Finnish slang

[mattihp]

So it is looking more and more likely that my girlfriend will be doing her master's in Turku next fall..

That would mean we might move to Finland (she is indicating the move could be permanent) and whilst my finnish is up to snuff and I would better it quite quickly... I have basically no knowledge of finnish slang. I recently learned skaba and bongata..

My mom is born in Sweden and my dad (who never uses slang) came here in the late 70s so they are of no help.

Any good slang words I must know to seem more... Normal? Accent wise I can best fit in in Oulu/Kajaani so stadi-specific slang might sound odd.

 

[Albatros]

In Helsinki the slang borrows heavily from several different languages and it's not common for Finnish people that move from elsewhere to know any of it either. This reflects the fairly recent history of Helsinki as a city where Finnish speakers were only a small minority. If you will ever master it then that will definitely affect your social status among insidious natives in Helsinki, but elsewhere it will probably be met with hostility if anything.

In Turku you have a dialect that shares common features with Estonian although some loanwords come from Swedish and German, but therefore although not too difficult to learn, these elements can be found rather amusing elsewhere in Finland. Nearby Rauma has a much stronger variety of own language that like in Helsinki borrows from a number of other languages and is not easily intelligible to outsiders.

 

[JabbaJabba]

You'll probably learn slang words from listening to JVG's songs.

Honestly, it's kinda difficult to say, which slang words are the most useful or common around the country. Here are some that came to my mind that I think will be useful to you. I don't know how good you know Finnish or the slang, so there might be some very basic words.

Breku = breakfast
Dinneri = dinner (to go out to eat)
pönde = countryside (derogatory term IMO)
some = social media
Tube = Youtube
Tubettaa = being a Youtuber
Kontentti/a = content
striimata = to stream
striimi = a stream
keitto = alcohol (means soup as well)
pöhinä = bustle/spirit of happening (kinda hard to explain, means that there's a lot going on kinda)
pleikkari = Playstation
hima = home
Snäppi = snapchat
eeppinen = epic
meemi = meme

Are these close to what you had in mind?

 

[Kahvi]

So it is looking more and more likely that my girlfriend will be doing her master's in Turku next fall..

That would mean we might move to Finland (she is indicating the move could be permanent) and whilst my finnish is up to snuff and I would better it quite quickly... I have basically no knowledge of finnish slang. I recently learned skaba and bongata..

My mom is born in Sweden and my dad (who never uses slang) came here in the late 70s so they are of no help.

Any good slang words I must know to seem more... Normal? Accent wise I can best fit in in Oulu/Kajaani so stadi-specific slang might sound odd.

I'd say you'll learn the slang words quite quickly, nowadays most of those are simply English words twisted a bit to fit in Finnish language, like the examples above.

Accent is a different thing IMO, depending where and what kind of people you hang around. They either think you are hillbilly (just ignore them) or understand that Finns have different accents. I still have quite strong Kainuu / North Karelia accent even I've lived all around Finland the last 20 years so I can relate

 

[mattihp]

I'd say you'll learn the slang words quite quickly, nowadays most of those are simply English words twisted a bit to fit in Finnish language, like the examples above.

Accent is a different thing IMO, depending where and what kind of people you hang around. They either think you are hillbilly (just ignore them) or understand that Finns have different accents. I still have quite strong Kainuu / North Karelia accent even I've lived all around Finland the last 20 years so I can relate

Well.. I either speak kirjakieli when I don't want to be noticed.. When I am relaxed I am aaaall over the place. Some Kainuu/Oulu with Savvoo thrown in xD

 

[Kahvi]

Well.. I either speak kirjakieli when I don't want to be noticed.. When I am relaxed I am aaaall over the place. Some Kainuu/Oulu with Savvoo thrown in xD

Pretty much the same, parents from Kainuu and Southern Savo, grew up in North Karelia, studied in Oulu and Central Finland so my accents is a mess of all those really

But I actually can't speak my accent by force, it just comes naturally when I'm relaxed and not thinking how I speak. It's much easier to decide to speak "kirjakieli" when I'm working

 

[mattihp]

Pretty much the same, parents from Kainuu and Southern Savo, grew up in North Karelia, studied in Oulu and Central Finland so my accents is a mess of all those really

But I actually can't speak my accent by force, it just comes naturally when I'm relaxed and not thinking how I speak. It's much easier to decide to speak "kirjakieli" when I'm working

Yeah, kirjakieli is always a decision for me too. Over here in Sweden I can't speak it outside of my family because ruotsinsuomalaiset here feel like I am being condescending of what they feel is their poor finnish.. and what I would call ruotsinsuomea as they are pretty consistant with their "errors" which I would call dialectal differences.

