I am amazed how so many words in Finnish are built the same way as in Swedish. Of course we share history and are siblings but we often talk about how Swedes and Norwegians understand eachother. Finnish doesn`t sound like Swedish but the words he talks about are built in similar ways. We have dust sucker = dammsugare, river horse = flodhäst (which is very different from a lake horse = sjöhäst Hippocampus). Even though we don’t understand eachother our words are built the same way. Fascinating!
The "Horse" in water horse comes from via Latin from Greek hippopotamos, earlier hippos ho potamios ‘river horse’ (from hippos ‘horse’, potamos ‘river’).
15:55 "How is it possible a language can be difficult, but easy?" I'd argue in Finnish' case it's because the language is actually really easy. The problem is that it's very, very different than most other languages. It's like comparing, say, swimming and cooking. And learning it therefore also requires an entirely different mindset. One can't learn to cook by thinking the rules for swimming apply. But when one "gets it", they usually find Finnish very straightforward to learn. The caveat of course being that *all* languages are hard to learn, especially as one gets older.
The pronounciation in Finnish is a lot simpler than English because there is no silent letters nor exceptions to exceptions (one and the only exception is how the pairing of N and G are pronounced, like in kenguru, kangaroo) how each letter can be pronounced. It's difficult to you because you are thinking pronounciation through English. For example, O in any word is pronounced in the same way (like "ooh" for you) in Finnish, not like "ouch" or "orange" have a different pronounciation for the letter O, "ouch" would be "autsh" for Finns explaining how the word is pronounced and "orange" would become "orintsh" or something like that. ;)
Pronuciation is one of the easiest things in finnish language, Dwayne! :) Every letter is basically pronounced the same way every time (exeption being the -ng combinaton), so you just learn how to pronounce a letter and you are good to read any word in finnish after that. Not like in english or in most languages where pronunciation differs depending on the location of the letter and what letters are around it.
Adding to that, the problem isn't just in the pronunciation of things, but also in the fact that long words are simply hard to parse together by someone who isn't used to seeing long words. If one is not used to seeing them, it's a bit like if they had dyslexia. For example, the word "rautatieasema" might look like "rautaitsema". When Finnish kids are learning to read, the books they read often have hyphens separating syllables, which makes it a lot easier to parse those long words together. Instead of having to read "rautatieasema", they see "rau-ta-tie-a-se-ma", which makes it a lot easier to sound out. I haven't seen a lot of that being used in material for learning Finnish as a second/third/etc language, but I think it should be made more common.
These always make me appreciate how literal our language is. And with the phonetic writing you dont have to even guess how words are written. If you can say it, you can write it. My fav might be "tietokone". "Tietää" is "to know". "Tieto" is "knowledge". "Kone" is "machine". So "tietokone" is "knowledge machine" or "computer". And going even further, one meaning of "kone" used to be "magic trinket" or "magic". And machines do all sorts of magic tricks today. And of course the word "tietää" comes from "tie" or "road/way" Becoming a verb "to road somewhere, knowing the way to somewhere", shortened to "waying".
And of course, that used to be more like a route. It's not like any of the ancient hunter-gatherers bothered to build roads anywhere. Knowing the way trough a swamp would be most important thing to know if you plan to cross it. These days they make it easy with half-logs or planks to walk on.
Swedish Näsduk (Nose Cloth) Flodhäst (River Horse) Dammsugare (Dust sucker) For the underwear we're closer to English, Long Johns is "Långkalsonger" (Long Male Underwear) Noshörning (Nose Antlerned/Horned) Pussel (Puzzle) Blyertspenna (Leadish pen) The whale shown looks like a "späckhuggare" (Fat grabber), but Swordfish is Svärdfisk Dokument, or Formulär would be Document Kvällstidning (Evening Paper) Paraply (Umbrella)
Hippo = latin horse, pottamus - of the river. So, in latin it's a river horse. (- - What's your quiestion about the horse?😉) same word in German: Flusspferd ... Fluss = river, Pferd = horse. Vacuum Cleaner in German is Staubsauger: Staub = dust saugen = to suck. And it goes on ... completely different language, same compound in German. Fascinating!
