Nobody writes in English, huh?

[Ville]

I think we should advertise Etusivu to English-speaking ppl... why don't, say, our non-Finnish (speaking) spouses or girl/boyfriends get together here? :D

[Tuomo]

There were some foreigners here before, but now everyone of them is gone. Some of them were Suomi-fans, which was the reason they wrote here after all. But why did they stop writing? Probably because they didn't get enough feedback...

[Ville]

We scared 'em away ;) ...

[Tuomo]

...with my ugly face...

[Eija]

Student's Pan of Brownies Is a Pot of Trouble (http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2002/032002/03022002/539733)

[tiajohanna]

It would be interesting to know what the americans think about Finland, or do they even know it exists, where the country is located etc.

[Tero]

I've always found it best that Americans know essentially nothing about Finland. No preconceptions as with Sweden and Denmark. I get to start fresh and tel the people I meet wrong stuff, so they are even more confused. :eek:

[Tuomo]

It's a kind of sad that we've got no english-speaking people writing at Etusivu so that we could ask them what they know about Finland.

[klikkaaja]

I believe that the majority of the members do speak "some" English. However, they come here for a Finnish experience.

[Eija]

Originally posted by Tuomo
It's a kind of sad that we've got no english-speaking people writing at Etusivu so that we could ask them what they know about Finland.

Well, we could make this topic area useful by having Tuomo (and anyone else?) write here and give him an opportunity to improve his English. (Like Tuomo needs improvement in anything? HUH!;))He may write on this topic area anything his sweet little heart desires, and the rest of us will point out all his mistakes! (That could be fun! :D) We will naturally give Tuomo a chance to correct his mistake by giving him a hint, before we point the mistake out to him (I mean rub it in!! :D). No cheating!! :D ;)

So, here goes:

"There are at least two small linguistic errors in Tuomo's text above, and one BIG mistake referring to the contents. :D What might they be?" ;) ;)

[tiajohanna]

Great fun? Oh yes, but I´m not 100% sure that Tuomo agrees to that ;)
Well, I´ll pick up the easiest one: English is spelled with a capital letter.
Keep´em coming :D

[Tuomo]

Ha ha ha ha ha...

You must be rolling on the ground and laughing right now. ;)

Well, I obviously made a little mistake when spelling English. Sorry. I just don't use English enough to remember these rules all the time. You see, the problem is that here in Finland I use Finnish all the time and as you should know, languages are written in small letters in Finnish.

But what are the two other mistakes in that previous sentence? What is your judgement on this piece of note?

Please, don't criticize me about use of prepositions. I just can't teach myself how to use them.

[Nomade]

Originally posted by Tuomo
It's a kind of sad that we've got no english-speaking people writing at Etusivu so that we could ask them what they know about Finland.

1) There's no "a" in kind of sad
2) I believe there's plenty of English-speaking people here, maybe not many whose native language it is...

:D

[Eija]

Tuomo, I am not rolling on the ground, laughing at you! Your English is much better than mine was, when I came to the USA. Besides, you probably have no accent. I on the other hand speak English like I just got off the boat. :D

[Lissu]

Well, this is kinda scary. I mean writing in English to my dear fellow writers here in Etusivu.
See, it's all because we learn the English language in Finnish schools with this " don't make any mistakes" attitude." And that's the reason why Finns are so picky about their English, both spoken and written.

You gotta be brave. For example, my brother, who doesn't have any former education in English. But he picked up some words and phrases when he came here that he actually started to chat to our neighbors and friends. He didn't mind to say e.g. tomorrow next = I will do this tomorrow ; you like? = would you like to have, or care to try this. He even says: maybe same style, same system = when describing similarities in both countries.
When he speaks, it may sound funny but he gives a good try, and people don't mind. They actually talk to him.

And talking about accents, they are very common here in the US.
Everybody has one. MOre or less.
I will have mine, I'm sure forever, but so does the guy next door. Or the lady in the grocery line. But one thing I've noticed, is that if one speaks real fast then people may not realize the accent so much.

[Tuomo]

I actually forgot to answer Eija that I really DO have an accent. Sometimes I've fooled even natives: I was kind of surprised when back in Savannah a lady in a small boutique thought I was an American when I bought a postcard to send home.

But then after all, when I speak more, everyone notices that I wasn't born in the States.

But that's not something that bothers me. Not at all.

I agree with Lissu: people do have accent even if they've spent in the U.S. for longer time. Knowing the language and speaking the language without mistakes have nothing to do with accent. I believe that accent and ability to modify your accent is something one gets by birth, it's kind of gift, but the lingual skills themselves are something you can study and learn. I know people who know the grammar of English, but whose accent is terrible. But I don't think they really can't do anything about it. That's just how it is.