October 7, 2025 • 38 mins
Think you can hear the difference between tuli, tuuli, and tulli? We dive into the sounds, rhythm, and real-life phrases that make Finnish surprisingly learnable—and endlessly fun—when you know where to start. With our friend Evelina guiding pronunciation and cultural nuance, we pull together a traveler’s toolkit you can use the moment you land: simple greetings (hei, moikka), how to say sorry and excuse me, the “please” workaround with kiitos, and the power duo missä on… and on to find bathrooms, train stations, airports, cafes, and more.
We keep things practical and warm. You’ll learn to order confidently—yksi kahvi/tee/vesi, kiitos—and to spot the words that unlock your day: vessa, juna-asema, lentoasema, kahvila, ravintola. We also share the secret sauce to sounding local: noniin, the multi-tool filler that fits nearly every moment, from rallying your friends to nodding along with a story. Along the way, we taste our way through Finland: the comfort of karjalanpiirakka, the sweetness of pulla, the debate over salmiakki, and why Fazer chocolate sits perfectly between Swiss and Belgian styles. Expect pronunciation tips on double letters and the ä vowel, plus the legendary phrase kuusi palaa that proves context is everything.
Beyond language, we celebrate what keeps us returning: Santa’s Lapland roots, reindeer on quiet roads, the wow of the northern lights, and the radical shift between midnight sun and winter darkness. These rhythms shape how Finnish feels in your mouth and in your day. Whether you’re planning a first trip to Helsinki or polishing your phrasebook for a Lapland adventure, this guide helps you speak clearly, order kindly, and enjoy more of what makes Finland special.
If you loved this, follow The ROAMies, subscribe for more traveler-friendly language guides, and leave a review—what Finnish word will you try first?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_03 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Alexa.
And I'm Cory.
And together we are The Romy.
We are married to each other.
Right.
We are a touring musical duo.
SPEAKER_02 (00:11):
And our music has taken us to all kinds of places
all around the world and keepsus always on the go.
SPEAKER_03 (00:16):
So we hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while
running around working to keepall your plates spinning.
SPEAKER_02 (00:22):
And we hope to facilitate your busy lifestyle
and feed your inner travel bug.
SPEAKER_00 (00:27):
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02 (00:32):
Hi everyone, welcome to the Romies Podcast.
We are continuing our Languagefor Travelers series.
And today we are going to focuson a really fun language, and
it's a very interesting languageand very unrelated to other
languages language.
SPEAKER_03 (00:50):
Well, very unrelated to other languages, languages.
SPEAKER_02 (00:55):
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (00:55):
Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02 (00:56):
We're going to teach you Finnish today.
Now, Finnish you're prettypretty much going to use only in
Finland.
Like we've talked about German.
Yeah, talking about German,where you can use that in
multiple places.
French, you can use it inmultiple countries.
SPEAKER_03 (01:12):
Arabic, same.
SPEAKER_02 (01:13):
Yeah.
But Finnish, you're going to useit in Finland.
SPEAKER_03 (01:17):
And so it's like a secret language.
SPEAKER_02 (01:19):
Yeah.
And you're thinking, why are wegiving you such practical
advice?
Well, here's our practicaladvice.
You need to come to Finland.
Finland is amazing.
We s we end up find ourselvescoming here every single year.
And we love the people.
We think they have the bestchocolate in the world, which is
crazy.
Agreed.
Yeah.
(01:40):
And so it's just you need tocome to Finland, and that's why
we are spending time and effortto have this little lesson for
you.
Yes.
So it's worth it.
All right.
So today, our teacher with us isthe awesome Evelia.
SPEAKER_00 (01:57):
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (02:03):
Thank you so much for joining us.
We're really glad to have you.
One of the things, so Rory andI, because we've come to Finland
every year.
Quite a few times.
They're already pros.
SPEAKER_03 (02:14):
Oh, yeah, the job win.
SPEAKER_02 (02:17):
Now, another here's a little trick, too.
You can so many people inFinland do know English.
They're learning English inschool.
And so that's really helpful.
But still, even if people arespeaking English and it's very
common in a country, we stillwant to be polite.
We still want to be respectful.
One and before Evelyn dives in,one other little fun thing that
(02:38):
Rory pointed out to me when wewere first coming.
SPEAKER_03 (02:41):
I pointed something fun out to you.
Yeah.
Nice.
SPEAKER_02 (02:43):
With the Finnish language, do you want to tell
them how you read it?
SPEAKER_03 (02:48):
Oh, yeah.
It's like, what is this thing?
I'm going to tell them.
Tell me too.
Yes.
So one thing that you have toyour advantage in learning
Finnish is that they pronounceevery letter.
Really, no two letters make asingular sound.
SPEAKER_02 (03:06):
So if you see a word, which it can be four
letters, it could be how manyletters.
SPEAKER_03 (03:12):
Yeah, it could be a word this so long.
This, but yeah, an internal.
But you can slowly pronounce itbecause you say every letter.
If there are two T's together,you say both T's.
Two L's, both L's.
SPEAKER_02 (03:24):
I mean it's And two I's together, both I's.
SPEAKER_03 (03:26):
Yeah, your vowels, you say both T.
SPEAKER_01 (03:28):
So we have a friend, Mika, and it's two I's and it's
crazy.
What would you say?
So reading out loud is gonna beway easier than, for example,
French.
Yes.
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (03:37):
Oh, way easier.
Yeah.
For sure.
Yes, yeah.
Sorry.
SPEAKER_01 (03:44):
I'm not gonna answer that.
I don't know French.
SPEAKER_03 (03:48):
Just trust me.
SPEAKER_01 (03:49):
Let's keep going with the finishing.
SPEAKER_03 (03:51):
Okay, finish.
Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02 (03:53):
Yeah, there's so many.
And another little interestingthing about Finnish that we've
just as Americans that we'vediscovered is that they put
their prepositions at the end ofthe word.
And so their words are like,like I said, 16 syllables per
word.
And that's because they're doinglike a whole sentence.
One word is a sentence.
So it's like in the car.
Or she has something in the caris like one word.
SPEAKER_03 (04:18):
Yeah, school of plumbers for Finnish people who
live in Lapland.
It's all one word.
I mean, it's hard to read at aglance if you're driving down
the street with street signs.
SPEAKER_01 (04:29):
And everything has a thousand meetings.
So you're gonna go farm withjust three words.
Nice.
Nice.
SPEAKER_03 (04:35):
That's right.
SPEAKER_02 (04:36):
See, and we're gonna feel so smart after this
episode.
I really, I really love that.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (04:43):
Way more than you need for Finland.
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (04:46):
So, Evelyn, what would you say?
Usually we might start out witha greeting.
Would you say that's a goodplace to start?
For sure, for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (04:54):
There's many, many ways to greet someone in
Finnish, but I'd say a nice,polite, still cool and chill way
is to say moika.
Moika.
Moika.
Moika.
I think that that's fine.
Or if you but want to be a bitmore formal, hey is fine.
The same as in English.
Nothing.
I think so.
I think that moika is somethingyou say like moika, hey to a
(05:17):
friend, maybe.
Hey is more hey.
SPEAKER_03 (05:20):
That's why everyone says, first of all, yeah.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (05:23):
But both are fine.
I think hey obviously is a loteasier if you don't want to
learn anything new.
Moika, if you want to learnsomething new.