Puhaltaa yhteen hiileen - Blow to one carbon or coal Meaning: Combines the forces of several people for the same goal. Used in situations where only cooperation can achieve something.
“Sateenvarjo” does have another literal translation: “rain protection”. As shade is protected from the sun. Also “laskuvarjo” means protection from descending/falling (parachute).
I'm sure someone has already pointed it out, but virta means curent, so it wouldn't be a water horse, but a river horse or something in that direction.
'Rautahepo' (Iron horse) is a train. More formally 'juna'. Finnish accent explained: "Memesplained: Rally English". Hydraulic Press Channel is a popular Finnish channel. Apparently English speakers get a kick out of listening the Finnish accent: "How to pronounce words in Finnish accent?".
Also, "kirja" is closer connected to "to log/record" (see "kirjata") than "to book (something)". So "asiakirja" - I'd say - is more like "case record".
Dave probably saw that word every time he opened his text processing program or uploaded something. If someone set his computer work in Finnish for learning purposes that is.
Most useful Finnish word that everyone should learn is Hilavitkutin. It's an old word but a good answer to anything if you have to answer something in Finnish.
Usually the latter part of combined words marks what the object actually is and the first one tells about the quality or nature of object. So usually the last part is more important. Although as seen here only the words together make sense after all.
Perhaps we can blame Herodotos for this river horse thing, he apparently mixed up marmots and ants(!) and this is what he had to say about the hippopotamus: "This animal has four legs, cloven hoofs like an ox, a snub nose, a horse's mane and tail, conspicuous tusks, a voice like a horse's neigh, and is about the size of a very large ox. Its hide is so thick and though that when dried it can be made into spear-shafts." Must have been some game of broken telephone involved since he most likely never saw a hippo himself.
Well great, I didn't know Orca is Miekkavalas in Finnish, I've always called them Orca or Tappajavalas (Killer Whale / tappaja=killer, valas=whale). But I have only lived in Finland since my birth 46 years ago 😂
Finnish is hard and easy at the same time. For example take a kid who is learning to speak. They come up with their own words when they don't know the exact word but BUT! you still can understand what they mean. We have a rich language. One word can be several things and one thing can have several names.
Virtahepo is a strange one since even if they translate virta as water here, it's actually more literally a current. Like a current in a water or river. Or maybe even a river in some cases, translating it as water is odd to me. Water would be vesi. Hepo is also not an official word for horse, that would be hevonen. It's more like a slang or shortened version of word. You often don't find many adults calling horses "hepo" at least very seriously, it's considered kinda cutesy word. So even if you know what a horse is in Finnish, it might be impossible for you to understand the context. Finnish is easy, I've been speaking it for 34 years fluently.
Tips. The sound should come more out of the mouth, expanding, clear, not just from the throat or inward. Never add th sound when pronouncing word, except if is included in the word. Hard to explain.🌷Finnish is clear and accurate.
Sarvikuono would be a fantastic name for a drink! Maybe we can make one up? Sarvikuono is strong, scary animal so maybe we'll start with vodka? Vodka can be really scary, you know? What else goes into that drink other than vodka? Help me out on this one, please?
Sarvikuono sounds like it ought to be a shot, at least to me. Not something you nurse over the evening. Maybe something like Slippery Nipple, but with some cinnamon to add some "earthiness" to it?
English pronunciation is full of exceptions for example beard, bear the ear is always different, why oh why. 😅 Finnish, being a root type of language, allows you to pronounce most words as they are written, and the meanings of words are logical. In English, however, you just have to learn how to spell all the exceptions. In spanish and latin you can also many times split the word to the pieces and make sense out of it but in english it is rare that you can do that.
When it is a compound word, try to separate the individual words and say them individually after each other. You don't have to rly rush with the whole word.
I don't think it helps much but every Finnish word is said the way it is written. If you know the sounds of the letters you know how to spell the word. Not like your Worcester in England. 🤣
What's very un-intuitive in finnish, it seems, is that Finns always say every letter of their language exactly as they are said in the finnish alphabet, and read the words in 1-3 letter bits/syllables with (diminishing) gaps.. Trying to pronounce finnish words as whole is so hard, because it is an illusion.. :D
I have enjoyed watching your videos, but recently I noticed you place adds every minute! This makes me skip your videos unfortunately :( I think its too much for a 17 minutes long video to have 15 adds
We do have and accent but have you ever thought how much you suck in finnish pronunciation? For a english not that bad...still butchering it mate. Love from Finlandia piacere.
