Learn a few phrases you can use to understand the culture better
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| Series Introduction |
| Tiina: Hi everyone, Tiina here. |
| Reeta: Hei, olen Reeta. And I’m Reeta! |
| Tiina: Welcome back to Basic Bootcamp. This is Lesson 3: Useful Phrases for Learning Finnish. This is the third in a five-part series that will help you ease your way into Finnish. |
| Lesson Details |
| Tiina: In this lesson, you will learn several essential phrases to help you learn Finnish -- IN Finnish. |
| Reeta: Yes, you can use these phrases when you are at a loss for words, or caught in a confusing situation. |
| Tiina: These phrases will help you avoid or resolve misunderstandings whenever and wherever you are in Finland. |
| Reeta: Using Finnish to learn Finnish can help you improve much faster! |
| Tiina: Okay, so how many times have you wanted to say something in another language, but you just don’t know the vocabulary word? |
| Reeta: I think this happens a lot with language learners! |
| Tiina: Right? So that’s why you’re going to learn some useful phrases to deal with this kind of situation. |
| Reeta: Sounds very useful! |
| Tiina: I think so! Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| CONVERSATION |
| Reeta: Miten sanotaan “cheese” suomeksi? |
| Tiina: juusto |
| Reeta: Anteeksi, en ymmärrä. Voisitko sanoa sen uudestaan? |
| Tiina: Juusto |
| Reeta: Voisitko sanoa sen hitaammin. |
| Tiina: Juus-to |
| Reeta: Voisitko kirjoittaa sen minulle suomeksi? |
| Tiina: Let’s hear it slowly now. |
| Reeta:Nyt kuullaan sama hitaasti.. |
| Reeta: Miten sanotaan “cheese” suomeksi? |
| Tiina: juusto |
| Reeta: Anteeksi, en ymmärrä. Voisitko sanoa sen uudestaan? |
| Tiina: Juusto |
| Reeta: Voisitko sanoa sen hitaammin. |
| Tiina: Juus-to |
| Reeta: Voisitko kirjoittaa sen minulle suomeksi? |
| Tiina: And now with the translation. |
| Reeta: Ja nyt käännös! |
| Reeta: Anteeksi, miten sanotaan “cheese” suomeksi? |
| Tiina: Excuse me, how do you say “cheese” in Finnish? |
| Reeta: juusto |
| Tiina: Cheese |
| Reeta: Anteeksi, en ymmärrä. Voisitko sanoa sen uudestaan? |
| Tiina: I'm sorry, I don’t understand. Can you say it once again, please? |
| Reeta: Juusto |
| Tiina: Cheese |
| Reeta: Voisitko sanoa sen hitaammin? |
| Tiina: Please, repeat slower. |
| Reeta: Juus-to |
| Tiina: Chee-se |
| Reeta: Voisitko kirjoittaa sen minulle suomeksi? |
| Tiina: Write this down in Finnish for me, please. |
| BANTER |
| Reeta: Now you will never be at a loss for words again. |
| Tiina: That's right. Even if you find yourself in one of the major tourist spots, where people are used to non-Finnish speakers, there is no longer any excuse to not try out these phrases. I guarantee you it will improve your Finnish! |
| Reeta: With these expressions, you can turn everyone you meet into a walking, talking dictionary. |
| Tiina: Of course, that shouldn’t be your main reason to learn these phrases. |
| Reeta: But the Finns you meet will love the fact that you are making an effort to try to communicate in Finnish. |
| Tiina: Absolutely! They might even give you a tip on how to find your way to some of the other cultural treats that Finland has to offer. |
| Reeta: Yes, a guidebook can only get you that far, so it is definitely a good idea to ask the locals where to go for that authentic Finnish experience. |
| Tiina: Right. There are just so many hidden spots that you can’t learn about from a book. |
| Reeta: Now that you’ve learned these important Finnish phrases you will be on your way in no time! |
| Tiina: Yes! So, what exactly were all these words? Let's break them down. |
| Reeta: Sounds good! |
| Vocabulary: Take these words from the Vocabulary table in the write up. |