SPEAKER_02 (05:32):
Okay.
And hey, they even though theysay hey, like we say hey, they
spell it H-E-I.
So there is a differentspelling.
Just in that way.
SPEAKER_03 (05:41):
So with moika, say like the two syllables slowly
and clearly for everyone.
SPEAKER_01 (05:45):
Moika.
So it's two-case, but moika.
Ah.
It's hard to hear from the fromwhen you say it out loud, but it
is two-case.
SPEAKER_02 (05:55):
Moika.
Can we can we just do ourThuli-Tuli Thuli example here
before we dive in more?
Sure.
Because this goes with the wholetwo-letter things.
Ah, tule.
Right.
So we've got fire, wind, andwe're going to be able to do it.
SPEAKER_03 (06:09):
So tell us the word for fire, wind, and customs.
SPEAKER_01 (06:12):
Fire, word, and customs.
Fire, wind.
SPEAKER_03 (06:14):
Wind.
SPEAKER_02 (06:15):
Fire, wind.
Thuli, tuli, tuli, basically.
Yeah.
Thuli, tuli.
SPEAKER_03 (06:19):
For us, they sound the same thing.
SPEAKER_01 (06:20):
Tully, tully.
Uh-huh.
Yes.
I'm already gonna know this.
Okay, this is what the Finnishlanguage is all about.
You're getting to the root of itnow.
Uh okay.
So basically, tuli, tuli, andtuli have three completely
different meanings.
And they're totally differentwords.
SPEAKER_03 (06:40):
Yeah, they don't sound the same to these people.
SPEAKER_01 (06:41):
So re repeat the three different words.
So the first one is tuli, or thesecond one is tuli, and the
third one is tuli.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (06:50):
So what's the difference in the spelling?
And then pronounce them again.
SPEAKER_01 (06:54):
Yeah.
Okay, so fire is tuli.
And it only has one u.
So tuli.
T-U-L-I.
Yes.
Okay.
Wind is tuli with two U's,otherwise completely the same.
So T-U-U-L-Is.
SPEAKER_03 (07:10):
And she said both the Us.
SPEAKER_01 (07:12):
Mm-hmm.
And actually also Thuli as inwind also means it used to be
windy.
Okay.
Sorry for another time.
And the last one is Tully, as incustoms.
Customs.
Like when you go through anairport or into a country.
(07:32):
And the difference with that oneis it has one U but two L's.
So tully.
So tully, tully, tully.
And this is why Finnish is hard.
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (07:45):
Because when we, as Americans, when we hear it, it
all sounds the same.
And you know, when yeah.
So moika has two kings.
Moika.
Moikka.
Yeah.
But how could you know?
All right.
Wow, all that just for greeting.
Okay, so that's hello.
SPEAKER_03 (08:03):
What about like thank you?
Uh excuse me.
Yeah, what do you think issomething that you would want
someone to know that would, youknow.
SPEAKER_01 (08:11):
With sorry, you can go a long way.
Okay.
It's basically, oh, oops,forgive me.
For example, if you bump it tosomeone on the street, you can
say, oh, sorry.
Okay.
It's it's not super polite, butit's not unpolite.
It's familiar and it's like avery just um very useful.
Very useful and fast way ofsaying uh sorry.
(08:34):
So sorry.
I think the only kind ofpronunciation difference to
English is in Finnish.
Yeah, it's a flip R.
So sorry.
So just sorry.
Yeah, yeah.
That's true.
Yeah, that's the difference.
Okay.
But even if you would be even ifyou would say sorry with a bit
of a rounder S, it would work.
Sorry.
(08:55):
And then if we want a bit moreformal way of saying sorry, it
would be on the X.
Okay.
On the Xi.
Alright, so break that downsyllable by s on thic C.
unknown (09:06):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (09:06):
And that only has one K.
You would never know though.
SPEAKER_03 (09:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But how many E's does it have?
Uh two.
Two E's.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (09:14):
Okay.
So again, if you say it reallyslowly, on thic C.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (09:20):
On the Xi.
unknown (09:22):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (09:22):
Did you hear say both the E's?
So say it again fast.
SPEAKER_01 (09:25):
I didn't.
On the Xi.
Okay.
On the Xi.
SPEAKER_03 (09:29):
She's so good with the language, right?
It's like she sounds sonegative.
SPEAKER_02 (09:32):
It's like I'm bored Finnish or something.
Yeah, it's so negative.
Wow.
Okay.
So that's excuse me.
And then so like sorry.
And then are you gonna useexcuse me in excuse me, can I
get your attention?
SPEAKER_01 (09:44):
Sorry, would actually work.
I think sorry.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (09:51):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:51):
But even if I were if even if I was, for example,
in class and I would need to asksomething from the teacher, I
could just say, ah, sorry.
Okay.
And then I could say my mything, whatever I need to say.
Okay.
Alright.
Or antexi, but again, that maymight be a bit formal.
Sorry.
Mulin Asian would be sorry.
I have something to say.
SPEAKER_02 (10:11):
Okay.
But moolin Asian, whatever youjust said.
We don't need to know that fortravel right now.
Okay.
So what's our next thing fortravel that is good and helpful?
Uh I'd say Well, thank you.
SPEAKER_03 (10:25):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (10:26):
Yeah, of course, of course.
Thank you would be kitos.
Okay.
Kitos.
I don't think that there'sreally another way of saying
that.
Yeah.
So that has two eyes.
I think that I I think that youcan even maybe hear.
Kitos.
Kitos.
(10:46):
Okay.
SPEAKER_03 (10:47):
There it is.
SPEAKER_01 (10:48):
And then what about um thank you very much?
Kitos palion.
Okay.
That's even maybe sim moresimple.
More simple than the English wayof saying kitos better.
Kitos palion.
Okay, can you slow that down?
Balion.
Balion.
So it's a hard P.
Balion.
(11:09):
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (11:10):
Kitos Balion.
So let's say I want to gosomewhere.
Where would I how would I saywhere is?
Missa on.
SPEAKER_01 (11:19):
For example, the bathroom.
Vissa.
Missa on this.
Okay.
SPEAKER_03 (11:25):
So where is the the bathroom.
And so but I mean the wordwhere.
SPEAKER_02 (11:30):
And so if we were to translate each word that you're
saying, how can you break thatdown for?
SPEAKER_01 (11:33):
Misa on, because there's no the in Finnish.
So if you if you would be umstarting the sentence of like
principle, where is thesomething?
Right.
It's just misa on.
So misa is where?
Yeah, misa is where.
Okay.
On is where is something.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (11:53):
Yeah.
So if we need where is therestrooms or the toilets, then
how do we say that?
SPEAKER_01 (11:58):
Misa on this.
Misa on this.
So on is is.
That's gonna be useful in a lotof things.
SPEAKER_03 (12:09):
And two s is in vessa.
SPEAKER_01 (12:11):
Mm-hmm.
Also in misa.
Misa and vessa.
Also.
Pretty similar words.
Yeah.
So then we're on.
SPEAKER_02 (12:18):
Okay.
Now vessa is kind of like alsoveti, right?
Like isn't there veta and vetiand all of that stuff?
So what's the difference betweentoilet and water?
Um, okay.
Um you don't want to confusethem.
SPEAKER_01 (12:33):
You don't you don't want to confuse those.
If you need to use the bathroom,you don't want you don't want
more water.
Yeah, right.
So this y is water.
