I've made a deal with myself that I will attempt Finnish in all public places before using English and that asking "Do you speak English?" in Finnish does not count. (Of course, I've already broken my own rule, but I'm doing pretty well most of the time.)
Today at the bank, I was quite proud of myself. I made a deposit and paid my rent all in Finnish! As I stood in line, waiting for a teller, I recited to myself what I thought I should say. I was wishing for my dictionary but had to settle on my bank card giving me the needed info. I realized that it was probably a safe bet that tili was the word for account since my account number was listed after the word tilinumero. I must have been right, because the bank teller seemed to understand me. I think I smiled all through the transaction, which the lady at the desk must have found odd, because in general, Finns don't smile very much, and really, what is there to smile about when filling in paperwork at the bank? But, I was smiling because I'm communicating! My Finnish was far from perfect (and as I replay what I said in my head, I'm amazed she even understood me- I know at the very least that I said I wanted to "buy" rent instead of "pay" rent.), but perfection is not the goal. Communication is. And that my friends, is being achieved, one baby step at a time!
No comments:
Post a Comment