| Tiina: Our first word is... |
| Reeta: Anteeksi. |
| Tiina: Excuse me, / I'm sorry. |
| Reeta: Anteeksi. (slowly) |
| Reeta: Anteeksi. |
| Tiina: The next word is... |
| Reeta: miten. |
| Tiina: How. |
| Reeta: miten. (slowly) |
| Reeta: miten. |
| Tiina: Okay, and the next word we have is… |
| Reeta: sanoa. |
| Tiina: To say. |
| Reeta: sanoa. (slowly) |
| Reeta: sanoa. |
| Tiina: Next we have... |
| Reeta: suomeksi. |
| Tiina: In Finnish. |
| Reeta: suomeksi. (slowly) |
| Reeta: suomeksi. |
| Tiina: Next is... |
| Reeta: ymmärtää |
| Tiina: to understand. |
| Reeta:ymmärtää. (slowly) |
| Reeta: ymmärtää |
| Tiina: And the next word is… |
| Reeta: ei. |
| Tiina: no, don’t. |
| Reeta: ei. |
| Reeta: ei. |
| Tiina: Next is... |
| Reeta: se |
| Tiina: it. |
| Reeta: se. (slowly) |
| Reeta: se. |
| Tiina: Then we have... |
| Reeta: voida. |
| Tiina: can. |
| Reeta: voida. (slowly) |
| Reeta: voida. |
| Tiina: The next word is... |
| Reeta: hitaammin |
| Tiina:slower. |
| Reeta: hitaammin. (slowly) |
| Reeta: hitaammin. |
| Tiina: Next is... |
| Reeta: uudestaan |
| Tiina: again, one more time |
| Reeta: uudestaan |
| Reeta: uudestaan |
| Tiina: Next we have |
| Reeta: vähän |
| Tiina: a little bit |
| Reeta: vähän (slowly) |
| Reeta: vähän |
| Tiina: The next word is... |
| Reeta: kirjoittaa |
| Tiina: write |
| Reeta: kirjoittaa (slowly) |
| Reeta: kirjoittaa |
| Tiina: And the last word is... |
| Reeta: minulle |
| Tiina: to me |
| Reeta: minulle. (slowly) |
| Reeta: minulle |
| Vocabulary Usage (25-26 lines) |
| Tiina: Well, we covered all the words, and now it’s time to explain their usage. |
| Reeta: But it’s going to be easy. |
| Tiina: Because most of them have the same usage as in English! |
| Reeta: With small exceptions such as anteeksi, which we can use both as "Excuse me" and "I'm sorry." But again, its meaning is defined by its usage. |
| Tiina: Could you say that word one more time slowly? |
| Reeta: Anteeksi |
| Tiina: And one more time at regular speed? |
| Reeta: Anteeksi |
| Tiina: That’s a very useful expression. Using this, and the other vocabulary words, we’ve equipped you with everything you need to resolve misunderstandings. |
| Reeta: If you didn't catch something the first time, you now know the phrase for "Could you say it once again." |
| Tiina: Which is? |
| Reeta: Voisitko sanoa sen uudestaan? |
| Tiina: Slowly? |
| Reeta: Voisitko sanoa sen uudestaan? |
| Tiina: And one more time at regular speed? |
| Reeta: Voisitko sanoa sen uudestaan? |
| Tiina: And if you still have problems understanding someone, you know how to ask them to speak slower. |
| Reeta:Voisitko sanoa sen hitaammin? (slowly) Voisitko sanoa sen hitaammin?(regular speed) Voisitko sanoa sen hitaammin? |
| Tiina: And if you think the word is useful for you, you can ask someone to show you how to write the word or to help you with your Finnish writing. Here is the phrase, “can you write that down for me in Finnish, please?” |
| Reeta: Voisitko kirjoittaa sen minulle suomeksi? |
| (slow) Voisitko kirjoittaa sen minulle suomeksi? |
| (regular speed) Voisitko kirjoittaa sen minulle suomeksi? |
| Tiina: Writing down words is very useful for retaining them. I encourage you all to keep a list of new, useful words you learn in Finnish! |
| Reeta: That’s some really good study advice!. |
| Tiina: Thanks! Okay, now on to the grammar! |
| Grammar Section |
| Tiina: The first phrase we had was, miten sanotaan [blank] suomeksi; |
| Reeta: "Excuse me, how do we say [blank] in Finnish?" |
| Tiina: The first word is anteeksi, which means "Excuse me" if you put it at the beginning of the question sentence. It can also mean "I'm sorry". |
