Brit Reacts to Finnish Language l Can Swedish Speakers Understand it?
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- čas přidán 17. 09. 2023
- Can Swedes understand Finnish?
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Dwayne's View
"Can Swedes understand Finnish?" Nope, not even close. It's a completely different language from a different family (Finno-Ugric languages) that seems as different to Swedish as Japanese does.
Interestingly, I've heard some people hearing Japanese for the first time saying that it sounds a bit like Finnish. Don't know if there's any relation at all between the languages, but I could agree there's a few similarities to how they pronounce certain letters.
And yes, it's just as difficult for Swedes (and most other Europeans) to understand Finnish as it is to understand Japanese.
17 pct of Swedish citizens understand finnish.
@@madsbuhris 17%?? I looked it up and it says 2.45%
With a little effort, you can identify old loan words from Swedish and Low German though.
@@scyphe Du blandar nu ihop med etniska Svenskar såsom Tornedalingar med 2 och 3 generationens Sverige finnar som lär vara till antalet 1,17 miljoner. Hur bra dessa mera kan finska är en annan sak. Tex Daniel Ståhl pratar flytande finska men Charlotte Kalla lite grann.
Finnish is in a completly differnt language group, Scandinavians trying to understand it is similar to if Italians tried to understand Polish.
Polish and Italian are in the same language group.
It's more like Italian and Japanese.
Italian, Polish and the Scandinavian languages are all Indo-European mate. Finnish is a Uralic language it's completely different.
@@ellav5387 Fair enough, my point was that Finnish is completly different from Germanic Languages. I can see that Slavic languages could possibly be more understandable to Germanic or Romance speakers, though if you're an Italian and move to Warsaw, I doubt you'll understand anything.
@@MrGunnar69 Sure. I'm pretty sure though that an Italian wouldn't understand a single word from a Polish mouth.
But you are correct in that most European languages has some shared history, it's usually divided up though, Germanic, Romance, Slavic, etc.
I hope you could do some kind of collab with Dave Cad. He is a Brit with Finnish-Swedish wife, living in Finland. He have studied both Swedish and Finnish, and he have said it have been easier to learn Swedish than Finnish.
Oh I love his videos I need to react to some more of them. I’m not surprised, it does sound more familiar to my ears as a native English speaker. Finnish sounds like an entirely new language. Completely unintelligible.
11:03 Your Absoulutely right.
Finnish is Famous for beeing one of the hardest languages in the world to learn.
There are 15 different case that governs the inflection of nouns (endings for nouns) and a seriously complicated grammer structure.
German was hard enough for me and it has 4 !
The swedish/norwegian talkshow Skavlan tested a language-genius in how much finnish he would manige to learn in one week..
I dont speak a word of finnish my self.
But I worked for a german companie in Norway with a Finnish costumerbase, and the smartest doctor in the lab tryed to learn finnish.. he gave up.
That 15 sound more easy than it is, because you can concatenate different suffixes to same work. For example normal noun (for example "shop") have 2253 different combination of forms and suffixes. We do not have in/on/at/from/to/etc.. words, we but that information at the end of words, that is why there are over 2000 forms of words.
But in contrast there are some easy things also. In finnish language you don't need to think about gender of words. When you pronounce words you just need to learn sound of every letter, but when you know them they are always the same. A is always A regardless what other letters are around it. and same for all letters. And for example spelling contests what I have seen in some US-movies are totally stupid idea in finnish language, since everyone can write the word when they hear it. (Even foreigners can learn to write very quickly. I have had 2 foreign colleagues and they both managed to write the word after hearing it)
As a Swede, I've tried learning Finnish but it's almost impossible.
I think easiest way to learn Finnish might be by reading Finnish books with subjects/stories that are interesting to you (that way you can have fun with the studying and if you get bored of one book you can always change it to another). The letters are always pronounced the same way and even if the "kirjakieli" ("book language") is more formal it's still one that every Finnish person understands. Also I would say that just about every Finnish person can actually speak "the book language" if they try so if someone learns that they can speak easily with a Finnish person.