I am amazed how so many words in Finnish are built the same way as in Swedish. Of course we share history and are siblings but we often talk about how Swedes and Norwegians understand eachother. Finnish doesn`t sound like Swedish but the words he talks about are built in similar ways. We have dust sucker = dammsugare, river horse = flodhäst (which is very different from a lake horse = sjöhäst Hippocampus). Even though we don’t understand eachother our words are built the same way. Fascinating!
It's mostly because of Latin origins, that was a learning language. Finnish especially wasn't a written language for so long.
The "Horse" in water horse comes from via Latin from Greek hippopotamos, earlier hippos ho potamios ‘river horse’ (from hippos ‘horse’, potamos ‘river’).
virtahepo literal transition is current horse. rivers have river current :D
15:55 "How is it possible a language can be difficult, but easy?"
I'd argue in Finnish' case it's because the language is actually really easy. The problem is that it's very, very different than most other languages. It's like comparing, say, swimming and cooking.
And learning it therefore also requires an entirely different mindset. One can't learn to cook by thinking the rules for swimming apply. But when one "gets it", they usually find Finnish very straightforward to learn. The caveat of course being that *all* languages are hard to learn, especially as one gets older.
The pronounciation in Finnish is a lot simpler than English because there is no silent letters nor exceptions to exceptions (one and the only exception is how the pairing of N and G are pronounced, like in kenguru, kangaroo) how each letter can be pronounced. It's difficult to you because you are thinking pronounciation through English. For example, O in any word is pronounced in the same way (like "ooh" for you) in Finnish, not like "ouch" or "orange" have a different pronounciation for the letter O, "ouch" would be "autsh" for Finns explaining how the word is pronounced and "orange" would become "orintsh" or something like that. ;)
Pronuciation is one of the easiest things in finnish language, Dwayne! :) Every letter is basically pronounced the same way every time (exeption being the -ng combinaton), so you just learn how to pronounce a letter and you are good to read any word in finnish after that. Not like in english or in most languages where pronunciation differs depending on the location of the letter and what letters are around it.
Adding to that, the problem isn't just in the pronunciation of things, but also in the fact that long words are simply hard to parse together by someone who isn't used to seeing long words. If one is not used to seeing them, it's a bit like if they had dyslexia. For example, the word "rautatieasema" might look like "rautaitsema".
When Finnish kids are learning to read, the books they read often have hyphens separating syllables, which makes it a lot easier to parse those long words together. Instead of having to read "rautatieasema", they see "rau-ta-tie-a-se-ma", which makes it a lot easier to sound out. I haven't seen a lot of that being used in material for learning Finnish as a second/third/etc language, but I think it should be made more common.
”Lehti” translates to ”Leaf” AND ”newspaper/magazine”. So iltapäivälehti just means ”afternoon newspaper/magazine”.
These always make me appreciate how literal our language is. And with the phonetic writing you dont have to even guess how words are written. If you can say it, you can write it.
My fav might be "tietokone".
"Tietää" is "to know".
"Tieto" is "knowledge".
"Kone" is "machine".
So "tietokone" is "knowledge machine" or "computer".
And going even further, one meaning of "kone" used to be "magic trinket" or "magic". And machines do all sorts of magic tricks today.
And of course the word "tietää" comes from "tie" or "road/way"
Becoming a verb "to road somewhere, knowing the way to somewhere", shortened to "waying".
And of course, that used to be more like a route. It's not like any of the ancient hunter-gatherers bothered to build roads anywhere. Knowing the way trough a swamp would be most important thing to know if you plan to cross it. These days they make it easy with half-logs or planks to walk on.
