Hey everybody! I'm just basically bored so i decided to start a gallup. Yep, i know that some people might think i'm crazy. But i don't have much to do. And my computer doesn't let me in to chatrooms, don't know why? If you have a clue please tell me.
So the gallup is. How many of you guys who read this page are from somewhere else than Finland and how many doesn't speak Finnish. I can start by answearing that i live in France. Yeah, i'm sure that many people want to answear this, but i've got nothing better to do...we'll see
So the gallup is. How many of you guys who read this page are from somewhere else than Finland and how many doesn't speak Finnish. I can start by answearing that i live in France. Yeah, i'm sure that many people want to answear this, but i've got nothing better to do...we'll see
Vastaukset 16
Vanhimmat
Slept well?
How the hell did you find this forum in the first place? You must have something to do with our language, otherwice you wouldn't be here...or would you..? But you're french!?
Je parle un tout petit peu français. Mais écrire...pas du tout.
(Can't belive I managed to write all that!)
I'm finnish, born and bred. Just realized that we have this "international forums" here in suomi24. Never been here before, and not much "traffic" here either, although this could be a good place to practice english! We're so eager to lear it but not to speak - let alone write... (prove me wrong, fellow citizens!)
Sorry I can't help you with that chatroom problem. Hardly ever use them myself, so...
But let's hope this thread will gather more people into this forum, although not much hope for it just now I'm afraid 'cos we have a national holiday coming up on tuesday. It's called Vappu. A traditional day for celebrating work.
À bientôt!
Yeah, I slept well, or at least as well as I can. Someone answeared me, and in a decent way:D To answear your question, I'm not French, I'm Finnish, I just live in France. What comes to English, I love it, reading, writing and speaking:)
Yes, well i don't usually use chatrooms either, but as i said, i don't have much to do at the moment, so i decided to give it a try, except my computer decided not to work so... Here I am:D
Vappu can also be called a national holiday "a reason to get drunk" like Finnish people didn't have them enough. Well anyways HYVÄÄ VAPPUA! (as you see my comp is Finnish;) )
Can i just ask how old are you?
But let's keep this an english forum anyway... ; )
I too like this language, always has, dunno why. I quess I've always had good teachers (!?) and so it's been easy to learn. Known a few britts too and that has helped.
You lucky bastard! I'd like to live in France, only I don't speak the language (and am way too lazy to study it). Though I s'pose I'd learn it pretty quick if I was forced to, you know, be dropped there without any help. (Au secours!) I have a good ear for musique and noticed it helps also with languages...well maybe...
Anyway, who wouldn't love french- even the svearwords sound so elegant.
Are you fluet in french (other than swearing;) or only just learning?
Never you mind how old or young I am, or am I a man or a woman! Let's just write in english and...you can teach me some french as well in the midds of it all, next time you're bored. Deal? ; )
I can reveal that I have a vivant chat noir here with me who "speaks" a lot, hence the nic "meaw"! ; D
Wappua vaan sinnekin päin maailmaa! Isn't there something similar like vappu also in France?
Hey Meaw!
I ain't gonna change the language
Yeah living in France has it's pros and cons. One of the cons is that you can't survive without speaking French. And of course to make life harder to myself, i don't speak French. Je ne comprend pas francais. Mais je veux apprend. Or something like that, my French sucks and the written one is even worse. We'll so far i've survived. Even though living in England was much easier:P
Do you read English books? I've read quite a few but they don't sell here books that are written by my favorite author. So if you've read lately any good English books that are quite known, (so that i might have a chance to find them here) please let me know.
Btw. you know what is funny, the word "please". After i had lived in England it was strange to go back to Finland. I just felt so unpolite somehow all the time. Why isn't there a word like "please" in Finnish language? And as you see, i'm often bored;)
Wakey wakey, rise and shine!
It's actually very sunny morning here in the Finnish capital. (yawn)
Manners, yeah! Since we don't have the word please/sil vous plait in finnish like you said, it's really embarrasing to forget it in e.g UK or France. You're treated like a complete moran if you just say can I have some cheese, and shut up right there. Even worse in France, n'est pas?
Books. Haven't read a book since...No hang on. A sibling of mine who lives in Holland just sent me one. Not in dutch thank god, no, it's in english... Oh yes! It's this bloody Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, which I should have read years 'n' years ago but never did. Now I actually read in one night. Not that I remember much about it, nearly slept half the way, but it had it's moments...
Then there's this little book called Otra vez which is waiting for me. I bought it from some sale..? What does it say in the label...Singapore! Sing...O, right. Last year. Yes, I remember. Holiday. Tsiisus how time flies... Can't remember what I did last week let alone last year! Anyway, this book is about young Che's travels in Latin America, got interested after seen the roadmovie "diarios de motocicleta" by Walter Salles. Not that I am political at all, could't care less about it, but I've always been drawn to history some way or the other... So you see, I read just about anything but only when the mood strikes me. ; )
F*ck! Is that the time already! Gotta fly. But hey, tell me what's the latest you've read? And what are the main differences between english and french culture?