Though it might be hard to get Finnish reading material if you are not living in Finland.
The spoken language is mostly just slang made from shortened words mixed with borrowed words from other language (like English and Swedish) and then there are the dialects that are often hard for most Finnish people who are not from that area.
Extra note:
I personally learned English by reading stories written in English. Any time that there was a word that I didn't understand I used an online translator sanakirja.org (it's really good with Finnish words). At first I had to use the translator almost all the time but after probably few months I started to notice that I didn't use the translator nearly as often and after a year I barely used it at all.
Are Swedes so much dumber than Finns?
Of course it would be easier for you to learn Norwegian,Swedish and Danish beacause of the influence those nordic languages have had on the modern English language since the viking era!
Or that English is a West Germanic language and the other three are North Germanic languages, even though Danish has had a large influence of alcoholism.
Makes complete sense, I definitely here the similarities.
During the Viking conquest of Britain, the Old Norse and the language of the Anglo-Saxons were mutually intelligeble to a certain degree. The Norman conquest fucked up the Old English a big time, leading the disaster of irrational spelling vs writing of modern day English. For a Finnish speaker its just crazy, because Finnish is very phonetic language. Meaning the words are spelled just the way they are written.
@@blissfull_ignorance8454 Do not forget that the Normanns was only 3rd generation when England was invaded in 1066!
They originated from Danish Vikings!
Pretty much all food packaging and lots of other things have mulitilingual text on them in Nordic countries so as a Swede you likely understand some odd words in Finnish. For example there's Ei saa peittää which means do not cover, it's on lots of radiators.
Classic!
Old Finnish proverb:"Jos ei sauna, viina ja terva auta, on tauti kuolemaksi." ( If sauna, booze and tar don't help, it's a deadly disease.) ( Om bastu, sprit och tjära inte hjälper är det en dödssjukdom.) I'm bit sceptical of that Swedish translation.
Deadly disease=Dödlig sjukdom
Om bastu, sprit och tjära inte hjälper, är det en dödlig sjukdom? From looking at the English translation it looks correct, but as a Swede I wouln't be able to tell from the Finnish text if it really is what's being said. Very Finnish!
I would translate sprit here to = brännvin.
I understand all these languages but never thought of it as an unusual ability. But on reflection it is and has given me friends for life.
Swedes may recognize some Finnish words due to the fact that many words from Swedish have been borrowed into the Finnish language over time. We Sweden - Finland have a long history together...
More than half of Finnish loanwords have come from or through Swedish. The oldest Swedish loanwords date back to the 800s AD, when they came from Old Swedish. The youngest loans are from modern times. Words borrowed from Swedish are considered the latest loanword layer.For example, the words monkey, trousers and hat have come from Sweden.
Nice haircut i love you man
Aw thanks :). I actually attempted to cut it myself so that’s a massive compliment lol!
Finnish is one of the most difficult languages in the world (for native English speakers; generally ranked #6 most difficult). Reason being that - although it has many loan words - it mostly has an unique vocabulary and grammar is highly complex. It's also very flexible in a sense, that people can basically invent totally new words on the fly during casual conversation. Some of them then become more widely used. This is of course true with basically any language, but in Finnish it happens much more frequently. But the most difficult aspects are unique words (lot's of them) and complex grammar. I study Japanese at the moment, and as a Finnish person, I don't find it very difficult. Japanese writing systems (hiragana, katakana and kanji) seems to be a total mess at first, but actually they are not that difficult after all. Also the grammar is way easier than Finnish grammar. Japanese also has loads of unique words, which is the most difficult aspect of it.
Finnish language is not as difficult to learn as it first seem. It is very consistant language without many exceptions. Every letter have exactly one pronaunciation, and ephasis is always at the first syllable of the word. Finnish only seem hard because it is different than english, but if someone from asia for example without prior knowledge of either language tries to learn them, finnish would be easier to learn than english.
