*blinks*

[conuly]

Can somebody tell me what the kid did that was so horrible? Because I'm just not seeing it. I *am* seeing some pettiness on the part of the poster, though, notably this:

IB: What type of soup is it?
M (thinking): Didn't you read the menu *on your table*?! (out loud) Sweet Potato and Cummin.
IB: Oh, that sounds good.
M (thinking): Girl, even I don't know exactly what cummin is. Who are you trying to impress?

Wow. She *didn't read the menu*! Yes, she should've, but she didn't. And because she says "oh, that sounds good", she *must* be trying to show off?

No, the kid doesn't sound like the paragon of politeness. Skipping please isn't nice. But it's also not nice to correct other people's manners in public.

Comments

[eofs.livejournal.com]

No, the kid doesn't sound like the paragon of politeness. Skipping please isn't nice. But it's also not nice to correct other people's manners in public.

I think the little kid had a point too - ok, so it's not as polite as please, but she said may I which isn't that bad.

In Finnish there's no word for please...

[conuly]

There isn't? Why not?

[eofs.livejournal.com]

There just isn't. No whys or whyfors. There are also no articles, no distinction between he and she and 15 cases. If you really want to say something when you order or whatever, you would use kiitos, their word for thank you.

[littlebutfierce]

In Finnish there's no word for please...

yeah, but you could say "ole kiilti" (arrgh, i'm sure that's spelled wrong but i've just spent way too long doing finnish & my brain is fried @ the moment) though.

there's also the polite "finnish please" (as my textbook puts it) way of asking something--the "säisinkö viinia?" thing too.

[eofs.livejournal.com]

I get kiiti as a coloquial thanks, no sign of anything like kiilti (but then I have no actual dictionary, just the stuff in the back of my text book.)

Viinia is the partative of wine *giggles* I have olkaa hyvä as a formal form of please or here you are.

I was mostly just repeating what my Finnish teacher told us - that they don't have a word for please and if you were ordering coffee you would just say kahvi, or maybe kahvi kiitos.

What you doing learning Finnish anyway?

[littlebutfierce]

"ole kiltti" means literally "be kind"; i've seen in (in my text as well) used to soften imperatives.

& yeah, you would order by saying something like "kuppi kahvia, kiitos."

re: the partitive--iirc it'd be fine to use it to ask for a drink, because it's an uncountable, unquantifiable thing. you want some wine. (although i freely admit i could be wrong, because i'm still recovering from over-the-summer loss of grammar preciseness)

i'm half-finnish. why are YOU studying finnish?

[eofs.livejournal.com]

The viinia thing - I didn't realise that you were saying something like "please my I have some wine" - I thought this way of saying please (which I didn't recognise) randonly included viinia. Now I understand.

I live in Helsinki. Well, for a few months ;0) Handy language to know around these parts you know.

[littlebutfierce]

I thought this way of saying please (which I didn't recognise) randonly included viinia.

hahahaha... whoops! that would be amusing indeed. :)

ooh, living in helsinki! lucky lucky!

although i have to say, when i was there this summer, way too many people immediately switched to english when i tried my halting finnish on them. dammit! i'm trying to LEARN! cut me some slack! ;)

[conuly]

Maybe they wanted to practice their English? You should've kept going in Finnish, regardless.

[littlebutfierce]

oh, but their english is inevitably wonderful--my cousin & his partner are doing master's degrees, & their courses are all taught in english!

there is definitely a class divide, though--because the people who did speak finnish w/me were more likely to be people working in shops or whatever.

[eofs.livejournal.com]

It isn't that amazing *shrugs*

But yeah, learning Finnish when everyone speaks English is difficult (not that it's easy anyway.) I do have a slight advantage in that my course is taught in a combination of Finnish and English so I am exposed to Finnish when I'm at university. And when I'm shopping, everythig is in Finnish.

I had one glorious moment in France a few years ago where I spoke better French than the waiter did English so I was able to give complex orders in French. That was great.