; D That'll keep you occupied for a while.
Till our next merry meeting, mate! Cheerio!
(...are we really the only people on this forum?! Hey! Feel free to join us, stranger! Haloo! Anybody out there?......silence.)
Morning to you too! Except that now it's already 20.30 and a work day is done. Well anyways, it's sunny here too, except it's not as warm as yesterday. Well I think it's still warm compered to Finland, I would guess 23:) Do you know that they expect a record warm summer in europe, even dangerous here in the France-Spain area. Well because I'm lucky, I get to be in Finland and it's probably going to be great:D
What comes to being polite, yes it is important here, but since I don't really speak French it's even harder to try to remember. One is already stressed about speaking the french in restaurants and shops etc, so one doesn't have time to think is he or she polite. But of course they also hear about your accent that you're not French, so I think they're more forgiving. Nowdays I think the word please is kind of automatic for me if I'm speaking English.
Books, well I’ve read quite a few of them. At the moment I'm reading N. Roberts "the Mackade brothers" Before that i read S. Brown "ricochet". S. Brown is my favourite author and I've read quite a few of her books in English. But here they prefer to sell D.Brown:( I haven't read the Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, but i saw the movie when it came out, wasn't really my style although it had some good jokes.
Hmm.. what can I tell about the cultural differences.. I really ain't the best person to answer that. Well, food, language, driving, bizous:) It’s not really a specific question… Have you travelled a lot?
Yes, why isn’t anyone else talking with us, there are sure many who read this, but nobody bothers to join to the conversation. Well we’ll just have to wait for someone who is bold enough:)
Survived yet another Vappu. Hurrah! Actually I'm very "un-finnish" when it comes to drinking alcohol. For me it's the same as being in a rocking boat, I feel sick very easy. It was quite cold outside so it seems to have tamed partying a bit.
Yes, it has been exceptionally warm here too. I think during last summer - which was very warm - people realized for the first time that global warming is reality. And now that winter as well was only about 2 months long here in the south, it has really risen into headlines that something has to be done and quick. Though personally I think it's already too late to completely stop the warming process, but hey, I'm not a cientist and even they can't know what lies ahead.
The wildest I've heard so far was the estimation that already around 2080 we'll have the climate of mediterranian and they (you :) are living in Africa's climate, i.e dessert...
Spooky.
Yeah, I've travelled quite a bit, but only as a tourist. Africa and America still to conquer. It's sad how the world's become so homogenic, you know, same shops, restaurants etc. in every city from here to Timbuktu.
I remember sitting once in a shopping mall in Beijing, eating western food for some reason, and all of a sudden I just completely forgot that I was "on the other side of the word". It just felt so "homy" I could have been anywhere. Even the music was familiar, tourist spoke english in the next table etc.
It was so weird...
Next time that feeling stroke me in Bali. It's a place (like so many nowadays) where you can completely isolate yourself whom the natives and their lives and forget where you are. Just pick a good hotel from an area specially designed for tourists and voilá, no more poverty, no strange languages or manners, no worries, no nothing. Went to visit such an "paradice" area and thought thank god my hotel's not here! ; )
I'd like to experience living abroad. Not possible just now, but maybe some day - and certainly after I retire! Can't stand the cold even now, let alone when I'm 60.
Do you feel that living abroad has somehow changed you?
Is there anything you actually miss about Finland?
Some years back I met people from Mexico City and all they could talk about was our clear blue sky and sauna in the middle of summer. ; )) And my sibling who lives there in Holland keeps telling me to be "thankful" of the perfect finnish public transportation which "works like clockwork, come rain or snow". Not so in Holland. ; )
Did I just write a short story!? Hopefully you didn't fall asleep when reading this! Wake uuup!!!! (shaking my computer)
What shall we call you anyway? Globtrotter? Borderliner 'cos you're near Spanish border or Wof wof! ; D
Your name, you decide.
I made up a nick. Not probably anything you waited but now I’ve got one:) I didn't celebrate vappu at all, Even though it is a national holiday, but didn't really miss it either.
Yes well global warming is a huge threat, but for how long that will remain to see. I kind of want to believe that this problem will be solved soon. But on the other hand there are so many things that can happen before we really have a big problem with global warming. Think for example zunami, it came out of nowhere and killed a huge amount of people. So I don't stress about global warming, well not yet.
So you've travelled in eastern countries. I've just mostly travelled the Europe. I would like to see U.S.A, Africa and Australia. I wouldn't mind living in the U.S for a year or two, but will I ever make it there, we'll see.