Swedish
Näsduk (Nose Cloth)
Flodhäst (River Horse)
Dammsugare (Dust sucker)
For the underwear we're closer to English, Long Johns is "Långkalsonger" (Long Male Underwear)
Noshörning (Nose Antlerned/Horned)
Pussel (Puzzle)
Blyertspenna (Leadish pen)
The whale shown looks like a "späckhuggare" (Fat grabber), but Swordfish is Svärdfisk
Dokument, or Formulär would be Document
Kvällstidning (Evening Paper)
Paraply (Umbrella)
Hippo = latin horse, pottamus - of the river. So, in latin it's a river horse. (- - What's your quiestion about the horse?😉) same word in German: Flusspferd ... Fluss = river, Pferd = horse.
Vacuum Cleaner in German is Staubsauger: Staub = dust saugen = to suck.
And it goes on ... completely different language, same compound in German. Fascinating!
Puhaltaa yhteen hiileen - Blow to one carbon or coal
Meaning: Combines the forces of several people for the same goal. Used in situations where only cooperation can achieve something.
“Sateenvarjo” does have another literal translation: “rain protection”.
As shade is protected from the sun.
Also “laskuvarjo” means protection from descending/falling (parachute).
Hi Dwayne👋 Nice video again, thank you! You pronounce some Finnish words very well, keep up the good work💪
2:25 No-one, in Finland, really uses handkerchiefs.
this is the funniest thing to watch as a finn. just laughing at the difficulty of this language :D
I'm sure someone has already pointed it out, but virta means curent, so it wouldn't be a water horse, but a river horse or something in that direction.
'Rautahepo' (Iron horse) is a train. More formally 'juna'. Finnish accent explained: "Memesplained: Rally English". Hydraulic Press Channel is a popular Finnish channel. Apparently English speakers get a kick out of listening the Finnish accent: "How to pronounce words in Finnish accent?".
Asiakirja:
Asia: case (legal term), matter /issue (administrative terms).
Kirja: book
Might make more sense than "thing book".
Also, "kirja" is closer connected to "to log/record" (see "kirjata") than "to book (something)".
So "asiakirja" - I'd say - is more like "case record".
Dave probably saw that word every time he opened his text processing program or uploaded something. If someone set his computer work in Finnish for learning purposes that is.
Here’s the most useful compound word in Finnish language: ”kalsarikänni”. 😅
Homer Simpson's favorite word in the world lmao
@@duzzzz94 Yep! 🩲🍻😅
Most useful Finnish word that everyone should learn is Hilavitkutin.
It's an old word but a good answer to anything if you have to answer something in Finnish.
i'm finnish, but i couldn't remember what miekkavalas was to save my life :'D
virta in this case means stream, hepo is something used in archaic sounding songs, e.g. "hepo hirnahtaa".
Usually the latter part of combined words marks what the object actually is and the first one tells about the quality or nature of object. So usually the last part is more important. Although as seen here only the words together make sense after all.
I've always thought these two guys look like literal brothers, and kind of sound the same too. So this was fun to watch.
Perhaps we can blame Herodotos for this river horse thing, he apparently mixed up marmots and ants(!) and this is what he had to say about the hippopotamus: "This animal has four legs, cloven hoofs like an ox, a snub nose, a horse's mane and tail, conspicuous tusks, a voice like a horse's neigh, and is about the size of a very large ox. Its hide is so thick and though that when dried it can be made into spear-shafts." Must have been some game of broken telephone involved since he most likely never saw a hippo himself.
Well great, I didn't know Orca is Miekkavalas in Finnish, I've always called them Orca or Tappajavalas (Killer Whale / tappaja=killer, valas=whale). But I have only lived in Finland since my birth 46 years ago 😂
well done Dwayne!
i just found yor videos im form finland and this is amazing 😂😂😂
❤️🇫🇮 You pronouced finnish quite good To be englishspeaker.
Hippo, in Swedish is Flodhäst, which is the same as 'River+Horse'
Finnish is hard and easy at the same time. For example take a kid who is learning to speak. They come up with their own words when they don't know the exact word but BUT! you still can understand what they mean.
We have a rich language. One word can be several things and one thing can have several names.