This y.
It's also with the same as thisy.
So V-E-S-I.
V-E-S-I.
V-C.
Okay.
And bathroom is this.
So an A in the ending.
unknown (12:55):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (12:55):
And two S.
And two S.
Two S.
Yeah.
Okay.
Alright.
And also with Misa, there's an Athat is there that you're gonna
be very familiar with if you tryto learn any Finnish.
And you're also gonna be veryconfused because it looks just
like an A, like an A.
A.
A.
Yeah, A letter A in Finnish A.
Right.
(13:15):
But it looks just like an A withtwo dots.
Okay.
Uh above it.
Yeah.
Okay.
And it's said as A.
SPEAKER_03 (13:23):
More like R.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (13:24):
Like at Apple.
SPEAKER_03 (13:26):
For English speakers.
Yeah.
So you see the two dots.
It's ah, not ah.
SPEAKER_02 (13:31):
Speaking of cats, I miss my cats.
How do you say cat?
Kisa.
Kisa.
Like this.
There you go.
Two S again.
I just have to point out, we'renot with our cats right now
because we're actually recordingthis in Finland.
Yeah.
Because we recorded Japanese inSwitzerland.
We recorded Arabic in Finland.
(13:52):
And we recorded.
We were in like differentcountries for everything, but
now we're actually in Finlandrecording.
For the Finnish language.
SPEAKER_03 (14:00):
How strange that we would do that.
SPEAKER_02 (14:02):
It's crazy.
Okay.
Anyway, so back to we'velearned, excuse me, where is the
whatever, but you don't say the.
Yeah.
Right.
You just say the whatever.
So what what else are we gonnaneed?
SPEAKER_03 (14:12):
Thank you.
Yes, no.
What about this?
SPEAKER_01 (14:14):
Yes, no.
Yeah.
Yes, it's y.
Yo.
So j-o-o.
Two of the.
SPEAKER_02 (14:21):
So you're if you see a j, it's a y.
And if you see a y, it's not a ysound, it's a u sound.
SPEAKER_03 (14:27):
Well, sort of.
It's like the German um law.
SPEAKER_01 (14:32):
Okay.
And no.
A.
A.
So e I.
A.
Okay.
That's very simple.
SPEAKER_02 (14:39):
Which rhymes with hey.
H-E-I.
It's basically just the endingof hey.
SPEAKER_03 (14:44):
Yeah.
Take the H off.
SPEAKER_02 (14:46):
See, you're learning so much.
Okay, going back to the where isthe?
If I'm if I want to find whereis the, I'm gonna need toilets,
where is the water fountain?
Where is the restaurant?
Can you teach us some of thosewords?
Words and phrases, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (14:59):
Uh so for example, restaurant and well, we already
learned bathroom, which is best.
Let's try this one.
Okay.
Might be a bit hard.
Train station.
Great.
Where is the train station?
Very useful.
Yeah.
Might be a bit hard.
Yuna asema.
And if someone actually asks foryou in finish, they're gonna say
misa yuna asema.
But if we were gonna take itslow, it's gonna be misa un yuna
(15:24):
asema.
So train is yuna.
J O no J U N A and Asema is A Ssomething.
I'm not gonna go there.
Asema.
SPEAKER_03 (15:38):
A-S-E-M A.
SPEAKER_01 (15:39):
Asema.
Yuna Asema.
SPEAKER_02 (15:43):
That might be useful.
SPEAKER_03 (15:44):
Use that.
SPEAKER_02 (15:45):
So that's the train station.
And then uh, what if we want toknow where's the airport?
SPEAKER_01 (15:49):
Lendo asema.
So asema is the same.
Asema.
Lendo is like flight station,not plane station.
Okay.
Lendo asema.
Lendo asema.
And then in the whole sentence,where is the airport?
We saon lendo asema.
(16:11):
Yes.
Okay.
SPEAKER_03 (16:16):
As travelers, we often like to be polite, you
know.
So in Finland, I remember thefirst time I wanted to say
please.
Um and now having gotten intothe culture better, it's so
appropriate.
I find it really intriguing thatyou don't really have a word for
please.
SPEAKER_01 (16:33):
No, and you don't also really need to use it to be
polite.
Right.
Yeah.
You just need to eat.
SPEAKER_03 (16:39):
How do you How are you polite if you're asking for
something in Finnish and says,hey, give me this?
SPEAKER_01 (16:44):
Yeah.
Now there's a few ways.
There's either you can changethe way that you say, can I have
this, or you can add kidos towhatever you're having.
So for example, if I would go toa cafe and I would want to order
a coffee, I could either sayvoicing co sara instead of otan.
For example, otan is like I'lltake.
I can either change it to couldI please could I have not
(17:06):
please?
Could I have?
Or I can just add kidos, whichis thank you, to whatever I'm
having.
So I could, for example, say,I'll have a coffee, kitos.
And kitos is just thank you.
And that's if you learn that,you're also gonna be able to use
it in other things.
SPEAKER_00 (17:23):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (17:24):
So how do we say can I have a coffee?
I could just say uksy, cohabi,kitos.
So that'll be one coffee thanks.
One coffee please, basically.
Um so uksy is one.
Uksi.
That has the Y.
Uksi.
Kohvi is coffee.
That word you're also gonna needa lot.
(17:45):
They're coffee drinkers.
I don't think coffee better.
SPEAKER_03 (17:48):
And there's an H in that one.
So it's not just coffee, it'sCohvi.
Yeah, how about that?
Try that one.
SPEAKER_01 (17:55):
Uksi, cohvi, quietos.
SPEAKER_03 (17:58):
So brush your teeth before you have to say that in
someone's face.
SPEAKER_01 (18:02):
Yeah, okay.
At the stand.
Um if that's too hard, you caneven just say cohvi quietos.
SPEAKER_03 (18:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (18:08):
That'll get the message there.
SPEAKER_03 (18:10):
I use the quietos all the time.
Just like do you speak English?
Uh so then after everything, youcan put that and it makes you
feel like you're being morepolite.
It does.
It's in your veins.
SPEAKER_02 (18:22):
Now, even though I the Finns drink a lot of coffee,
I hear that it's not so great.
So how do we ask for may I havesome tea?
SPEAKER_03 (18:30):
Oh, this from you.
SPEAKER_01 (18:31):
Well, yeah, of course I want tea.
Of course.
Tea in itself is actually a veryeasy word because it's just the
same as we would say just the uhletter T in finish.
Okay.
So you could then say ooksy tekitas.
Okay.
(18:51):
Very simple.
SPEAKER_02 (18:53):
You're gonna need if I want water, I'm gonna say
ooksy thisy kitas.
All right.
And I'm gonna get this coffeeand tea and water at either a
cafe or a restaurant.
So what are our words for cafeand restaurant and those kinds
of places?
SPEAKER_01 (19:12):
Cafe.
Cafe is cohabila.
Now that's a bit hard again.
Uh it basically has the wordcoffee in it.
Cohobi.
Coffee la.
So just the same word as coffeecoffee, go.
Again with the weird H.
SPEAKER_03 (19:28):
And add la.
SPEAKER_01 (19:30):
Yeah.
Okay.
And if you want to ordermultiple things, so for example,
you want a water and a coffeeand a tea, you can add add yuck.
Yuck is and one basic water,yuck, go hobby, coffee, yuck,
(19:52):
tea.