Yes but we have hundreds of ways to say a word like koir koiran koirasta koiraan koiralta koirilta koirille koistahan koiristako and hudreds more
This only true for the basics, but already starting at intermediate level the sheer flexibility and complexity of the grammar will overwhelm most learners. It is extremely rare to find non-native speakers who have managed to pass the intermediate level
@@Songfugel That is the case with the most languages. When you talk to someone whose first language isn't the one currently spoken, you can hear that from their accent. But if you can understand everything they say, and they get to say everything they want, it doesn't matter that if some words have different forms or pronaunciations, you understand each other.
@@nikkari5780 yes, Finnish has postposition, but english has preposition. Both laguages get the forms, they are just in a different parts of the sentence. And even though there is like 15 cases in Finnish, every word uses them. Once you learn them, you are set.
@@Tyrisalthan No, I am not talking about accent
This is pretty funny video I must confess, but no, people from other Nordic countries have no clue about our language, and that's totally undestandable. 😂
So true! I was totaly clueless. Couldnt guess anything right :) The only finnish I know is (and excuse my spelling) Eii sa peiite (do not cover) Paiina lapiin sissin java (push in to open) Parasta ennen (best before) Moii mukullat (hello kids)
I would not survive in Finland one day :D
Swedish, Danish, German, English and Norwegian are Indoeuropean languages. Finnish is Finno-Ugric language, not in same language group.
Ahh that explains why it sounds so different.
Finnish is hard at beginning but once you learn the basic and understand the logic in gets easier.
The Finnish pronounciation is very logical and every letters count unlike in French. Why do the French write many letters but left them to pronounce? The phonetic values of Finnish letters resemble the original Latin ones, not those occurring in English.
Besides unlike in German, there are no three grammatical genders (der, das, die) in Finnish language. Even the third person pronoun "hän" means both he and she, it doesn't tell if "hän" is a man or a woman. The other third person pronoun "se" means same as it in English, and it is used for animals and things, not for humans.
A Finnish word for a car is just "auto", not "das Auto" like in German or like "en bil" in Swedish. In the Finnish language there are no definite nor indefinite articles, and all the locations can be tell without prepositions but with case endings. For instance "autossa" = in a car, "autosta" (elative) = from (inside) a car, "autoon" = into a car, "autolla" = on a car, "autolta" (ablative) = from a car, "autolle" = onto a car. Luckily my parents told all about 15 noun cases when I was just a baby boy!
I'm Swedish but my grandfather was a Finn, and i know some basic stuff because of it but i pretty much only remember the bad words😂
The Finnish is difficult for everyone but not impossible.
Yeah it just sounds like a completely different language. So no words that sound like English. Which is fine because that’s the whole point of learning a new language lol
@@dwaynesview She was speaking mostly the official, aka "book Finnish", which uses Finnish origin words rather than loanwords, when possible. In everyday conversations you'd hear a lot more English loanwords, which makes learning a lot easier. If you don't know the word for something modern (as in, internet age), just add an "I" to the end of the English word and there's a fair chance that's the (at least slang) word for the thing. 😂
I were speaking of the Finnish language in general, forgot to mention it..
Both Swedish and English are Germanic languages, and the vikings raided England a lot of times, and some vikings even settled in England, Scotland, Ireland and Isle of Man. Not so many in Wales though.
Since we are all Germanic languages we do have much in common, and the vikings influenced the English language a lot. About 200 of the most used English words are from old Norse.
Examples are "here", "there", "window", "this", "that", "them" and many more.
Finnish on the other hand is NOT related to Germanic, and not even to Indo-European languages. FInnisg is part of the Finnic-Ugric languages, together with Estonian, Sami, Karelian, Hungarian and some other language. Finnic-Ugric are NOT Indo-Eiropean languages. They come from the Uralic languages.
English is closer to Hindi than Swedish is to Finnish.
most scandinavian have probably come in contact with finnish in some way. learned counting to 10 or a phrase that is simmilar but means somthing different in your own language. but other then that most scandinavians whould not be able to speak and undrestand finns in the same way norway swedwn and denmark can.
