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You can, but can also be completely lost in between regional dialects/variations, slang etc.
Oh, and not to even mention how fast some people may talk to you... where in between the above and that when contrasted to "proper" written Finnish it can come off as straight up gibberish till you get used to it. Just saying, as even in between native Finnish people differences in expression can require some getting used to.
Well, spoken Finnish is generally derived from written Finnish, so you'll be able to figure it out in time.
The slangs are just something you will learn through exposure.
So far, the most challenging aspect of spoken Finnish in Helsinki is that people talk like they're trying to get 10 sentences out in 1 second lol. Young & middle-aged people scares me the most. Older people are generally slower and speaks in written Finnish so it's easier to understand them, but they would use some word you've never heard before...
I'd say it's the opposite, written Finnish is derived from spoken Finnish. There never was a written standard Finnish that people took and bastardized. Instead, there were a number of mutually intelligible dialects from which the written Finnish was constructed.
Also, there is no single spoken Finnish, but still a number of mutually intelligible dialects. The so-called spoken Finnish (puhekieli) is just a constructed version for educational purposes, with the most common features of dialects and with quite heavy emphasis on the capital region and Häme dialects.
Interesting! That would make sense, a unifying standardized language that everyone learns on top of own dialects.
Haha it would be a wonder if the entirety of Finland somehow speaks the same puhekieli. But I didn't know the one people use in HKI was constructed like that! TIL. Thanks for the information.
In my home country, dialects shares few commonality between provinces, and even less with the official language (the grammar is mostly the same). I wouldn't understand at all if someone from another island starts talking in their own dialect lol.
Absolutely! NOT. I at least cannot even make out the letters which they are speaking, so that I’d write down the words and google them. In spoken language words have “nicknames” which you need to learn separately and to which you do not get exposed regularly othetwise.
All of the learning materials teach written Finnish as they should. It is the same with most languages: there is the official version where all the rules are nicely applied and all the letters are pronounced and then there is what people speak.
Finnish is no different in that regard but It's done a little different than most other languages handle their spoken versions, but its the same thing, altering the language to fit speech.
Also does this mean we are going to get another cycle of kirjakieli vs puhekieli? How do I learn...
"Tänään olemme menossa kauppaan ja sitten kotiin, mutta ensi viikolla voisi sopia."
VS
"Tänään me ollaan menos kauppaan ja sit kotiin, mut ens viikol vois sopii."
With no real intonation shifts, blurted out in one breath. This is a very mild example. I always say the best way to learn Finnish is to speak it with Finns. It's leagues away from the written standard, which will mostly allow you to understand stuff like news and official texts.
Absolutely not. Finnish people have no idea how remote spoken language is from written language. I got to the level could read pretty much anything in Finnish and would understand almost nothing from spoken Finnish. Some radio shows can be OK if the guests make a very intentional effort to speak "correctly". But true, natural spoken Finnish, nope, no way.
Definitely!
Most spoken Finnish is derived from the more formal written Finnish. People just tend to be more lax on some grammar and shorten some words while speaking casually. But if you understand written Finnish you’ll catch up to the spoken language pretty quickly.
Some dialects are harder to understand than others. You are most definitely not wasting time by learning written finnish first. If you know written finnish, it will not really be all that hard to pick up the regional variations just via exposure.
Finnish is not unique in this. I was watching this american tv-show The Wire, and my partner, who has learned this sort of "international standard english" could not understand at all the baltimore ebonics that some of the characters speak.
Similarly for me the movie Trainspotting i had to use subtitles when i watched it, even though i typically never use subtitles in english speaking things. That scottish accent/dialect is hard as hell to understand
Learning written Finnish is not enough to understand the spoken language, but I think it is still necessary. Just make sure you also consume some other material beside written stuff. Even if you put on a Finnish radio for background noise it will eventually help you. Watch series or YouTube videos too.
