We are entering our third week of classes. I have said it before, but it bears repeating -- It is truly humbling to be a beginning language student. Especially of a language with few cognates and a completely different way of organizing reality. Our teacher began the first day telling us all the ways that Finnish is easy - they escape me now. We are mentally exhausted every day and that's with only 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours max a day of classes. The teachers use English to explain the grammar -- this helps Ken and I the most. Occasionally they clarify directions but for the most part they speak in Finnish at a normal pace. For our classmates it is even more challenging as they have to make sense of Finnish through their second (or third or fourth language). It is apparent that all of them have learned a lot more English as well - many have commented as such. And all we have to learn is the language -- no Math, no science, no high stakes testing - though we do have a final exam.
Things I want to remember. The beginning language learner is completely overwhelmed. You feel like an idiot and your mouth hurts from being stretched in the wrong direction all the time. There are thousands of words to learn and multiple tenses, prepositions adverbs. Dictionaries do help when used judiciously and are absolutely necessary outside the language classroom when trying to negotiate real life.
Finnish has cases -16 of them. Even with a background in linguistics I barely understand them, can't explain them, much less apply the rules to them accurately. I just know they change the way nouns, verbs, adjectives and pronouns are formed, spelled and used. If you want to say you come from a small house in the country the ending 'stä / sta is added to each word - small, house and country. Then there is vowel harmony - a single word can only have vowels formed in the front of the mouth or the back. E and I are somewhat neutral so when you learn the endings you have to use the right form depending on the word it is attached to. Talosta is 'from or out of the house' while etelästä is 'from the East.' Feeling tired yet?
Being immersed in the language and culture can help a lot of course, but it can also make you feel a sense of desperation that you are alone and stupid and will never get the hang of it. There is just too much to learn. And this from someone who is fluent in another language and understands a lot of two more and we will go home at the end of the year.
I already admonish teachers to intentionally make connections between what is being taught in one class and another. I can't stress enough how important this is. It provides tremendous relief to the learner and instills a sense of capability that is undermined when there is something new and different introduced every lesson. While I have said this over and over and written about it, now I feel it deep inside. It seems ridiculous to feel joy understanding that the mouse is in the cat, not near the cat, but yet there it was.
When I broke my sunglasses we rode by a store with a sign that said silmäset (glasses) a word we had just learned that day for describing people's appearance and I realized I knew where to get them fixed. An accomplishment far beyond it's actual value as there are also optikki and English speakers but I experienced a new sense of independence.
Today we were presented a list of verbs with pictures to go with them along with a story in pictures and words that used many of them. One of the verbs was 'to disturb.' later this evening, Ken and I were excited to recognize a form of this verb on the notice slipped through our mail slot about the electricity being turned off on Wednesday evening from 8pm to midnight - (seems like an odd time to us, too). The note closed with 'Apologies for the disturbance, (in Finnish). It took us a half hour to figure out the whole 3 sentences.it could have gone faster but we have opted for looking things up word by word alongside our class notes in lieu of google translator which does not have a good handle on the subtleties of Finnish or at times even the simple things. Because there extensive word families linking nouns verbs adjectives etc. It is very instructive to pour over the dictionary to see the links and separate roots from endings. Enough of the language lesson time to relax.
I hope you have a little better sense of what we are experiencing. Despite any frustrations or challenges we are loving this opportunity - It is unbelievably exciting to be learning in this group, with the teachers and tutors we have. More soon.
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