At least spelling in Finnish is easy. Once you know how to speak it you can pretty much automatically spell every word with some very few exception. On the other hand in English you have to learn how to spell every word apart.
English and Swedish (and the other scandinavian languages) are far more closely related than they are to finnish. English and scandinavian languages are germanic languages. Finnish is a Ugric language, more related to Estonian, Sami language and even Hungarian.
problem is that those lown words where lowned like centuries ago so they have evolved to something else among the time and also Finnish has lot of lown words proto-germanic aka language all germanic language, like scandinavian languages, germani and English, are based to so... In sence we have purer words than other nordic languages from the base language they are speaking.... Lol, Finnish is just so fun language...
Lauri Peisterä: Ei tytöt oota video !
Swedes are pretty good at swearing in Finnish, a lot of people can also count to ten in Finnish, that is about it if you dismiss the loan words. Understanding Finnish is also more common in places close to the Finnish border in the north of Sweden.
I would say that Swedish/Norwegian/Danish vs Finnish!
is like comparing English vs Japanese. There are loanwords (of English in Japanese), but spelled and pronounced rather different then the English counterpart. And all other words are comepletely different, and gramaticly also very different (many fins dont realy do a difference betwene Him and She for example, its usually Him/He when they speak Swedish, even if it's a girl or woman. What I have understand is because they modify their words, endings with the pronaun, or something like that. Dont realy remember what, been 20 years since I learnt about it, and forgott it).
The thing is, as Sweden/Norway is neighbours to Finland, some words you catch over the borders, when growing up here.
And Finnish programs ar'nt that uncommon to se on Swedish TV and hear on Swedish radio (because of politics, history and things).
And also, most instructionbooks, content descriptions and some warning signs on things usually come in both Swedish, Norwegian/Danish and Finish, if it is directed to nordic countries. Like "ei saa peittää" on every heating radiator (meaning: should not be covered). And some frases are just basic knowledge, like the classic "rakastan sinua" (meaning: I Love You) wich in Swedish is "jag älskar dig". Completely different, but most swedes have heard about it. etc. And all or most nordic people know about Suomi (Finnish/Finland) or Sauna ("Bastu" in Swedish), and the finnish "Sisu" (just google it to get a definition, as it is complicated). And most also know what "Satana", "Vittu" and "Perkele" is (because they are some nice finnish swearwords, that you often hear from Finns). ;)
Anyhow.
Cheers.
Long live different languages. I fear for the day whole Europe is only speaking English.
Agreed
Since Swedish, Norwegan and Danish are of germain decent like English, we have a common ground. :) Finnish belongs to another language branch completly. :) Swedes probably know soma frazes though, lite parasta ennen, and ei sa peitä. :D
I understand finnish, danish and some cool brits like Dwayne perfectly. They make perfect sense, awsome people. Norway and Sweden, nope! Even Island happy, but no! Sweden and Norway still no happy.Weirdos!
If i say my hobbies in finnish you can guess them after this video:
Harrastan karatea ja thai nyrkkeilyä
Finnish is difficult to learn, but perhaps that is why you should try to study a bit. Learning a new language is learning a different way of thinking. Languages affect learning and vice versa. But do it as long as it is fun.
we share the same difficulties when learning foreign languages. Learning english is easier, since there is so much good english entairtainment available and most start learning english quite young.
Sweden and Finland was the same country for nearly 700 hundred years. That is alot longer than the history of the USA. And nearly 200 hundred years longer than the foundation and organisation and structure of Sweden that the extremely important King ( for Sweden ) Gustav Wasa did to Sweden 500 years ago when he among many things ended the catholic period in Sweden and started the lutheran church in Sweden.
Saying they were the same country is downplaying Sweden’s colonisation and oppression of Finland. We weren’t the same, equal country. Finland was a conquered territory considered a separate thing from mainland Sweden. A useful buffer zone against Russia, and a source of manpower and resources.
