Lately I have been paying attention to the Finnish words and phrases I use and often they tend to be quite old. I have been putting together a list of oldish words that I hear in my daily life and want to use more in my vocabulary, my friends have also been doing the same thing. When we meet up, we share the discovered words, use them and remember again the fun slang that we used to use before.
Driven by this process of thought, I found myself thinking that I could never express myself the same way in other languages than Finnish. Actually- am I a completely different person when I speak English?
When I speak Finnish – my mother tongue – I use a lot of synonyms of words and sayings that often don’t have translation to other languages. How would I express that something is kimurantti, I’m going to karkelot or that it’s time to lähteä käpälämäkeen?
Even though Finnishness is a lot more than just the language, I find it to be a very important part of my Finnish identity. I have been wondering, would it be possible to bring these Finnish sayings directly to life in English and express myself better in that way? ”I’ll leave for paw hill” might confuse my conversation partners but maybe the comedy of that confusion will be just enough for me outside Finland.
When I think about Finnish culture in general, peace, quiet and small awkwardness are what come to my mind first. When I leave for my exchange in September, maybe I can express my Finnishness through these things? I’m sure I’ll want to keep my personal space in public transport and be quiet in the quiet moments. Maybe I’ll even learn to embrace the awkwardness and find new aspects of my Finnish identity in another country.
Also, I won’t be able to express my Finnishness through ”Finnish activities” when I’m abroad, so I’m intrigued to see what part of my Finnishness will peek through my personality. Could it be these peaceful and quiet parts of my Finnishness or will I find more of the ”torille!”– girl drunkenly singing karaoke with sisu in her heart?
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