SPEAKER_00 (19:55):
There you go, the king of the happily you're
providing it with all of thesethings.
SPEAKER_01 (20:01):
All of these things.
Yes.
And what are we going to eatwith our coffee and taste?
Mmm.
I wonder, maybe some rye breador a goriolan biraka.
So goriolan birakka is one ofmaybe the most traditional foods
in Finland.
It's kind of like a sandwichtype of bready pastry that's
(20:24):
made of rye flour and like adough part, and then some rice
porridge inside.
And that's something that youmight maybe order in cafe.
So gariolan birakka.
Biraca is a pie, and gariolan isjust the beginning of the word.
Gariolan birk.
SPEAKER_02 (20:46):
Okay, so if we're looking at it, if we're just
Americans trying to read it, wewould say Carillian pie.
Yeah.
Is that exactly?
Okay.
But then it used to get it.
Gariolan beer.
Okay.
Beautiful.
SPEAKER_01 (20:59):
And what is this poola stuff?
Pula.
Mmm.
I'd say what it would bestraightly translated into
English, maybe like a bun.
Like a sweet bun.
Yeah, like a s yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (21:17):
Well, it depends.
SPEAKER_01 (21:18):
For us, yeah.
Yeah.
It's like a pastry sweet bun,basically.
Made out of wheat and butter andsugar and sometimes eggs.
Yeah, yeah.
And so that is what do you callthat?
Yeah.
Bulla.
It actually has a pretty cutename.
Pullah.
I feel I feel like it picturespictures what it actually is.
(21:38):
It's also with uh a hard P, sobulla.
Okay.
Pulla.
Alright.
So ooksy pulla.
SPEAKER_03 (21:48):
Kidos.
SPEAKER_01 (21:48):
Kidos.
SPEAKER_03 (21:52):
Oh, so we've said hello.
What about if you're leaving?
SPEAKER_02 (21:57):
What do you how do you say goodbye?
SPEAKER_03 (21:59):
And and well, first the question, is there a
different do you have to changethe way you say hello if it's
morning, afternoon, evening, orthose appropriate for all times?
SPEAKER_01 (22:09):
Uh you can if you want.
But it's not needed.
So you'll manage with just hatefor the entire day and the
entire year.
Nice.
SPEAKER_03 (22:24):
There are plenty other challenges.
Like easy.
SPEAKER_01 (22:26):
We like easy.
Yeah, we like eye easy.
And you'll even manage with heywhen you say bye-bye.
Okay.
So this is where the easy partcomes in of the language.
So when you greet someone, ifyou want to be casual, you can
say hey.
And when you say bye-bye tosomeone, you're gonna say hey,
hey.
So just say it twice.
(22:48):
Once for hello, twice forgoodbye.
Like the chicken in the Moanamovie, if you watched it.
Maybe you haven't, but maybesomeone has.
Hey, hey.
SPEAKER_03 (22:58):
I know someone has.
I know someone has.
I watched it.
SPEAKER_01 (23:02):
So yeah.
Hey.
And then when you say bye-bye,hey, hey.
Nice.
SPEAKER_03 (23:07):
Very simple.
Easy and finish.
Wow.
SPEAKER_01 (23:10):
But it again, it has to H.
That's maybe not the easiest.
Hey, hey.
SPEAKER_00 (23:14):
Hey, hey.
SPEAKER_01 (23:15):
Mm-hmm.
Well, that was perfect.
You're setting a bad example forthe people.
Oh, pressure.
It's hard.
Really?
Okay, okay.
Maybe I'm just maybe I'm justHey Hey.
I'm not I'm not expecting more.
I'm expecting too little of you.
Is my hey bad?
No, it's very good.
It's perfect.
SPEAKER_03 (23:34):
So good.
SPEAKER_01 (23:37):
Oh true.
Of course.
Of course.
You say hey too.
Okay.
Okay.
Alright.
Yeah.
Well, this was the easy part.
SPEAKER_03 (23:43):
Yeah, that's right.
This was the easy part.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (23:45):
So now that we had a little mental break with that
easy part, what else do we needto uh Uh-oh I have one word that
you can use for everything.
SPEAKER_01 (23:54):
And that is nonin.
SPEAKER_03 (23:56):
Oh, yes.
Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_01 (23:59):
That's perfect for basically every situation.
You can say no need if you'reabout to start something.
So for example, you're about toleave somewhere with your
friends, and you can say, no ni,let's go.
No need, men na.
Or you can say that if you'rewaiting for someone, you can
say, no need, like it's takingtoo long, no need.
(24:23):
And someone is telling you aninteresting story, and you're
really surprised, or like, Idon't know, this is Or you're
agreeing kind of in surprise.
SPEAKER_03 (24:32):
Really?
SPEAKER_02 (24:33):
Or you don't care.
They just told a weird story andyou're not sure what to say.
Yeah, you can say no neen.
SPEAKER_01 (24:38):
Or you can say no neen.
Like as an agreeing term.
SPEAKER_03 (24:42):
That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (24:43):
Uh works for everything.
I don't think that anyone isgonna question you if you have
no need to do anything.
Yeah.
Someone bumps on the street.
No need.
Works every time.
That's also that's kind of likethe French, what the French say.
Um, like they add this likehesitant tone to all the
(25:06):
sentences.
Nonin is like the thing thatmakes you sound Finnish.
You want to blend in.
In English, we say, uh is thatlike our um?
Yeah, kind of.
unknown (25:18):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (25:18):
No neen.
Oh, yeah, that's a new one.
SPEAKER_03 (25:24):
In context and everything.
It's just so good.
SPEAKER_01 (25:29):
Okay, that's good.
Yeah.
And also from no niin, you'regonna gain two more words, which
are no and need.
Okay.
And what do each of those mean?
No is it's like so.
So for example, if you'restarting a sentence, you can say
no.
I was here and did this no.
(25:49):
Or and then mean is it's kind oflike an agreeing term.
Like yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (25:57):
You're listening to a story and you would normally
say, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (26:01):
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (26:03):
Could you also use none for that?
SPEAKER_01 (26:05):
Yeah, you could.
SPEAKER_02 (26:06):
You couldn't.
Because you can use none foryou.
Yeah, that's not even that's nota good question.
That was a dumb question.
SPEAKER_01 (26:12):
I mean, of course you can.
Um so yeah, two more words fromnoni.
SPEAKER_02 (26:17):
Great, great.
SPEAKER_01 (26:19):
Awesome.
SPEAKER_02 (26:19):
Now, just for fun, like we can't go to our
libraries, our collegelibraries, and find learn
Finnish in your car.
Right.
Right?
There's there's really verydifficult uh processes and stuff
like that.
Just speak Finnish for us.
Tell us a story how like youjust got married, and where you
know you can tell us what aboutour we don't have to know what
you're saying, but some peopleknow what you're saying.
SPEAKER_01 (26:41):
What Finnish sounds like uh I need to preface this
by saying that my husband saysthat my English is impossible to
understand because of how fast Ispeak.
And especially if I speak withmy friends, it's like blah blah
blah blah blah blah.
SPEAKER_03 (26:56):
Okay, so your Finnish is that just impossible
to understand.
Yeah, yeah.
She speaks great English, soyeah.
SPEAKER_01 (27:05):
Maybe that's what I'm actually yapping.
Me mentiin just naimisiin munmiehen kanssa tuossa itse asiime
joulukuussa.