@@Silveirias You do not know what you are writing about. I dislike to use harsh language , there are serious books written in Finland ( and in Sweden) about this period in history, check it out before spreading your ignorant lies .
@@petereriksson7166 How are they lies that Swedes conquered Finland and started colonising it? The Finnish language had no official status, the Finns were second class citizens on their own land. You want to see Sweden's actions against Finland through rose tinted glasses. "Sweden and Finland were the same country uwu."
@@Silveirias If you are a finn go to a serious bookstore and talk to the personel about the top books written by finns on the subject when Finland and Sweden was 1 country, If you are not a finn shut up.
@@petereriksson7166 One country in which the eastern part was treated like a colony.
I suggest you check Wikipedia's article "Finland under Swedish rule" and go to part 5 "The Swedish attitude towards Finland" for a quick overview. Finland was not considered equal to Sweden.
Ei ne ruotsalaiset sua pane vaikka niitä simppaatkin. Ruotsi ei todellakaan ollut mikään ihana ja reilu Suomea kohtaan ja alkas pikkuhiljaa olla aika luopua suomettumisesta myös Ruotsin suhteen.
Finnish is easy. I learned to speak it already at the age of two
No shit
The difference between spoken Finnish and written Finnish is significant.
// Mainly Swedish-speaking Finn
Finnish is another language tree so no we can not speak it if we do not learn it. Danish is also getting a lot different then Swedish. The closest now for us to understand is people in Norway but the younger Generations is harder as also that language is getting further from Swedish.
Its going to take me a while to get used to see you without beard
LOL! It’s taken me a while seeing me without one too 😂
The answer is no. They might understand a word here and there which have been borrowed or derived from Swedish. That's it. Like poika, for example.
You are so wrong...Swedish word pojke is a loan word from Finnish (poika) and there are more ..känga from kenkä...
There are lot of loanwords from Swedish in Finnish, but otherwise Finnish is a completely different language from the other Nordic languages. In fact, Finnish isnt even an European language at all, unlike the majority of the languages spoken in Europe that belong to the Indo-European language family.
Hungarian and Estonian are the only major languages in Europe that are related to Finnish, though Hungarian isnt understandable for Finnish ears at all. Estonian is much closer, there are even similar words with Finnish in Estonian, but they can mean totally different things. Other Finno-Ugric languages are various, apoken around the vast territory of Russian Federation, spanding from the Gulf of Finland to Siberian tundras, but most of them are pretty minor language, only Finnish, Hungarian and Estonian being the official languages of independent states.
All these things are taught at school. Why so much fuss about it.
@@butterflies655 not everywhere, I dare to suggest.
Nyrkkeily is more like "fisticuffs" because "nyrkki" is "fist". So it's doing thing with your fists.
Finnish is the third most difficult language in the world, followed by Russian and Chinese
No.
Did you know that the Finnish language has more than 4000 loan words from Swedish.
To be honest, me as a Swedish speaking, i dont understand spoken danish at all.
Finish comes from a completely different family of languages. It has no relation whatsoever to swedish, danish or norwegian. 😁
Swedish people can understand finnish as well as english speakers can... not at all.
She used clumsy words "kuvien ottaminen" as her hobby...."valokuvaus" would have been better...
They should have known the "cat" because it was the first word they learned! Good try anyway..
In spoken Finnish cat is often katti.
But Finnish is one of the most structular langueges in world. If you learn the rules, 99% you are going to get ok.
Dwayne, for christ sake, scandinavian languages belongs to the same language family as english. Finnish language is just as alien to us as it is to you.
Yeah I can definitely hear it now lol! Listening to Swedish vs listening to Finnish. Is completely different. Like I don’t understand a word.
As a Finn...no.
Impossible. Totally different language group, as said.
But I did learn some Swedish at school during the 7th-9th grade back in the 90's.
I also live in a Swedish majority town in Finland.
But can a Swede uderstand Finnish? No.
Does a Finnswede even try to speak Finnish? No.
The finnish woman prounounce the words as you would to a child thats why it sounds weird :D