 

[Stubu]

Yeah, kirjakieli is always a decision for me too. Over here in Sweden I can't speak it outside of my family because finnoswedes feel like I am being condescending of what they feel is their poor finnish.. and what I would call ruotsinsuomea as they are pretty consistant with their "errors" which I would call dialectal differences.

You are still in the safe bubble with Modern English. You have no idea what damage William Caxton did.

And then eager people like Shakespeare and Pope.

Thankfully Wordsworth and Byron stopped to think about it.

 

[Jussi]

If you're going to be in Turku, then get ready cut words short. And use "onk", "kui", "tommottis/simmottes/tämmöttes" a lot.

 

[boyko10]

So it is looking more and more likely that my girlfriend will be doing her master's in Turku next fall..

That would mean we might move to Finland (she is indicating the move could be permanent) and whilst my finnish is up to snuff and I would better it quite quickly... I have basically no knowledge of finnish slang. I recently learned skaba and bongata..

My mom is born in Sweden and my dad (who never uses slang) came here in the late 70s so they are of no help.

Any good slang words I must know to seem more... Normal? Accent wise I can best fit in in Oulu/Kajaani so stadi-specific slang might sound odd.

This is kinda off-topic, since the particular slang has more or less died out. Only a select few words remain. I'm talking about the 'real' original stadin slangi, which was basically 50/50 Swedish and Russian. Back in those days (30's to 60's), like 90% of Helsinki residents spoke fluent Swedish btw. But all my older relatives spoke it. But they've more or less all died at this point.

Modern Helsinki slang, not that I'm all too familiar with it, seems like 90% borrowed from English. But nothing sounded as cool to me as that old slang. "Snadi kundi, bulit pläägät" etc. Some good examples would be something like:

Skitari = Small fish. From the Swedish skitare, literally 'shitter'.
Tsaikka = Tea. Straight from Russian.
Funtsata = To think. From the Sedish 'fundera'
Skujata/Tsörata = To drive
Tsirra = Ambulance. Probably straight from Russian.
Stikata = To give
Budjata = To live (in a house). From the Swedish 'bo'
Gimis = Kiva
Stara/Starbu = Old man.

I miss hearing this so much. Not to mention expressions that not even the old timers know exactly what they mean, "hatsi lutsi mokakunde, pappa ludde juu" my Gramps used to say.

Some words still persist, but means something else. I.E. "föraa/förata" was "to drive", now it means "to steal" etc.

Btw. The fastest way to let people know you were not from Helsinki, was even the mention of the word 'Hesa'. Now Helsingin Sanomat was Hesari, but Helsinki was 'stadi'. No ifs or buts.

 

[alko]

Imo, the first thing you should learn, is to swear in Finnish. That is a first rule, if you want to survive in another country.

 

[mattihp]

Imo, the first thing you should learn, is to swear in Finnish. That is a first rule, if you want to survive in another country.

Swearing is easy... I speak finnish, that is not the problem.

I am not a big swearer, but I know it all.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Love this thread. Wish I had seen it before living in Vierumaki.

This could be a course.

 

[ilezia]

I don't think learning slang words from an internet forum is gonna be the way to go about it. I'm afraid you'll just have to dive in and learn it as you go. This way you will truly understand the words and you will learn the words used in their context in your social circles. Slang is very area and age specific as well. It'll probably come off very unnatural if you learn some online and go out to use them immediately.

To sound 'natural' as a distinction from kirjakieli I think it's more about shortening or twisting your words to whatever you are comfortable with, like a regional dialect. Minä becomes mä, mie or mää and so on.

 

[mattihp]

I don't think learning slang words from an internet forum is gonna be the way to go about it. I'm afraid you'll just have to dive in and learn it as you go. This way you will truly understand the words and you will learn the words used in their context in your social circles. Slang is very area and age specific as well. It'll probably come off very unnatural if you learn some online and go out to use them immediately.

To sound 'natural' as a distinction from kirjakieli I think it's more about shortening or twisting your words to whatever you are comfortable with, like a regional dialect. Minä becomes mä, mie or mää and so on.

Mie/mää are pretty natural to me, so that is not a problem. I just need to have a better vocabulary since some words will be completly new to me

 

[Albatros]

Btw. The fastest way to let people know you were not from Helsinki, was even the mention of the word 'Hesa'. Now Helsingin Sanomat was Hesari, but Helsinki was 'stadi'. No ifs or buts.

That's something of a generational thing too, associated with the post-war youth and rural flight. Older generations would not have found the name 'Hesa' unusual or toxic at all, but in the 1950s 'Stadi' became more popular in part because it was difficult for rural folks to pronounce.

