamiliar with the Finnish climate, here's some background:

Finnish weather explained

+15°C / 59°F
This is as warm as it gets in Finland, so we'll start here.
People in Spain wears winter-coats and gloves.
The Finns are out in the sun, getting a tan.

+10°C / 50°F
The French are trying in vain to start their central heating.
The Finns plant flowers in their gardens.

+5°C / 41°F
Italian cars won't start.
The Finns are cruising in cabriolets.

0°C / 32°F
Distilled water freezes.
The water in the Vanda river gets a little thicker.

-5°C / 23°F
People in California almost freeze to death.
The Finns have their final barbecue before winter.

-10°C / 14°F
The Brits start the heat in their houses.
The Finns start using long sleeves.

-20°C / -4°F
The Aussies flee from Mallorca.
The Finns end their Midsummer celebrations. Autumn is here.

-30°C / -22°F
People in Greece die from the cold and disappear from the face of the earth.
The Finns start drying their laundry indoors.

-40°C / -40°F
Paris start cracking in the cold.
The Finns stand in line at the "grilli-kioski".

-50°C / -58°F
Polar bears start evacuating the North Pole.
The Finnish army postpones their winter survival training awaiting real winter weather.

-60°C / -76°F
Korvatunturi (the home for Santa Claus) freezes.
The Finns rent a movie and stay indoors.

-70°C / -94°F
The false Santa moves south.
The Finns get frustrated since they can't store their Kossu (Koskenkorva vodka) outdoors.
The Finnish army goes out on winter survival training.

-183°C / -297.4°F
Microbes in food don't survive.
The Finnish cows complain that the farmers' hands are cold.

-273°C / -459.4°F
All atom-based movent halts.
The Finns start saying "Perkele, it's cold outside today."

-300°C / -508°F
Hell freezes over.
Finland wins the Eurovision Song Contest.

...hang on a minute - didn't that happen already!?

Toinen Koe

via kaupunkiliikenne.net: No, not a tram where you take exams (although the red pub tram does sell beer!)

If you have wondering why there has been a bit less hölynpöly recently then you probably need to get a life and get out more often... however one of us has been revising for his level two FFF (Finnish for foreigners) koe (test) which took place this afternoon. I get the results tomorrow, but I have a feeling it will not be as good as the last one. Just hoping to pass. Ho-hum.

Minun täytyy oppiskella joka päivä oppia lisää suomea, mutta minun ei tarvitse tehdä kotitehtevät tänä viikonloppuna.

Anyway level three starts next Monday, so back to reverse consonant gradation, and who knows what else then. 

But this week I also have to deal with a bit of Finnish bureaucracy and officially register my presence since it has been three months now; so through a great piece of 'Finnish logic' as an EU citizen I don't need permission, but I am supposed to register, with supporting documentation and details to show why I am here, which sounds suspiciously similar to the list of things required for non-EU citizens to get permission ... and being Finland this is done at the police station. Lovely. Now I understand those 'police state' jokes...

Syksyn varit - Autumn colours

Syksyn varit ovat keltainen, oranssi, puninen ja ruskea...

As well as enjoying the autumnal colours, we also found a Functionalist modernist building at Vierumäkki - built in the late 20's and used as a hospital during the war its is now part of the Sports Institute there.  You might also notice (in the other pictures) that the forest tracks have lights - that's because these double as ski-trails in the (dark) winter months. Just add snow...

Arvosteluasteikko - Grades

Here's a nice picture to calm you down from the thought of exams...

It will come as no surprise to anyone if I say I don't really like exams. I mean who does? Equally I have never really thought I was any good at languages, as a stunning CSE grade 2 at French backs up. (For those of you who are to young, or as old as me but not from UK, a CSE grade 1 was equivalent to a C grade 'O' Level (a pass) back in the days before GCSEs... so a 2 is not very good).  And when it comes to Finnish language tests my only previous experience (in London a few years ago) was less than a happy one.

So I am now the proud owner of a todistus (certificate) showing I achieved Grade 4 at Level 1 'Finnish for Foreigners' and completed 52 lesson modules worth 4 ECTS credits, at Helsingin Seudun Kesäyliopisto ... err, hang on, was that a Grade 4?

It did take me at least 30 loooong seconds to realize that the Finnish grade system goes from 0 (fail) to 5 (excellent) so a 4 is kiitettävä or very good; Wow! And as the papers were given out in order, I must have got the third highest mark out of our twenty odd group of ulkomaalaiset. 

Then we got our papers back and saw my actual mark was 92%... flippin' heck, what do you need for excellent!?

Still, only one down and three more to go before Christmas, and I had done half of this before, but maybe I'm not so bad at languages after all. Minä sanon 'ehkä...'!

Sunnuntai paisti (redux)

sometimes it's not stressful to have a lot on your plate...

Well we got my Sunday roast this time (the full works: roast beef with red wine and mustard gravy, yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and parsnips, cauliflower, sprouts and carrots with white sauce) for my birthday weekend after all. Not that I really needed it after Ravintola Kuurna last night (which I recommend to anyone in Helsinki by the way) ...but anyway. 

'This seems very complicated food' said Hiiri. 'Not really' I thought. 'But what am I going to eat next Sunday if your not here to cook?' asked Hiiri.  Next weekend Konna and I are off to Vieromakki mökki for Bore's birthday, so no strange British cooking for her next week.

I also have my level 1 Finnish exam on Tuesday. Already. So I should be revising the local cases (inesiivi, illatiivi, ellatiivi, adessiivi, allatiivi, ablatiivi), verb types, vowel harmony and consonant gradation (hard to soft: eg. kukka - kukat; katu - kadulla; kenka - kengat; etc) and about twenty other things. Instead I'm going to this award winning film. Well I do need to balance out going to see this one (organised by SAFA-hesari) on Friday after all.