Ja me oli siinä isossavaukisessa kirkossa, mikä on
Helsinki keskustassa.
SPEAKER_03 (27:24):
See, that's not really fair because when she
says it, you're looking at herand you're thinking, this is a
beautiful language.
Close your eyes.
When we would hear our band, wewould hire Finnish musicians who
tour Europe.
And they would be speaking witheach other, and it sounded like
(27:44):
this just monotone.
Yeah, monotone thing.
And so when I was trying tolearn some, I would always do
the things, and they're likelaugh and laugh and laugh.
SPEAKER_01 (27:56):
Like you need to go more Swedish when you're gonna
do have some movement in yourfamily tongue.
Yeah.
And I mean, even if you don't,for example, know a lot of
English, American English,you're still gonna get a grasp
of of like some things becauseit's so like it goes high and
low and you know, it switches upthe tone.
But with Finnish, you're gonnamiss everything.
SPEAKER_03 (28:17):
Oh my goodness, yeah.
Are they happy?
Are they angry?
Are they like, is it a story orare they telling me off?
I I Is it dramatic?
Is it totally?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (28:27):
It's really it's just kind of kinking me.
SPEAKER_03 (28:29):
Yeah, but it's really cool.
It's like a secret language.
SPEAKER_01 (28:32):
If you can speak Finnish, and yeah, yeah, they're
gonna got it going on.
Yeah, have a nice party trick.
unknown (28:38):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (28:39):
You can tell about all the all the six six meanings
of koosipala or something.
SPEAKER_02 (28:44):
Yes, we had a guy tell us this the other day.
SPEAKER_01 (28:46):
Well, maybe we could this can be maybe an interesting
thing.
SPEAKER_02 (28:50):
We were we were at a restaurant, so how do we say
restaurant?
SPEAKER_01 (28:53):
Uh Ravindola.
Ravindola.
Ravintola.
SPEAKER_02 (29:00):
Great.
Okay, great.
So that's where we were.
And the guy told we were tryingto learn some Finnish because we
were teaching him some English.
Yeah.
And so he said, if you know thisphrase, it means six different
things.
Yeah.
And it was that.
So tell us that one now.
SPEAKER_01 (29:14):
So it is koozy pala.
unknown (29:17):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (29:18):
Koozypala.
And to be honest, I'm not evensure if I'm gonna remember all
the six meanings, but means six.
It also means your moon.
It also means spruce, like as atree.
Yeah, well, then when we go tothe pala, pala is coming back,
(29:39):
it's also burning, and maybesomething else, but when you
combine them together, can bethe six are coming back, it can
also be the spruce is on fire,it can also be your moon is on
fire, it can also mean your moonis coming back.
(30:00):
So also six is coming back.
Yeah, true.
Also, six is coming back.
So it's vogue to be six.
Again, with this, you're gonnaknow a lot, but are you gonna
know how to use it?
That's another question.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (30:12):
No, no.
The answer is A.
SPEAKER_01 (30:14):
A.
Probably no.
I can't even I can't evenremember all the meanings.
SPEAKER_03 (30:19):
And how many Us are in the word cool zero two.
Two.
So as an American, what if Iaccidentally only say one of the
Us?
SPEAKER_02 (30:30):
That's gonna get you in trouble.
SPEAKER_03 (30:32):
See what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_02 (30:33):
This is a rated G program.
SPEAKER_03 (30:35):
It changes it completely.
I mean, I've made so manywonderful, hilarious mistakes in
Finnish because I only say nonow or whatever.
Yeah.
In public from the stage.
SPEAKER_02 (30:45):
And it just sounds the same to us.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (30:47):
Yeah.
Because my student's name isVessa.
And I don't hear the differencebetween Vesa and Vessa.
SPEAKER_02 (30:54):
Where is Vesa?
And y'all, if you listen to thebeginning, you know what Vessa
means if you listen to thebeginning of Vesa.
That's right.
SPEAKER_03 (31:00):
Vessa.
SPEAKER_02 (31:00):
So you don't want to call someone a toilet.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (31:05):
Unless you mean to.
SPEAKER_02 (31:06):
But we don't do that in Finland.
We're nice.
Right.
That's so nice.
Because this is a happy country.
Finland claims to be thehappiest country in the world.
Yeah.
Other countries also make thatclaim, but Finland is one of
those.
SPEAKER_03 (31:17):
Well, I think like lately they've been voted or
something the happiest countryin the world.
I say they.
You guys.
SPEAKER_01 (31:23):
Yeah, we have voted ourselves as the happiest
country in the world.
SPEAKER_02 (31:28):
Why you need to visit and why you need to learn
Finnish.
SPEAKER_03 (31:31):
Yeah, visit the happiest country in the world in
the summer time.
SPEAKER_02 (31:34):
Yeah, come in the summer.
SPEAKER_01 (31:35):
There have to be.
At the winter time, we justhibernate.
The whole country doesn't existin the winter time.
SPEAKER_02 (31:42):
Now, speaking of the country, just some little fun
facts.
Santa Claus is from here.
SPEAKER_03 (31:47):
Yeah, from Lapland.
SPEAKER_02 (31:48):
We have discovered, Rory and I just recently took a
trip to Lapland.
We'll tell you about in somefuture episode.
The Sami people are there, whichis the indigenous people of like
not only northern Finland, butalso Norway and Sweden.
And so we now have learned wherethe elves are inspired from.
(32:09):
Santa's Elves and this reindeer.
We kept driving around seeingthe reindeer.
So we got all that.
So Finland's got that going on.
And so if you didn't know, SantaClaus is actually from Finland.
So that's super fun.
SPEAKER_03 (32:21):
Yeah.
And then and there are reindeereverywhere, up in the Laplands,
so you gotta be careful drivingbecause they will be in the
road.
SPEAKER_02 (32:27):
Yeah, probably just driving around stage.
SPEAKER_03 (32:29):
So now we know why Santa has reindeer pulling his
sleigh.
SPEAKER_01 (32:31):
Yeah, the whole thing.
SPEAKER_03 (32:32):
Of course, duh reindeer everywhere.
Yeah.
There's no horses running aroundlike that.
It's gonna be reindeer.
SPEAKER_01 (32:37):
Nope.
Yeah.
And you can also see thenorthern lights.
Thank you.
That's what I was gonna pointout.
In the city and Lapland, both.
Actually, I even though it'spretty warm right now, I think
that we saw some northern lightslike a month ago.
Even though it's summer,basically.
Wow.
Sweet.
So it's possible all year round.
SPEAKER_02 (32:56):
Maybe not as often as in the winter, but and then
because Samps is up there,you've got the Arctic Circle up
north.
Also, Finland has seasons, isone of those places where you
can come in the summer andyou're gonna have like daylight
for gazillion time, you know,and like hardly the sun hardly
goes down at all.
And then there's certain partsyou can go and you have all of
(33:17):
the nighttime.
Like all the time.
Yeah.
And it's nonstop dark.
And like it'd be cool, butdepressing.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (33:27):
It'd be cool to experience if you knew you could
leave.
SPEAKER_02 (33:30):
Right.
Right.
And not have experience all thetime.
Four seasons.
Yeah.
And then what we like about thefinished chocolate, and that's
not all finished chocolate.
We found this the one brandFotzer.
Fotzer.