On the other hand I’m not sure I could live there, if you think about the latest shooting on the university campus. I think it’s awful and tells that there is something really wrong, if a person can walk in to a campus, kill two people, and then go post a video and return after two hours to kill 30 more. Why wasn’t there anything done after the first shootings? I couldn’t imagine anything like that happening in Finland, but on the other hand, I don’t think they expected that to be possible in the states either. Where would you like to move then?
Living abroad, a dream for many, but often people don’t realize that reality is reality everywhere and at least it’s easier to face in a country that you know. So has living abroad changed me? Of course it has, I don’t think it would be possible to live abroad without changing a single bit. I would like to believe that mostly the changes are positive; I for example appreciate Finland in a totally different way. The little things, like finding Fazer bread in the food store. Knowing how to get from one place to another, and if you don’t know it, you know where to find information. I think one grows up a bit when living abroad. Seeing the life isn’t dancing on the roses in other countries either. I think the fact that you learn is that it’s not easy to start in a new country and if you can make it through the beginning you can be proud of yourself.
Often people who live abroad also say that in the beginning you see only the good things and after few years you start to see the flaws. Every country has its flaws, even Finland.
What do I miss then? Oh everything:D Even the most stupid little things, Fazer
Congratulations! A very chic nick! ; ) Let's just hope no one will nick these nicks from us now...
Still about global warming, the most interesting (and frightening) thing about it is that we can only assume what it will bring. I mean there has been ice ages etc. before and this planet has survived them, but if this time the change is made by man, there's no knowing beforehand how it will effect this planet in a long run.
Personally I think it's quite useless to suddenly try and start behaving differently than before, 'cos the big polluters (like U.S of A) don't even want to take part in global conventions like that held in Kioto.
But let's not despare, not yet anyway.
Living abroad. I think it's naive to think that life is automatically better or more fun abroad. Like you said everything has it's good and bad sides, and if one doesn't want to see both sides, then one doesn't want to live in reality.
What I love about travelling is the uncertainty, never knowing what kind of skills are required next. The whole thing of trying to survive in an environment that isn't familiar (yet) and trying to communicate with people in different situations using other languages. It broadens horizons, that's for sure.
I'd like to experience living in e.g. some metropol like Paris or Berlin, be "lost" there among different nationalitys, to be one of millions. I'd like to try living under multiple stress for a few years and find out what I'm really made of. ; D
Sometimes I can't help but think that maybe we Finns are too happy and therefor tend to complain of the smallest things. Not that no one else in the world does that, of course they do, but complaining seems to be a very Finnish thing...
Maybe it's due to the fact that we're doing so well considering how young nation we actually are. I mean, during 60's Finland was considered a developing country and look at us now, just 40 years later.
It's always nice to learn from other cultures. Like once at some trainstation, maybe it was in Spain, a group of people came to me with all their luggage and started asking me from which platform does such and such train leave. I said I don't know, sorry, and tried to show them where the timetable was, but they completely ignored that! So there I was in the middle of this friendly, constantly babling group of Spaniards and thought yeah, this is the main difference between a person from up north and persons from down south. For them trainstation is a social place like any other, for me it was a place where one had to be allert and know (preferably beforehand) where to go in order to make it to the train on time - even on holiday! ; D
By the way, does the French presidential election interest you at all? Last time I read something about it from Hesari, they talked only about the maritial life of both candidates. How very interesting...zzzz.
Well thank you very much!
What comes to living abroad, most people do realize it’s not heaven and there is also reality, but before one has actually experienced it, one doesn’t know what he or she is really dealing with. Well that’s just my opinion. Some people have really realistic expectations, but most people are surprised how some little things can cause so huge problems in another country.
If you want to move abroad, I think it’s good that you like uncertainty. I’m not sure I like it. I prefer the fact that I can go to different countries and know how things work there. But of course I have to have some kind of liking for the unknown, since I’ve decided to move abroad. It makes life for certain more exciting. And Some times you just want to pull your hair and scream, because you can’t get the right answer or get yourself understood. (Didn’t really happen in England, but here, oh my god:P)
Yes, Finns are quite happy and therefore complain easy about the small things. We just don’t have the huge problems, natural catastrophes, poverty, hunger etc. But I think that people complain all over the world and that’s just how were made. An interesting thought that someone told me, was that it’s us humans who make life so difficult. That basically life is really simple but we just add all the spices to make it more interesting. I started thinking about it, and it made me realize that she actually had a point.
It is nice to learn from other cultures and use the things you’ve learned for your own good, but I think that one should also remain the respect for their own culture. One thing that makes me sad, is that when you’re reading for example the page “ulkosuomalaiset” they have these huge arguments on how Finland sucks.
