Finnish and me

At the moment of writing this, I have been learning Finnish for 6,5 years. No, wait, for 6 years 9 months, that is even more. Struggling with monikon partitiivi, making first effort to book a room in the weird hostel in Kuopio where the only 80-year-old administrator speaks no foreign languages, reading anime magazines for teenagers to get basic reading skills - all this experience is already being forgotten  as now I try to move forward.

Good books, university courses, time management skills and advanced ability to get focused on studies are the necessary ingredients that one needs to be able to say more than en puhu suomea (I do not speak Finnish). But to get advanced in language you need something more. Feeling of the language.

I came to Joensuu in the beginning of January to send my application documents. The city is quiet and peaceful, my international friends are travelling all over the world. I send the documents with the hopes that they reach their destination in all senses, that is, they reach not only the postal address of the University Admissions Finland, but also the melt the hearts of admissions offices of the universities I am applying too.

Well, that does not really matter. What matters, is that by that time I was starting to forget Finnish. No university courses anymore (all courses in Petrozavodsk University are too basic), no language practice except for rare encounters with Finnish colleagues at work. And there is the result: I am sitting in kitchen, drinking tea and understand less than 30% per cent of basic conversation held in Finnish.

And this was when I understood for what I should learn language. Not for good-looking CV, not even for master degree portfolio, not for the guarantees that I can explain myself at hairdresser's or at pharmacy. I can do that already. To progress with language, I need to fuel my studies with enthusiasm.

This enthusiasm may be based on irrational dreams, may stem from expectations that will never come true. I may be too afraid to say phrases which I have learnt but could not say before because I did not know to whom they can be addressed. Or maybe I will fail at courses held in Finnish language in my master degree, if I ever get admitted to it. It does not matter, because now I understand why really I should learn Finnish.

During my next trip to Joensuu in February I was staying at the place of my friend who bought books in Finnish after having been studying Finnish just for 2 years. And then I understood that I have never ever tried to read books in Finnish. Was that because my Finnish language teacher kept saying that it is too difficult or because I saw no point in that myself? So, I took the first book in Finnish and read it at normal speed (without looking into dictionary at all).  Another Finnish kaveri (friend) of mine said that he has already read Russian classics in Russian. After learning Russian for 6 years he is reading books which I, as a native speaker, was too lazy to read at school!

Last week I was caught in the shop for old books and got interviewed for Karjalainen (local newspaper). From that time in Joensuu I brought 3 books in Finnish (not even books for children). I read them and I see no differences in reading books in English and Finnish: maybe one day I will finally see no difficulties in communicating in Finnish at all.

View the language not as a compilation of academic books you have to look through a night before exam you are forced to take, view it as the way to your dreams, treat it with emotion, trust in it and you will succeed.