What we like about theirchocolate, well, I mean we
should say love, is that Belgianchocolate is very rich and
almost bitter.
(33:50):
It's like that dark vibe, likeit goes more the dark direction.
Switzerland goes more like thesweet direction.
And the finished chocolate islike right in between of the
two.
And so there's always a war oflike what's better, Belgian
chocolate or Swiss chocolate,and like it's finished
chocolate.
SPEAKER_03 (34:07):
Right.
You're asking the wrongquestion.
SPEAKER_01 (34:09):
You're looking at the wrong thing, yeah.
That's right.
And it's so much in the perfector the perfect middle that you
could basically eat a whole barat one in one sitting.
It's not too sweet, it's not toobitter, it's uh just it's
perfectly milky, smooth.
SPEAKER_03 (34:27):
It's a blessing and a curse.
Yeah, it is, yeah.
Yeah, I I would never eat awhole chocolate bar generally in
one setting.
But if you give me the yellowwith the hazelnuts, yeah.
Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02 (34:38):
Now, you also have something very disgusting that
people like here.
Now, we think that probably we Iwould not vote for fish soup,
and you have some very strangethings.
Fish soup is probably like agood food or whatever, but you
have some weird fish thingsgoing on.
But we're gonna just stick tothe candy world.
You have this stuff calledsalamiaki.
(34:59):
And how do you say that inFinnish?
Salomiaki.
SPEAKER_01 (35:02):
So that's two cakes.
Two case.
Salomiaki.
SPEAKER_00 (35:05):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (35:06):
Okay, yeah.
And so how would you describethat?
It's basically salty, really,really salty licorice.
So if you've ever had blacklicorice, kind of the same
taste, but then again, not atall, because you're not gonna
taste anything else over thesaltina.
SPEAKER_03 (35:22):
Yeah, imagine like licorice, and for me, it's like
soak it in ammonia.
SPEAKER_01 (35:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (35:26):
And then salt it down.
SPEAKER_01 (35:27):
Some people say it tastes kind of like they would
think car tire tastes like.
SPEAKER_02 (35:33):
But I love it.
You can pick car tire candy, oryou can have chocolate.
SPEAKER_01 (35:40):
Yeah.
Uh totally up to the same.
So I wonder which one is thefavorite.
SPEAKER_03 (35:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Or if you're in Finland, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (35:47):
I love salomiyaki, and we have salomiyaki,
everything we have salamiak.
Yeah.
Ice cream, salmiyaki chocolate.
Yeah, which is actually both ofthem.
Because the chocolate save thesalomiyaki taste.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And some people even eatstraight up salomiyaki because
it's kind of, it's almost like aseasoning in itself, so you can
have like dried up, juststraight up salomiyaki.
SPEAKER_03 (36:08):
Dip your finger in it, or oh.
Okay.
I have my own way of saying itbecause of my thoughts on it.
Salomiyucki.
SPEAKER_01 (36:16):
Salamiyaki.
Yeah.
Yucky.
SPEAKER_03 (36:17):
So it emphasis on the yucky thing instead of
although I did have it in thechocolate and it was really
good.
Yeah.
The fatset of the colour.
Yes, the combo.
Yeah, I know.
SPEAKER_01 (36:28):
I think that's one of my favorites.
And I I think that it's kind oflike an I could compare it to
Australian.
Is it marmite?
The big mite.
Oh, right.
That's strange.
Yeah, maybe.
Yeah, maybe not the flavor, butit's something.
It's like an acquired taste.
Right.
Good work.
SPEAKER_00 (36:45):
There you go.
Good analogy.
SPEAKER_02 (36:48):
Alright.
Any other final thoughts ofthings we might a word we might
need to know for traveling toFinland?
I'd say snow.
SPEAKER_01 (36:57):
Okay.
Because you're gonna see a lotof fat here in the winter
season.
Okay.
And that is lumi.
I think that lumi is actually avery pretty Finnish word and
it's also a name that manyFinnish people have.
Lumi.
Cute.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (37:11):
Now, is that two U's, two M's?
How do you spell it?
SPEAKER_01 (37:14):
Lumi, so it's just one of everything.
L-U-M-I.
Lumi.
SPEAKER_02 (37:20):
Alright.
Yeah.
Well, keep those polio for thetwo wonderful tips on travel
phrases and all of the thingsthat we need to know when we're
visiting Finland.
Thank you, Evelina.
We really thank you so verymuch.
So for having me.
And we will see y'all on thenext episode.
(37:43):
Yay! We hope we've inspired youthis episode.
So join us next time.
Please subscribe to, rate, andshare our podcast with your
friends.
SPEAKER_03 (37:54):
Or, you know, whomever.
SPEAKER_02 (37:56):
And please like and follow us on Instagram, YouTube,
and Facebook.
SPEAKER_03 (37:59):
We are also on X and on all social platforms.
We are at The Romies.
That's T-H-E.
R-O-A-M.
And our main hub is our website.
SPEAKER_02 (38:10):
At www.theromies.com.
SPEAKER_03 (38:12):
That's right, that's T-H-E.
SPEAKER_02 (38:15):
R O A M.
I E S dot com.
We'll be there until next time.
Yeah, thanks for listening.
Bye.
Hi, I'm Alexa.
And I'm Cory.
And together we are The Romy.
We are married to each other.
Right.
We are a touring musical duo.
SPEAKER_02 (00:11):
And our music has taken us to all kinds of places
all around the world and keepsus always on the go.
SPEAKER_03 (00:16):
So we hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while
running around working to keepall your plates spinning.
SPEAKER_02 (00:22):
And we hope to facilitate your busy lifestyle
and feed your inner travel bug.
SPEAKER_00 (00:27):
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02 (00:32):
Hi everyone, welcome to the Romies Podcast.
We are continuing our Languagefor Travelers series.
And today we are going to focuson a really fun language, and
it's a very interesting languageand very unrelated to other
languages language.
SPEAKER_03 (00:50):
Well, very unrelated to other languages, languages.
SPEAKER_02 (00:55):
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (00:55):
Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02 (00:56):
We're going to teach you Finnish today.
Now, Finnish you're prettypretty much going to use only in
Finland.
Like we've talked about German.
Yeah, talking about German,where you can use that in
multiple places.
French, you can use it inmultiple countries.
SPEAKER_03 (01:12):
Arabic, same.
SPEAKER_02 (01:13):
Yeah.
But Finnish, you're going to useit in Finland.
SPEAKER_03 (01:17):
And so it's like a secret language.
SPEAKER_02 (01:19):
Yeah.
And you're thinking, why are wegiving you such practical
advice?
Well, here's our practicaladvice.
You need to come to Finland.
Finland is amazing.
We s we end up find ourselvescoming here every single year.
And we love the people.
We think they have the bestchocolate in the world, which is
crazy.
Agreed.
Yeah.
(01:40):
And so it's just you need tocome to Finland, and that's why
we are spending time and effortto have this little lesson for
you.
Yes.
So it's worth it.
All right.
So today, our teacher with us isthe awesome Evelia.
SPEAKER_00 (01:57):
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (02:03):
Thank you so much for joining us.
We're really glad to have you.
One of the things, so Rory andI, because we've come to Finland
every year.
Quite a few times.
They're already pros.
SPEAKER_03 (02:14):
Oh, yeah, the job win.
SPEAKER_02 (02:17):
Now, another here's a little trick, too.
You can so many people inFinland do know English.
