So, when I started learning Finnish I had high hopes. After all, isn't Chinese supposed to be one of the hardest languages to learn? And hadn't I successfully told my brother not to drink juice in the living room because it was sticky and he UNDERSTOOD me? After all, who needs more language competence than that.
So, I tackled Finnish. Bought a book, downloaded some pod casts, and immediately hit a brick wall. Because whoever told me Chinese was harder than Finnish was obviously lying or had no idea what they were talking about.
Chinese is like legos. You learn words, you stick them together in the right order and you form sentences. Easy. All you have to do is memorize some vocabulary and a little bit of word order, and you're communicating. No plurals, no verb conjugating, no messing around with gender.
Finnish is like. . . well, nothing really, that I can equate it to. Words change all the time. If my noun is plural and it's the object of the sentence, than its ending is different than if it's the subject of the sentence. And if my noun is on top of something, than it needs another ending. Or if it's headed somewhere. And those suffixes can be added on together, and sometimes the stem of the noun they're added to is so different that it doesn't even look like the same noun. Consonants change, vowels are dropped or added. So vesi is water, but veden is the possesive form and veteen is more or less equivalent to "into the water". And the nouns (and adjectives) don't all thoughtfully follow the same patterns or have any distinguishing characteristics that I've discerned yet to know which pattern to use.
All of which leaves me with a lot of words floating around in my head, but not yet able to stick them together. Even simple sentences like "my apartment has 3 bedrooms" defeat me.
So, maybe, eventually, it will all come together and I'll be speaking Finnish like a pro. I know the pronunciation is easier, and I won't have to learn thousands of characters to be able to read a newspaper. But for now, I'm wishing that Finnish were as easy to learn as Chinese.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
1 more year goes by
I've been reflecting on the past year every July 3rd for several years now.
Last year on July 3rd I was working at Luz y Vida, feeling a tug that it was time to move on, but really no clear sense of direction about what was next. I was anxiously hoping that by September I would make up my mind about staying in Colombia or about leaving so I had time to prepare myself. And, I was either just days away from "discovering" Finland, or I was only just beginning to consider it.
It's hard to believe it's only been a year since those feelings of angst, to now- making the decision, applying to schools, wrapping up everything in Bogotá, saying good bye to dear friends, visiting Venezuela, re-integrating back into the US, working for 5 months at a daycare, hearing back from all the schools I applied to, a second (angst ridden) decision making process, the residence permit application process, and now, here I am, studying Finnish, ticket purchased, housing secured. . . This has been a year of changes.
This July 3rd I gave notice at work. I was surprised how nervous it made me- not just to start the conversation, I know myself well enough to expect that. Quitting my job itself made me nervous, despite the fact that I knew when I was hired that I'd be leaving in August. Despite the fact that I'm very excited about going to Finland. Despite the fact that my job doesn't challenge me, or inspire passion, or make me feel like I'm working towards my dreams. Because the one little thing that job does provide that Finland doesn't is the stability and predictability that come with a paycheck and a full time job. And moving to Finland- that's the unknown. That's unpredictable.
So, I know already that this year will be full of surprises- new experiences, new friends, new countries. And I know, geographically, where next year should find me (Regensburg, Germany), but I wonder how much will have changed by then. I'm excited to find out.
Last year on July 3rd I was working at Luz y Vida, feeling a tug that it was time to move on, but really no clear sense of direction about what was next. I was anxiously hoping that by September I would make up my mind about staying in Colombia or about leaving so I had time to prepare myself. And, I was either just days away from "discovering" Finland, or I was only just beginning to consider it.
It's hard to believe it's only been a year since those feelings of angst, to now- making the decision, applying to schools, wrapping up everything in Bogotá, saying good bye to dear friends, visiting Venezuela, re-integrating back into the US, working for 5 months at a daycare, hearing back from all the schools I applied to, a second (angst ridden) decision making process, the residence permit application process, and now, here I am, studying Finnish, ticket purchased, housing secured. . . This has been a year of changes.
This July 3rd I gave notice at work. I was surprised how nervous it made me- not just to start the conversation, I know myself well enough to expect that. Quitting my job itself made me nervous, despite the fact that I knew when I was hired that I'd be leaving in August. Despite the fact that I'm very excited about going to Finland. Despite the fact that my job doesn't challenge me, or inspire passion, or make me feel like I'm working towards my dreams. Because the one little thing that job does provide that Finland doesn't is the stability and predictability that come with a paycheck and a full time job. And moving to Finland- that's the unknown. That's unpredictable.
So, I know already that this year will be full of surprises- new experiences, new friends, new countries. And I know, geographically, where next year should find me (Regensburg, Germany), but I wonder how much will have changed by then. I'm excited to find out.
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