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Thoughts on Language Learning
by Laura Langohr
Last October I headed to Ljubljana, Slovenia, for half a year's research visit. Sitting in the airplane I remembered colleagues and friends back in Helsinki wondering about my plan to take a Slovene course. Even though I would stay only six months I wanted to learn some Slovene, a language only 2 million people speak.
Few weeks later I was already able to understand some basic phrases and numbers. Hence I did not need to look for the display when paying at the supermarket. Fetching a coffee at the institute's machine, other PhD students would ask "kako si?" (how are you?) and I would answer "dobro" (good) or "v redu" (fine) and "pa ti?" (and you?).
Half a year is indeed little time to learn a language. Of course discussions about my research were in English only. In my spare time I asked countless times "oprostite, govorite angleško?" (excuse me, do you speak English?). There are some unforgettable moments, too, that usually ended in laughter. For example, when mixing up "robček" (tissue) with "modrček" (bra)...
Being back in Helsinki, I am forgetting Slovene more and more. Nevertheless, I am glad I made that effort. It made many situations much easier. Not to mention how helpfully it is meeting people.
Still I wonder about a few things:
* Why was it surprising to many that I wanted to learn that language? Is it only the small numbers of native speakers there are or what other reasons there might be?
* Those of you who are learning Finnish: Where do you practice? Don't you think the office or coffee room are ideal places?
* And how about you, Finnish native speakers? Are you shy or even embarrassed to use your mother tongue? Why don't you give your foreign colleagues and friends a chance to practice? Why do you not encourage them, to use whatever words they know?
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Laura is doing her PhD at the CS department. Her research interests include knowledge and link discovery, bioinformatics, and data mining.
http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/en/people/langohr
21.10.2014 - 13:50
01.07.2013 - 12:39
15.02.2013 - 18:49
Why I don't speak Finnish to foreigners (at least by default)
Well, shyness or embarrassment surely weren't the first things in my mind when thinking about this.
For me, the primary reasons are convenience and plain selfish desire of keeping my English sharp. It is usually much quicker to convey my message in English, and I get to practice my active vocabulary. Also, trying to estimate others' proficiency or even willingness to learn Finnish isn't the easiest task ever.
I guess that the last part can be abstracted to certain level of shyness. I mean, why not to ask people what they prefer and act accordingly? There may also be some sort of embarrassment in thinking that foreigners' don't want to learn Finnish by default. However, most of the time I just wish to communicate my message as quick as possible. I'd like to think of it as a kind of opt-in instead of opt-out.
If there is something I'm really embarrassed about, it's the horrible rally-driver-style of English some of the Finnish staff seem to favor. Not to mention the "person who know aid" sign in the coffee room ;)
and why I usually don't speak Finnish to Finns
There are a few reasons why I still (after several Finnish courses) mostly speak English:
(1) I completely agree with the previous entry, English is simply the more convenient language. I probably could by now say most of the things in (slow and bad) Finnish, but it is just much more effort. It also is hard to judge how patient someone would be, when I would start speaking Finnish and possibly have to ask a few times to repeat things, if I didn't understand.
(2) I feel a bit embarrassed to speak Finnish when too many people listen to me, as it would be f.ex. in the coffee room.
(3) Usually people start talking in English to me, probably because it is hard for them to judge on which level my Finnish is... I also blame myself that I always start in English and never try to surprise anyone with Finnish :)
my 2 cents
I can totally understand that you wanted to learn some Slovene, even if it isn't of much use to you later on. I had the same feeling when I came to Finland and initially planed to stay just one year.
Still, my Finnish is only very basic to this day. My own laziness being the main reason: For someone from Central Europe, Finnish isn't easy to pick up. But most Finns speak pretty decent English and so you can get along rather easy without learning Finnish. For me personally, it wasn't until the very end of my stint that I met some people whom I actually wanted to talk to and couldn't, because they didn't speak English. At least this experience kept the intention to learn the language alive.
I don't consider the office or coffee room the ideal place to practice. Again, maybe I am just lazy, but I go to the coffee room to relax and have some small talk. I do not go there to painfully try to come up with one understandable sentence only to get told that I made about a dozen mistakes in it (and I have to be told about the mistakes, as otherwise I wouldn't learn).
Learning FAinnish is easier in day to day use
A s a british expat andm residing in Finland for the last 23 years I have seen and learnt more Finnish language by jus socialising more.
Join local group meeting and try to get involved with what is going on in your local area.I do find that the Finns I know prefer to speak E nglish to me.May be it is a want of learning and practice for them.
I have to steer the conversation to Finnish manyu times
Greg
http://www.nectareal.com
Hi Laura, I've found this
Hi Laura,
I've found this page totally by accident when I was searching for courses of slovene language in Helsinki. I'm from Slovenia and currently living in Helsinki where I work as an au-pair and in case you'd like to meet up and practice your slovene with me, you're most welcome! You can write me to anjavalo(at)yahoo.com (that's the email address I use only when telling it in public places but I'll make sure to check mail each day in case you see my comment here and decide to write to me).
lep pozdrav,
Anja