 

[boyko10]

That's something of a generational thing too, associated with the post-war youth and rural flight. Older generations would not have found the name 'Hesa' unusual or toxic at all, but in the 1950s 'Stadi' became more popular in part because it was difficult for rural folks to pronounce.

The people I'm talking about were all born somewhere betwen 1900 to early 20's.. Most of them fought in the war.. Don't really understand your comment about stadi either.. Unless you mean the inability to pronounce the letter d and turning it into a 't' instead.

 

[Albatros]

In the early 1900s 'Hesa' would have been a more common way to refer to the city's name, while 'stadi' would have been used to refer to the inner city or a city in general (not necessarily Helsinki). Helsingfors vs. stad. As the city grew due to rural flight, this inner city identity became more relevant and it developed new meanings. Even today most speakers would be adamant that the word's scope has clearly defined borders in the inner city area like Tölö tull or Långa bron.

As you suggest, because stadi is essentially a Swedish word, it was difficult for most Finnish speakers to pronounce the initial double consonant 'st' and the phoneme 'd' which didn't exist in their own speech. So a typical rural variant would have been 'tati' or alike.

 

[mattihp]

So... Covid pretty much ruined my girlfriend's dreams of studying in Finland. But this fall I am hoping we can make a Kirppis run in Finland at least. I will mainly be on the look for finnish movies from the early 2000s whilst my girlfriend will be looking for board games, some clothes and retro games. Would Turku or Helsinki be a better fit for us with several second hand stores and kirppis?

 

[Hasa92]

So... Covid pretty much ruined my girlfriend's dreams of studying in Finland. But this fall I am hoping we can make a Kirppis run in Finland at least. I will mainly be on the look for finnish movies from the early 2000s whilst my girlfriend will be looking for board games, some clothes and retro games. Would Turku or Helsinki be a better fit for us with several second hand stores and kirppis?

I'm not that familiar with either city but there is a great gaming store in Helsinki's Kamppi shopping center called Konsolinet, they have a nice selection of retro games. The best for retro gaming I've seen in Finland so far.

 

[JabbaJabba]

So... Covid pretty much ruined my girlfriend's dreams of studying in Finland. But this fall I am hoping we can make a Kirppis run in Finland at least. I will mainly be on the look for finnish movies from the early 2000s whilst my girlfriend will be looking for board games, some clothes and retro games. Would Turku or Helsinki be a better fit for us with several second hand stores and kirppis?

I am not familiar with the kirppis scene in either city really, but just based on the fact that Helsinki is much bigger probably means that there are more options. Either way to my knowledge Finns are very eager to give their stuff to second hand shops or sell them through flea markets, so I think you'll find second hand stores and flea markets almost anywhere you go.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

Yeah, kirjakieli is always a decision for me too. Over here in Sweden I can't speak it outside of my family because ruotsinsuomalaiset here feel like I am being condescending of what they feel is their poor finnish.. and what I would call ruotsinsuomea as they are pretty consistant with their "errors" which I would call dialectal differences.

A part of my family speaks Meänkieli, it's the most confusing thing ever at times. Sometimes I'll say the most common Finnish word ever and they have no idea what it means.

My favourite Meänkieli words would probably have to be muurötteriä and lastibiilihytti

 

[mattihp]

A part of my family speaks Meänkieli, it's the most confusing thing ever at times. Sometimes I'll say the most common Finnish word ever and they have no idea what it means.

My favourite Meänkieli words would probably have to be muurötteriä and lastibiilihytti

I grew up thinking my uncle's wife spoke finnish quite weirdly with lots more swedish loan words that I had ever heard, only as an adult I pieced together that she was a tornedalian and spoke meänkieli.

 

[Jussi]

I'm not that familiar with either city but there is a great gaming store in Helsinki's Kamppi shopping center called Konsolinet, they have a nice selection of retro games. The best for retro gaming I've seen in Finland so far.

They also have a website, which might have those games listed. I've ordered games from there in the past, a very reliable store.

 

[JabbaJabba]

So... Covid pretty much ruined my girlfriend's dreams of studying in Finland. But this fall I am hoping we can make a Kirppis run in Finland at least. I will mainly be on the look for finnish movies from the early 2000s whilst my girlfriend will be looking for board games, some clothes and retro games. Would Turku or Helsinki be a better fit for us with several second hand stores and kirppis?

Just ran into an article about flea markets in Finland and remembered what you said. Iltasanomat made a list of 60 flea markets in Finland. Plenty of options in Helsinki and in Turku https://www.is.fi/asuminen/art-2000008044822.html