02:34 Hepo is also slang word for heroin in finnish
Swedish Flodhäst = River Horse.
i think virtahepo means a "horse" =hepo that is living always near or in a river =virta
Virtahepo is a strange one since even if they translate virta as water here, it's actually more literally a current. Like a current in a water or river. Or maybe even a river in some cases, translating it as water is odd to me. Water would be vesi. Hepo is also not an official word for horse, that would be hevonen. It's more like a slang or shortened version of word. You often don't find many adults calling horses "hepo" at least very seriously, it's considered kinda cutesy word. So even if you know what a horse is in Finnish, it might be impossible for you to understand the context. Finnish is easy, I've been speaking it for 34 years fluently.
Hippo - Horse, Potamus - river. Virta - "river" (current).. Hepo - Hippo - Horse - Hevonen, so Virtahepo is PotamusHippo. Hm... Well now it's confusing... 🤪
Tips. The sound should come more out of the mouth, expanding, clear, not just from the throat or inward. Never add th sound when pronouncing word, except if is included in the word. Hard to explain.🌷Finnish is clear and accurate.
Funny how you do finnish reaction videos and say 1st: "it's incredible day, best day ever" and every finn is: no it's not. It's average day.
Sarvikuono would be a fantastic name for a drink! Maybe we can make one up? Sarvikuono is strong, scary animal so maybe we'll start with vodka? Vodka can be really scary, you know? What else goes into that drink other than vodka? Help me out on this one, please?
Sarvikuono sounds like it ought to be a shot, at least to me. Not something you nurse over the evening.
Maybe something like Slippery Nipple, but with some cinnamon to add some "earthiness" to it?
Sarvikuono is also a (self) medical device that kind of looks like a horn and you clear your nose with it via warm salt water.
the word for hippopotamus (virtahepo) is a direct loan word from Greek language.
Dave has good content
Virtahepo can also meaning
Virta - Electric power - Ampere
Hepo - Horse
Virta - Current
Hepo - Heroin
English pronunciation is full of exceptions for example beard, bear the ear is always different, why oh why. 😅
Finnish, being a root type of language, allows you to pronounce most words as they are written, and the meanings of words are logical. In English, however, you just have to learn how to spell all the exceptions.
In spanish and latin you can also many times split the word to the pieces and make sense out of it but in english it is rare that you can do that.
Jos suomi on vaikea kieli ymmärtää niin en itse tajua että miksi tiedosto ja viila on sama sana englannissa?
File.
Good job :D English is also hard :D
Hippopotamus literally means river horse in Latin
When it is a compound word, try to separate the individual words and say them individually after each other. You don't have to rly rush with the whole word.
Cool
U killed it,props. tonation is weird to englo family
Wow, you're very good in deducing what the words mean! (Surprisingly good.. sorry lol)
You need a big blender, if you want to drink a sarvikuono
If Finnish is so hard, try to say this Finnish word.
(how to say word right)
Naisten (Nice 10) Woman's / Women's
Dudes, whale is not a fish.
You should name your channel "Dwayne's World" 😅
English is much harder to pronounce than Finnish! :'D
I don't think it helps much but every Finnish word is said the way it is written. If you know the sounds of the letters you know how to spell the word. Not like your Worcester in England. 🤣
Translate "Kamala"
What's very un-intuitive in finnish, it seems, is that Finns always say every letter of their language exactly as they are said in the finnish alphabet, and read the words in 1-3 letter bits/syllables with (diminishing) gaps.. Trying to pronounce finnish words as whole is so hard, because it is an illusion.. :D
If you are begging about adding the comments in the section below, I think it would be polite to react those comments also.You react none.
Orca is wrong. Orca = tappajavalas. Tappaja = killer and valas = whale. Killer whale (Orca). Miekkavalas = Narwhal. Even Google is wrong on this.
I have enjoyed watching your videos, but recently I noticed you place adds every minute! This makes me skip your videos unfortunately :( I think its too much for a 17 minutes long video to have 15 adds
What the fuck is "parapelli"?
Palapeli
@@TeroKoskinen-xy2zz He said "parapelli" multiple times and then congratulated himself after hearing "palapeli" for nailing it.
We do have and accent but have you ever thought how much you suck in finnish pronunciation? For a english not that bad...still butchering it mate. Love from Finlandia piacere.
I've been learning it for 9 years now; yeah, it's a wild language. 😅😂 But I love it. 🇫🇮 Suomi on mun kakkoskoti. 💙🤍