What comes to the French presidential election, it doesn’t really interest me. A newspaper wrote that every channel that shows these election campaigns has lost viewers when the campaigns are aired. So apparently people aren’t really watching them:P I know something of the candidates, but since I can’t even vote here it doesn’t really interest me. Of course there is this huge talk about Sarkozy, and one can’t kinda miss it, even if he/she tries.
Well now I’m off to sleep, I just realized I’m not so bored anymore, just more interested of the conversation:)
Yeah, it's impossible to know beforehand what it's like to actually live abroad, the concrete living with all it's requirements, bureaucracy etc. One has to learn as one goes.
In the beginning the pressure must be hardest. Leaving one's homeland in itself is a big change which takes some time to getting used to, but at the same time one has to try to adjust to a different culture, using foreign language etc. All at once.
Well, you know from personal experience. : )
Was moving abroad in your case completely your self made decision or (e.g. work related) opportunity which you just couldn't say no to? Or are you like my sibling, who went to study abroad and never returned to Finland? : )
Is there a page for "ulkosuomalaiset" in Suomi24..? If they are Finns (who live abroad) who argue there of how Finland sucks then they're acting exactly the way I mentioned earlier: complaining. Comparing and complaining, choosing what to see and what to ignore, allthough one should look at the whole picture.
Anyway, wasn't it expensive to live in England? Sterling seems to be quite strong nowadays. Oh yeah, and I am dreaming of living in Paris- hah! Just read from somewhere that if one was buying a flat from Ile de France (whole Paris area), on must be very well off 'cos one square meter costs between 5000 and 15 000 €! And rents are rising as well, so...maybe I'll choose Berlin instead and simply just visit Paris now and then. :o)
Besides, I know Paris quite well already. Used to fly there constantly for annual exhibitions.
About the election and Sarkozy etc., I kinda understand why the right wing seems to be so strong in France. One of the reasons is maybe that France has similar problems with it's large immigrant population like e.g Holland has. There Bim Fortein got shot because of the chaos he broduced with his nearly fanatic attitude towards immigrants etc. Holland's main problem seems to be it's open borders which make it easy for people to move in even if they don't speak the language or have a job etc.
Maybe France has left it's immigrants on their own for too long, ignored people who aren't French and who's names poin to the arabic countries etc. It's been almost impossible to get a job if your name is Abdullah, said one boy from Paris suburbs on tv.
So, right wing says no more open borders and foreigners who live on social security. But why have they waited till it has come to this? I mean, especially in Holland they could've done changes to their immigrant laws decades ago but didn't. One can only ask why.
And why are there people lining up for "bread" in Helsinki even if this country is said to be richer than ever?!! It can't be right.
Was it I who said that politics doesn't interest me at all..? : D
I will reply to you, but at the moment i'm kind of without internet connection. so it will take a week... sorry
And welcome to our conversation:D
You know where to find me (us?) when ever you feel like chatting in English - or compu works properly. :D
I'm a bit more mobile this month, so likewise anteex if my replies are delayed.
Congrats, France! You have a brand new president. Hopefully he'll make some good changes and not just "revolution" in his speech...
O and by the way, take a look at this page for good (or the best?) books published in English: www.themanbookerprize.com
ha, I'm gonna just intrude on your conversation if you guys don't mind. so, what's up? I've been looking for some place to write and communicate in english and now I've finally found one. awesome! right now I have nothing better to do and this is a great way to spend some time, isn't it!
so earlier one of you asked if another has read any good books. I'm reading a book called the debutante divorcée and it's the best. But the thing is that I don't know you, so I don't know are you male or female but as a women, I can tell you it's one heck of a book.
I've been in english and every single thing is so freekin' expensive there. Oh, yes, the answer for your gallup is that I'm a basic finn and live in here too. well, the question wasn't for finns but I still answered.
Hello, you. Nice of you to take part in our conversation, which has become somewhat "privé" 'cos no-one has dared to interrupt us. Untill now. :) Sorry we haven't been able to answer you sooner. But now that I actually am here, I'll try to write something worth reading for.
So, you said you've been to England. As a tourist or studying there or what? In London? If so, how did you find old London, I mean, was it cool place or just so-so in your opinion?
I almost get hit by a car every time I 'm in England 'cos of the horrid left-side traffic. It's completely mental system. I (as a pedestrian) am always looking at the wrong direction.
Why can't they be like everyone else - and have Euro (€) as well for that mater!
Well, England will always be England...conservative and stubborn.
How did you find English people?
Have you done any plans for summer yet? Travelling anywhere specific or are you gonna stay at home here in our beautiful Finland?
Hey you both! But especially you Meaw if you end up reading this. Life turnend kind of busy for me but now I'm back in Finland and it feels great. How are you? I laughed when i read your text about almost getting hit by a car in England. To comfort you I can tell you that one gets used to it really fast. And when you come back to Finland you need to practise looking the other way again. Well i hope you're good!
fenix^