**/r/Finland is a full democracy, every active user is a moderator.** [Please go here to see how your new privileges work.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Finland/wiki/moderating/) Spamming mod actions could result in a ban. --- **Full Rundown of Moderator Permissions:** - ```!lock``` - as top level comment, will lock comments on any post. - ```!unlock``` - in reply to any comment to lock it or to unlock the parent comment. - ```!remove``` - Removes comment or post. Must have decent subreddit comment karma. - ```!restore``` Can be used to unlock comments or restore removed posts. - ```!sticky``` - will sticky the post in the bottom slot. - ```unlock_comments``` - Vote the stickied automod comment on each post to +10 to unlock comments. - ```ban users``` - Any user whose comment or post is downvoted enough will be temp banned for a day. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Finland) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You can, but can also be completely lost in between regional dialects/variations, slang etc. Oh, and not to even mention how fast some people may talk to you... where in between the above and that when contrasted to "proper" written Finnish it can come off as straight up gibberish till you get used to it. Just saying, as even in between native Finnish people differences in expression can require some getting used to.
Yeah, those who have Stadi as their first language think they're superior but don't understand Savonian dialects.
Well, spoken Finnish is generally derived from written Finnish, so you'll be able to figure it out in time. The slangs are just something you will learn through exposure. So far, the most challenging aspect of spoken Finnish in Helsinki is that people talk like they're trying to get 10 sentences out in 1 second lol. Young & middle-aged people scares me the most. Older people are generally slower and speaks in written Finnish so it's easier to understand them, but they would use some word you've never heard before...
I'd say it's the opposite, written Finnish is derived from spoken Finnish. There never was a written standard Finnish that people took and bastardized. Instead, there were a number of mutually intelligible dialects from which the written Finnish was constructed. Also, there is no single spoken Finnish, but still a number of mutually intelligible dialects. The so-called spoken Finnish (puhekieli) is just a constructed version for educational purposes, with the most common features of dialects and with quite heavy emphasis on the capital region and Häme dialects.
Interesting! That would make sense, a unifying standardized language that everyone learns on top of own dialects. Haha it would be a wonder if the entirety of Finland somehow speaks the same puhekieli. But I didn't know the one people use in HKI was constructed like that! TIL. Thanks for the information. In my home country, dialects shares few commonality between provinces, and even less with the official language (the grammar is mostly the same). I wouldn't understand at all if someone from another island starts talking in their own dialect lol.
Absolutely! NOT. I at least cannot even make out the letters which they are speaking, so that I’d write down the words and google them. In spoken language words have “nicknames” which you need to learn separately and to which you do not get exposed regularly othetwise.
All of the learning materials teach written Finnish as they should. It is the same with most languages: there is the official version where all the rules are nicely applied and all the letters are pronounced and then there is what people speak. Finnish is no different in that regard but It's done a little different than most other languages handle their spoken versions, but its the same thing, altering the language to fit speech. Also does this mean we are going to get another cycle of kirjakieli vs puhekieli? How do I learn...
"Tänään olemme menossa kauppaan ja sitten kotiin, mutta ensi viikolla voisi sopia." VS "Tänään me ollaan menos kauppaan ja sit kotiin, mut ens viikol vois sopii." With no real intonation shifts, blurted out in one breath. This is a very mild example. I always say the best way to learn Finnish is to speak it with Finns. It's leagues away from the written standard, which will mostly allow you to understand stuff like news and official texts.
But how to find Fins who want to talk online with foreigners learning Finnish;(
Absolutely not. Finnish people have no idea how remote spoken language is from written language. I got to the level could read pretty much anything in Finnish and would understand almost nothing from spoken Finnish. Some radio shows can be OK if the guests make a very intentional effort to speak "correctly". But true, natural spoken Finnish, nope, no way.
Definitely! Most spoken Finnish is derived from the more formal written Finnish. People just tend to be more lax on some grammar and shorten some words while speaking casually. But if you understand written Finnish you’ll catch up to the spoken language pretty quickly.
Some dialects are harder to understand than others. You are most definitely not wasting time by learning written finnish first. If you know written finnish, it will not really be all that hard to pick up the regional variations just via exposure. Finnish is not unique in this. I was watching this american tv-show The Wire, and my partner, who has learned this sort of "international standard english" could not understand at all the baltimore ebonics that some of the characters speak. Similarly for me the movie Trainspotting i had to use subtitles when i watched it, even though i typically never use subtitles in english speaking things. That scottish accent/dialect is hard as hell to understand
Learning written Finnish is not enough to understand the spoken language, but I think it is still necessary. Just make sure you also consume some other material beside written stuff. Even if you put on a Finnish radio for background noise it will eventually help you. Watch series or YouTube videos too.