Language
One of the central elements of the American Inferiority Complex that periodically overtakes me when I travel is the fact that I am, for all intents and purposes, monolingual. Sure I've picked up a smattering of Quebec and kitchen French over the years and I can figure out a little bit of Italian from what I learned in high school but I lack the ability to come close to carrying on a conversation beyond maybe ordering some food or beer and saying thanks.
So it impressed the heck out of me in my travels through Sweden and Finland to find that most of the people speak at least three languages if not more. Our guide for our day tour through Turku carried on conversations in Finnish, English and German and like most Finns I'm sure she also spoke Swedish. I can't even imagine what it must be like to try to remember all the historical details you need to know to be a tour guide much less how to hone them down into that "guide patter" in four or even more languages. The result to me as an English-speaker was actually very pleasant to the ear. I absolutely loved the way she put some things: for example when speaking of royal family conflicts resulting in arrests and murders she said "And so they didn't get along and spent their time doing many odd things to each other" with almost a verbal shrug. Another gem was "You may see old pictures of the cathedral where it looks different. That's because it burned down about four times every century or so and they had to rebuild" again with the verbal shrug. It doesn't look as charming on the screen as it sounded, but ah well. A lot of what she said was vaguely British in its understatement. I suspect the Finns learn to speak English from British teachers since some of them seemed to have that accent when speaking English.
Signs were another story. English translations on signs were very, for lack of a better word, enthusiastic. Below are a few English signs in Helsinki that made me smile not in a mocking, ironic way but in a "I feel welcomed" kind of way because of that warmth and enthusiasm.
You may not be able to read the first line on this one, it says "Thank you for cleaning up after you!" The Finns do seem to love the exclamation point.
So it impressed the heck out of me in my travels through Sweden and Finland to find that most of the people speak at least three languages if not more. Our guide for our day tour through Turku carried on conversations in Finnish, English and German and like most Finns I'm sure she also spoke Swedish. I can't even imagine what it must be like to try to remember all the historical details you need to know to be a tour guide much less how to hone them down into that "guide patter" in four or even more languages. The result to me as an English-speaker was actually very pleasant to the ear. I absolutely loved the way she put some things: for example when speaking of royal family conflicts resulting in arrests and murders she said "And so they didn't get along and spent their time doing many odd things to each other" with almost a verbal shrug. Another gem was "You may see old pictures of the cathedral where it looks different. That's because it burned down about four times every century or so and they had to rebuild" again with the verbal shrug. It doesn't look as charming on the screen as it sounded, but ah well. A lot of what she said was vaguely British in its understatement. I suspect the Finns learn to speak English from British teachers since some of them seemed to have that accent when speaking English.
Signs were another story. English translations on signs were very, for lack of a better word, enthusiastic. Below are a few English signs in Helsinki that made me smile not in a mocking, ironic way but in a "I feel welcomed" kind of way because of that warmth and enthusiasm.
You may not be able to read the first line on this one, it says "Thank you for cleaning up after you!" The Finns do seem to love the exclamation point.
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