| Reeta: So, the first phrase we have expresses the request for help; therefore, we use anteeksi with the meaning of "excuse me." |
| Tiina: The next word is... |
| Reeta: miten. Which means "how." |
| Tiina: Don’t mix it up with the word you heard in the first lesson: “mitä” which means “what”. |
| Reeta: Notice how all these question words start with a “mi-”, however. |
| Tiina: Oh, that's right. Well, the good news is that they are more or less used in the same instances you would use them in English so don’t worry. |
| Reeta: Easy, right? miten! |
| Tiina: Okay, and the next word we have is… |
| Reeta: sanotaan. (slow) sanotaan. (fast) sanotaan |
| Tiina: This means "is said”. It is conjugated from the infinitive form “sanoa”, “to say”. All Finnish verbs are conjugated in the “time” element. And then, just add the word you want to know, followed by... |
| Reeta: Suomeksi. (slow) suomeksi. (fast) suomeksi. |
| Tiina: We can translate this as "in Finnish," and it refers to the language in our case. So in the dialogue, we heard: |
| Reeta: Anteeksi, miten sanotaan 'cheese' suomeksi? “Excuse me, how do you say “cheese” in Finnish?” |
| Tiina: Right. How would we use the same phrase, but change “cheese” for “ticket”? |
| Reeta: Anteeksi, miten sanotaan 'ticket' suomeksi? |
| Tiina: Great. Listeners, listen and repeat: |
| Reeta: Anteeksi, miten sanotaan 'ticket' suomeksi? |
| {pause} |
| Tiina: Here we go! Okay, let's move to the second phrase. |
| Reeta: Anteeksi, en ymmärrä. Voisitko sanoa sen uudestaan? |
| Tiina: “I'm sorry, I don’t understand. Can you say it once again, please?” Anteeksi is a word you probably already remember, it means “excuse me” or “sorry” |
| Reeta: That's right, but our next verb, en ymmärrä, is a bit more tricky. |
| Tiina: ymmärtää means "understand," and “en” before that means “I don’t”. This will be conjugated for each personal pronoun differently. We will talk more about it later. And the next word is… |
| Reeta: “voisitko”, which means “could you”. voisitko, (slow) voisitko (fast) voisitko. Next... |
| Tiina: "sanoa sen" means “to say it” in English |
| Reeta: Then we have “uudestaan”, which means “again”. Let's repeat the whole phrase again. Listeners, listen carefully, and repeat: Anteeksi, en ymmärrä. Voisitko sanoa sen uudestaan?{pause} |
| Tiina: Let's move to sentence number three. Voisitko sanoa sen hitaammin. |
| Reeta: First is Voisitko, (slow)voisitko. It means "could you" just like in the above sentence |
| Tiina: The next word is... sanoa, (slow) sanoa. This means "say.” Followed by... |
| Reeta: sen, (slow) sen. This means "it." |
| Tiina: The final word or phrase is "hitaammin." … |
| Reeta: (slow) hitaammin. Let's say the whole sentence once again. Listeners, pay close attention, and repeat: Voisitko sanoa sen hitaammin. {pause} |
| Tiina: And finally, the last phrase for this lesson.Voisitko kirjoittaa sen minulle suomeksi? (slow) "Voisitko kirjoittaa sen minulle suomeksi?" |
| Tiina: We start with a question, “voisitko” or "could you?" |
| Reeta: voisitko, (slow) voisitko |
| Tiina: Next, we have kirjoittaa sen, which literally means "write that." |
| Reeta: kirjoittaa sen, (slow) kirjoittaa sen |
| Tiina: Followed by saying to whom you want it written, which in this case is "for me." |
| Reeta: minulle. (slow) minulle. |
| Tiina: Finally, we have "suomeksi," means "in Finnish." |
| Reeta: Suomeksi, (slow) suomeksi |
| Tiina: Listeners, listen to the whole phrase again, and repeat out loud. |
| Reeta: Voitko kirjoittaa sen minulle suomeksi {pause} |
| Tiina: Very easy and useful! |
| Tiina: Okay, well that’s it for this Bootcamp lesson. Be sure to join us next time! |
| Reeta: Thanks for listening. Hei hei! |
| Tiina: Until next time! |
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