My name is Väinämöinen, and I'll be your teacher for the next few weeks or so. Questions, anyone? No? Okay, let's get straight to work then. Each week I will present you with one Finnish word, and you can say it out loud after my example. We'll start with a word that's familiar to everyone here:

VOIVOD

There. Now, repeat after me. Make sure you get all the letters right! See you next week!

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THE BAND OF BANDS

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VOIVOD

I hope I pronounced it clearly enough for a native Brazilian speaker to understand !

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KIITOS (key-tos)

=Thank you.

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Correct?

Thank you in portuguese:

OBRIGADO (oh-bree-gah-doo).

P.S.: almost forgetting: if you're a woman, you say

OBRIGADA (oh-bree-gah-dah).

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Hmmm...should that be key-toes or key-toss, V?

Obrigada!

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Ok, let's move on since this was supposed to be a crash course. No time to waste! Next we're going to have a look at greetings:

MOI! = Hi!

This word is pronounced like the beginning of "moist". It's a casual greeting, and can be used in many situations. You can also use it when you're leaving, as in "bye".

HYVÄÄ PÄIVÄÄ = Good afternoon

Ok, this one's probably a bit of a bitch to pronounce. The finnish "Y" is like it's German counterpart, so it's a quite strong vowel. "Ä" is pronounced like the "a" in "bad". Let's have a go:

(hy-vää päi-vää)

Obrigado for your co-operation, we'll have a lunch break now!

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Obrigada for clarifying how to properly pronounce "kiitos"

Um, oh yeah: VOIVOOOOOOOD!

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Well, I already started using v's thread to teach some portuguese as well, so here we go.

MOI = HI = OI in portuguese. Pronounce it exactly like the Oi! of the skinhead Oi bands and you'll be clearly understood.

Now we have a difficult one.

HYVÄÄ PÄIVÄÄ = GOOD AFTERNOON = BOA TARDE.
Now remember: the letter "O" in portuguese is normally pronounced like "oh" when in middle of words. The letter "U" is pronounced "oo" (like, say, boo!) in any word. Reason for the pronouce of "U"? Boa is pronounced "boh-oo-ah" (please don't ask me why a three-letter-word is pronounced as if it had four letters).

Tarde is easier. "Tar-dee", with "a" pronounced like the a on "fart". Ugh.

You can use "boa tarde" when arriving or when leaving, just like now.

Boa tarde.

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What do the following names mean in English: Lama; Tervet Kadeet; Rattus; Appendix; Riistetyt??

BTW, I don't know where Terveet Kädet got their name from but I suspect it may have something to do with a Finnish saying: "You've got healthy hands, why aren't you working?". The band's name is a kind of a sarcastic joke, because most people belonging to the older generations (born before the golden sixties) in Finland don't generally think musicianship (...except composing or playing strictly classical stuff...) counts as something to be taken seriously. The least appreciated group is, of course, those "drug-abusing, sexually and morally perverted rock and roll idols of the youth"(free quotation from a newspaper article).

Hey, I forgot to mention last time that HYVÄÄ PÄIVÄÄ is used only when meeting sb, not when one is leaving.

If you want to say "Goodbye" in a formal way, you can for example say "NÄKEMIIN". "E" is pronounced like in "metal" or "deaf", "I" is used like in "tee" or "me". But then again, who on this board need formal speech anyway ?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Väinämöinen:
Ahh, the good ol' HC bands, hehe! Lama stands for "Repression", Terveet Kädet means "Healthy (as in good, usable) Hands", Rattus & Appendix aren't really Finnish words but Riistetyt means...ta da..."The Exploited"!

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Thank you, teacher. Actually, I suspected Rattus and Appendix weren't Finnish names, but I couldn't resist mentioning those two...

BTW, there's only one band in the entire world that doesn't need to attend neither the Finnish crash course nor Slaytanic's Portuguese classes. The one and only Força Macabra!
Have you heard of these folks, Väinämöinen?? Despite being from Finland, your compatriots sing in...Portuguese!! Talk about uniqueness...

quote:

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Originally posted by Mr Eddy:
The one and only Força Macabra!
Have you heard of these folks, Väinämöinen?? Despite being from Finland, your compatriots sing in...Portuguese!! Talk about uniqueness...

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Yeah, I've heard some FM in the past but I didn't know they sing in Portuguese. That's pretty unique in these parts, really! There's another Finnish band called Deep Turtle (yes, a horrible choice for a name) that has been singing in at least Latin, Finnish, English and maybe German before, and currently they're using Spanish...

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Kaikki On Paskaa!
Kiitos!

I think we should tell the others what those words you brought to class mean. Here we go:

Alakulttuuri is "subculture",
kusipää means "pisshead",
200 means two hundred
Kaikki is "everything" or "everybody"
on denotes "is" and
paska means "shit".

As you probably noticed, we didn't include some letters in the ends of the words. That's because we mostly concentrate on the basic forms of the words this semester.
Cheers!

[edit] oops, forgot one word...päivä means "a day" or "daytime"!

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Now it's time to move on to the most important area of everyday communication: ordering drinks!

Iso Guinness, kiitos!

"A large pint (0.5 or 0.6 liter in Finland) of Guinness, please!"

or

Iso kolmonen!

"A large pint of any class III (that's 3.9-4.7 alc %) beer on tap"

iso = large, kolmonen = kolme = three

Kippis! = Cheers!

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Iso Guiness! and while you're at it - iso kolmonen too, kiitos! (yes, I'm a two-fisted drinker, and besides I don't really like Guiness, I'll need something lighter to wash it down).

Kippis!

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kahvi (coh-ve).

If you're not that hung over, you might add a friendly "kiitos" (in this case, 'please'). Otherwise just stare at your shoes and hand the money to the barista. I say barista because in most coffee-selling places in Finland you'll have to pour the coffee yourself, just the "serious" coffee places have decent service.

Okay, so what if you want some milk with the coffee? Just say

kahvi maidolla (my-doll-ah, 'with milk').

The 'exotic' coffee varieties (yes, latté is still considered something fancy by some people here ) are called the same here as in most other countries. Espresso is espresso, kahvi is kahvi

PS. Hey Brazilians, I met a dancer from your country when I was in Sweden yesterday. I said "boa nuite" to her, and she replied "boa nuite". To me it sounded like "boa nuis" with no "h"'s in "boa"! Why's that? Am I finally deaf? Hehehe!

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(I'm never hungover )

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Haista vittu!

[edit: (hi-sta vi[t]-two). The 1st "t" in "vittu" is a silent one, just put your tongue against your front teeth and wait for a couple of tenths of seconds, then finish the word by saying "two". However, don't move your tongue away from the "t" position before saying "two", just sort of continue the word straight from there. ]

That's Fuck you! in E.

Actually the words have quite a different meaning when they are not used together: Haista is a singular imperative form of smell (I want you to smell sth!), and vittu means pussy. Guess if it refers to the animal or the other furry thing...

PS.
Glad Vappen, alla svenskspråkiga!

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