They're learning English inschool.
And so that's really helpful.
But still, even if people arespeaking English and it's very
common in a country, we stillwant to be polite.
We still want to be respectful.
One and before Evelyn dives in,one other little fun thing that
(02:38):
Rory pointed out to me when wewere first coming.
SPEAKER_03 (02:41):
I pointed something fun out to you.
Yeah.
Nice.
SPEAKER_02 (02:43):
With the Finnish language, do you want to tell
them how you read it?
SPEAKER_03 (02:48):
Oh, yeah.
It's like, what is this thing?
I'm going to tell them.
Tell me too.
Yes.
So one thing that you have toyour advantage in learning
Finnish is that they pronounceevery letter.
Really, no two letters make asingular sound.
SPEAKER_02 (03:06):
So if you see a word, which it can be four
letters, it could be how manyletters.
SPEAKER_03 (03:12):
Yeah, it could be a word this so long.
This, but yeah, an internal.
But you can slowly pronounce itbecause you say every letter.
If there are two T's together,you say both T's.
Two L's, both L's.
SPEAKER_02 (03:24):
I mean it's And two I's together, both I's.
SPEAKER_03 (03:26):
Yeah, your vowels, you say both T.
SPEAKER_01 (03:28):
So we have a friend, Mika, and it's two I's and it's
crazy.
What would you say?
So reading out loud is gonna beway easier than, for example,
French.
Yes.
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (03:37):
Oh, way easier.
Yeah.
For sure.
Yes, yeah.
Sorry.
SPEAKER_01 (03:44):
I'm not gonna answer that.
I don't know French.
SPEAKER_03 (03:48):
Just trust me.
SPEAKER_01 (03:49):
Let's keep going with the finishing.
SPEAKER_03 (03:51):
Okay, finish.
Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02 (03:53):
Yeah, there's so many.
And another little interestingthing about Finnish that we've
just as Americans that we'vediscovered is that they put
their prepositions at the end ofthe word.
And so their words are like,like I said, 16 syllables per
word.
And that's because they're doinglike a whole sentence.
One word is a sentence.
So it's like in the car.
Or she has something in the caris like one word.
SPEAKER_03 (04:18):
Yeah, school of plumbers for Finnish people who
live in Lapland.
It's all one word.
I mean, it's hard to read at aglance if you're driving down
the street with street signs.
SPEAKER_01 (04:29):
And everything has a thousand meetings.
So you're gonna go farm withjust three words.
Nice.
Nice.
SPEAKER_03 (04:35):
That's right.
SPEAKER_02 (04:36):
See, and we're gonna feel so smart after this
episode.
I really, I really love that.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (04:43):
Way more than you need for Finland.
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (04:46):
So, Evelyn, what would you say?
Usually we might start out witha greeting.
Would you say that's a goodplace to start?
For sure, for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (04:54):
There's many, many ways to greet someone in
Finnish, but I'd say a nice,polite, still cool and chill way
is to say moika.
Moika.
Moika.
Moika.
I think that that's fine.
Or if you but want to be a bitmore formal, hey is fine.
The same as in English.
Nothing.
I think so.
I think that moika is somethingyou say like moika, hey to a
(05:17):
friend, maybe.
Hey is more hey.
SPEAKER_03 (05:20):
That's why everyone says, first of all, yeah.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (05:23):
But both are fine.
I think hey obviously is a loteasier if you don't want to
learn anything new.
Moika, if you want to learnsomething new.
SPEAKER_02 (05:32):
Okay.
And hey, they even though theysay hey, like we say hey, they
spell it H-E-I.
So there is a differentspelling.
Just in that way.
SPEAKER_03 (05:41):
So with moika, say like the two syllables slowly
and clearly for everyone.
SPEAKER_01 (05:45):
Moika.
So it's two-case, but moika.
Ah.
It's hard to hear from the fromwhen you say it out loud, but it
is two-case.
SPEAKER_02 (05:55):
Moika.
Can we can we just do ourThuli-Tuli Thuli example here
before we dive in more?
Sure.
Because this goes with the wholetwo-letter things.
Ah, tule.
Right.
So we've got fire, wind, andwe're going to be able to do it.
SPEAKER_03 (06:09):
So tell us the word for fire, wind, and customs.
SPEAKER_01 (06:12):
Fire, word, and customs.
Fire, wind.
SPEAKER_03 (06:14):
Wind.
SPEAKER_02 (06:15):
Fire, wind.
Thuli, tuli, tuli, basically.
Yeah.
Thuli, tuli.
SPEAKER_03 (06:19):
For us, they sound the same thing.
SPEAKER_01 (06:20):
Tully, tully.
Uh-huh.
Yes.
I'm already gonna know this.
Okay, this is what the Finnishlanguage is all about.
You're getting to the root of itnow.
Uh okay.
So basically, tuli, tuli, andtuli have three completely
different meanings.
And they're totally differentwords.
SPEAKER_03 (06:40):
Yeah, they don't sound the same to these people.
SPEAKER_01 (06:41):
So re repeat the three different words.
So the first one is tuli, or thesecond one is tuli, and the
third one is tuli.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (06:50):
So what's the difference in the spelling?
And then pronounce them again.
SPEAKER_01 (06:54):
Yeah.
Okay, so fire is tuli.
And it only has one u.
So tuli.
T-U-L-I.
Yes.
Okay.
Wind is tuli with two U's,otherwise completely the same.
So T-U-U-L-Is.
SPEAKER_03 (07:10):
And she said both the Us.
SPEAKER_01 (07:12):
Mm-hmm.
And actually also Thuli as inwind also means it used to be
windy.
Okay.
Sorry for another time.
And the last one is Tully, as incustoms.
Customs.
Like when you go through anairport or into a country.
(07:32):
And the difference with that oneis it has one U but two L's.
So tully.
So tully, tully, tully.
And this is why Finnish is hard.
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (07:45):
Because when we, as Americans, when we hear it, it
all sounds the same.
And you know, when yeah.
So moika has two kings.
Moika.
Moikka.
Yeah.
But how could you know?
All right.
Wow, all that just for greeting.
Okay, so that's hello.
SPEAKER_03 (08:03):
What about like thank you?
Uh excuse me.
Yeah, what do you think issomething that you would want
someone to know that would, youknow.
SPEAKER_01 (08:11):
With sorry, you can go a long way.
Okay.
It's basically, oh, oops,forgive me.
For example, if you bump it tosomeone on the street, you can
say, oh, sorry.
Okay.
It's it's not super polite, butit's not unpolite.
It's familiar and it's like avery just um very useful.
Very useful and fast way ofsaying uh sorry.
(08:34):
So sorry.
I think the only kind ofpronunciation difference to
English is in Finnish.
Yeah, it's a flip R.
So sorry.
So just sorry.
Yeah, yeah.
That's true.
Yeah, that's the difference.
Okay.
But even if you would be even ifyou would say sorry with a bit
of a rounder S, it would work.
Sorry.
(08:55):
And then if we want a bit moreformal way of saying sorry, it
would be on the X.
Okay.
On the Xi.
Alright, so break that downsyllable by s on thic C.
unknown (09:06):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (09:06):
And that only has one K.
You would never know though.
SPEAKER_03 (09:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But how many E's does it have?
Uh two.
Two E's.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (09:14):
Okay.
