Thread: Welcome! I am happy to help you!

This is great!
I have no questions now, but I'm sure you will answer them when I post them here!

Kiitos!

Originally Posted by Jenna

There is not a true logical explanation. The best way to know which cities have the case ending -lla or -llä and -ssa or -ssä is simply by memorizing. However, there are logical explanations as to why they end in either "a" or "ä". Weird language, Finnish... (Mutta kaunis, joo?)

Niin kaunis!!!

Originally Posted by will1978

Hello,
I'm carrying on conversation with some Suomi people in another forum. More often than not, there will be some Finnish words I can't understand. I'm using this on-line Eng-Finnish translator "http://www.fincd.com/", but it's not very well to use,... and there are many words it can't translate.
Do you know any better on-line Eng-Finnish translator and basic Finnish language teaching website to suggest...
I'll be grateful.
William

I'm looking for the same thing, but French-Finnish. Olen belgialainen, mutta äidinkieleni on ranska.

Originally Posted by Jenna

There is not a true logical explanation. The best way to know which cities have the case ending -lla or -llä and -ssa or -ssä is simply by memorizing. However, there are logical explanations as to why they end in either "a" or "ä". Weird language, Finnish... (Mutta kaunis, joo?)

Actually, there is some logic to some place names. This was explained in one of my many Finnish language books but I wasn't able to find the explanation in a quick look through a few of them so I will attempt to explain as best I remember. Those geographic names which end with a stem which is a geographic noun such as river, lake, hill, etc. (Ilmajoki, Isojoki, Kivijärvi, Rovaniemi, Riihimäki for example) take -lle, lla/llä, lta/ltä. Since, for instance Isojoki is also tha name of a river as well as a city/town if you said you were "Isojokista" people might expect you to be wet (out of the river).

Of course there are many other place names that you still must memorize - Tampere, Kiljava, Rauma... . And then there is Lahti which it seems to me ought to fit the logic cited above but takes -ssa, sta, -een.

Liisa, maybe you can provide more insight.

Hi, Liisa! Thanks so much for making your expertise available. I'm an American trying to learn Finnish and am translating a Finnish book currently. The book tends to use slang words periodically, but I have a Finnish slang book that is very helpful. However, I still get stuck on a few words from time to time and wondered if I could ask you when I need help. I have 3-4 words that I need help with right now:

miksauksen

miksauskonsolin

milta (umlaut over the letter a)

purkaa

Thanks so much, Liisa, or anyone out there that can help me.

Yes, getting translations for slang words would be great, and there are also a lot of colloquialisms. I lived in Ostrobothnia and they have their own version of Finnish. I'm sure other areas do too.

Thanks, Peni. I don't think the words I'm struggling with as noted above are slang words, however. Do you know the translations of those words or is Liisa or anyone there to help?

Hello Finnfan!

I must try to make clear that I have no education as a finnish language teacher and my expertise in this forum is based only on being a finn and being able to speak some other languages as well.

I will help you as much as I can. The first two words on your list were quite in the need of a whole sentence but I can tell you that miksata=to mix, so the word is taken straight out of english language. Miksauksen= possessive form of the word mixing.
And the word miksauskonsolin....again a possessive form of the word mixing console??? Am I onto anything here?

Miltä is the word "how" in a different form used in special places.
Miten=how
There are a couple of examples in a sentence:
Miltä tyttö näyttää? = how does the girl look like
If you translate this sentence straight from finnish to english you would maybe say "from what does the girl look like?"

Purkaa is to tear apart, for example after knitting something wrong you can purkaa your work to start over again.

Next time you want to get more sure answers, pls tell me the whole sentence

Yours, Liisa.

Thank you so much, Liisa! That was extremely helpful. Next time, I'll give the words in a sentence. Glad to know you're out there!

I am glad to be of some assistance