Allow me to spin a quick yarn about the joy of confusing Finnish people who assume I can’t speak Finnish.
Nationality Soup
Last May, my ammattikorkeakoulu had what’s called an International Project Week. It’s a whole thing. Students from Germany came to visit, and the English- and Finnish-language sides of the business programs participated. It was like nationality soup, and every flavor made the whole thing better. I was sorted into a diverse group of students from all over and by Wednesday, we already sorta-kinda knew each other.
That morning, I entered the classroom and went to sit down next to K. Knowing he’s Finnish, I asked ”onks tää teiän?” in reference to his backpack/jacket on the adjacent seat.
K: ”…on kyl”
Minä: ”saanks mä siirtää nää, jotta voin istua?”
K: ”Joo, totta kai saat!”
and he moved his things.
Then the ”wait a minute….” look, as if you could see the loading symbol spinning in front of his forehead. Spidey-senses tingling. A disturbance in the force.
It was in this moment that K realized yes, I’m MURICAN through and through, but I also speak Finnish.
Quiet Acknowledgement
I can’t exactly remember how this fact was established with the other Finns at the table. It may have been acknowledged with a raised eyebrow and/or friendly nod in my direction – so very Finnish.
Later on, when chatting with classmates from Germany, one asked ”Do you speak Finnish? I heard you talking earlier but I thought you were from the US?”
Before I got a word in, K blurted out ”YES she’s fluent! I heard her speaking English yesterday and then today she’s speaking to me in perfect Finnish.”
This poor guy was SHOOK. I obviously don’t speak perfect Finnish, but gimme a few more years. I’m trying to reach Neil Hardwick-level fluency.
Y’all.
The YEARS of daily consistent effort (even on days when I wanted to toss my Finnish books out the window) make funny moments like these feel SO good. I only hope this story inspires others on their language-learning journeys to keep persevering and keep on keepin’ on. It’s not easy, but that experience made, just for a few moments, all the hard work that led me to this point worth the literal tears and awkward moments.
What’s next? Probably the advanced YKI-testi. Let’s see how I’m feeling after graduation.
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