So again, if you say it reallyslowly, on thic C.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (09:20):
On the Xi.
unknown (09:22):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (09:22):
Did you hear say both the E's?
So say it again fast.
SPEAKER_01 (09:25):
I didn't.
On the Xi.
Okay.
On the Xi.
SPEAKER_03 (09:29):
She's so good with the language, right?
It's like she sounds sonegative.
SPEAKER_02 (09:32):
It's like I'm bored Finnish or something.
Yeah, it's so negative.
Wow.
Okay.
So that's excuse me.
And then so like sorry.
And then are you gonna useexcuse me in excuse me, can I
get your attention?
SPEAKER_01 (09:44):
Sorry, would actually work.
I think sorry.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (09:51):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:51):
But even if I were if even if I was, for example,
in class and I would need to asksomething from the teacher, I
could just say, ah, sorry.
Okay.
And then I could say my mything, whatever I need to say.
Okay.
Alright.
Or antexi, but again, that maymight be a bit formal.
Sorry.
Mulin Asian would be sorry.
I have something to say.
SPEAKER_02 (10:11):
Okay.
But moolin Asian, whatever youjust said.
We don't need to know that fortravel right now.
Okay.
So what's our next thing fortravel that is good and helpful?
Uh I'd say Well, thank you.
SPEAKER_03 (10:25):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (10:26):
Yeah, of course, of course.
Thank you would be kitos.
Okay.
Kitos.
I don't think that there'sreally another way of saying
that.
Yeah.
So that has two eyes.
I think that I I think that youcan even maybe hear.
Kitos.
Kitos.
(10:46):
Okay.
SPEAKER_03 (10:47):
There it is.
SPEAKER_01 (10:48):
And then what about um thank you very much?
Kitos palion.
Okay.
That's even maybe sim moresimple.
More simple than the English wayof saying kitos better.
Kitos palion.
Okay, can you slow that down?
Balion.
Balion.
So it's a hard P.
Balion.
(11:09):
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (11:10):
Kitos Balion.
So let's say I want to gosomewhere.
Where would I how would I saywhere is?
Missa on.
SPEAKER_01 (11:19):
For example, the bathroom.
Vissa.
Missa on this.
Okay.
SPEAKER_03 (11:25):
So where is the the bathroom.
And so but I mean the wordwhere.
SPEAKER_02 (11:30):
And so if we were to translate each word that you're
saying, how can you break thatdown for?
SPEAKER_01 (11:33):
Misa on, because there's no the in Finnish.
So if you if you would be umstarting the sentence of like
principle, where is thesomething?
Right.
It's just misa on.
So misa is where?
Yeah, misa is where.
Okay.
On is where is something.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (11:53):
Yeah.
So if we need where is therestrooms or the toilets, then
how do we say that?
SPEAKER_01 (11:58):
Misa on this.
Misa on this.
So on is is.
That's gonna be useful in a lotof things.
SPEAKER_03 (12:09):
And two s is in vessa.
SPEAKER_01 (12:11):
Mm-hmm.
Also in misa.
Misa and vessa.
Also.
Pretty similar words.
Yeah.
So then we're on.
SPEAKER_02 (12:18):
Okay.
Now vessa is kind of like alsoveti, right?
Like isn't there veta and vetiand all of that stuff?
So what's the difference betweentoilet and water?
Um, okay.
Um you don't want to confusethem.
SPEAKER_01 (12:33):
You don't you don't want to confuse those.
If you need to use the bathroom,you don't want you don't want
more water.
Yeah, right.
So this y is water.
This y.
It's also with the same as thisy.
So V-E-S-I.
V-E-S-I.
V-C.
Okay.
And bathroom is this.
So an A in the ending.
unknown (12:55):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (12:55):
And two S.
And two S.
Two S.
Yeah.
Okay.
Alright.
And also with Misa, there's an Athat is there that you're gonna
be very familiar with if you tryto learn any Finnish.
And you're also gonna be veryconfused because it looks just
like an A, like an A.
A.
A.
Yeah, A letter A in Finnish A.
Right.
(13:15):
But it looks just like an A withtwo dots.
Okay.
Uh above it.
Yeah.
Okay.
And it's said as A.
SPEAKER_03 (13:23):
More like R.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (13:24):
Like at Apple.
SPEAKER_03 (13:26):
For English speakers.
Yeah.
So you see the two dots.
It's ah, not ah.
SPEAKER_02 (13:31):
Speaking of cats, I miss my cats.
How do you say cat?
Kisa.
Kisa.
Like this.
There you go.
Two S again.
I just have to point out, we'renot with our cats right now
because we're actually recordingthis in Finland.
Yeah.
Because we recorded Japanese inSwitzerland.
We recorded Arabic in Finland.
(13:52):
And we recorded.
We were in like differentcountries for everything, but
now we're actually in Finlandrecording.
For the Finnish language.
SPEAKER_03 (14:00):
How strange that we would do that.
SPEAKER_02 (14:02):
It's crazy.
Okay.
Anyway, so back to we'velearned, excuse me, where is the
whatever, but you don't say the.
Yeah.
Right.
You just say the whatever.
So what what else are we gonnaneed?
SPEAKER_03 (14:12):
Thank you.
Yes, no.
What about this?
SPEAKER_01 (14:14):
Yes, no.
Yeah.
Yes, it's y.
Yo.
So j-o-o.
Two of the.
SPEAKER_02 (14:21):
So you're if you see a j, it's a y.
And if you see a y, it's not a ysound, it's a u sound.
SPEAKER_03 (14:27):
Well, sort of.
It's like the German um law.
SPEAKER_01 (14:32):
Okay.
And no.
A.
A.
So e I.
A.
Okay.
That's very simple.
SPEAKER_02 (14:39):
Which rhymes with hey.
H-E-I.
It's basically just the endingof hey.
SPEAKER_03 (14:44):
Yeah.
Take the H off.
SPEAKER_02 (14:46):
See, you're learning so much.
Okay, going back to the where isthe?
If I'm if I want to find whereis the, I'm gonna need toilets,
where is the water fountain?
Where is the restaurant?
Can you teach us some of thosewords?
Words and phrases, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (14:59):
Uh so for example, restaurant and well, we already
learned bathroom, which is best.
Let's try this one.
Okay.
Might be a bit hard.
Train station.
Great.
Where is the train station?
Very useful.
Yeah.
Might be a bit hard.
Yuna asema.
And if someone actually asks foryou in finish, they're gonna say
misa yuna asema.
But if we were gonna take itslow, it's gonna be misa un yuna
(15:24):
asema.
So train is yuna.
J O no J U N A and Asema is A Ssomething.
I'm not gonna go there.
Asema.
SPEAKER_03 (15:38):
A-S-E-M A.
SPEAKER_01 (15:39):
Asema.
Yuna Asema.
SPEAKER_02 (15:43):
That might be useful.
SPEAKER_03 (15:44):
Use that.
SPEAKER_02 (15:45):
So that's the train station.
And then uh, what if we want toknow where's the airport?
SPEAKER_01 (15:49):
Lendo asema.
So asema is the same.
Asema.
Lendo is like flight station,not plane station.
Okay.
Lendo asema.
Lendo asema.
And then in the whole sentence,where is the airport?
We saon lendo asema.
(16:11):
Yes.
Okay.
SPEAKER_03 (16:16):
As travelers, we often like to be polite, you
know.
So in Finland, I remember thefirst time I wanted to say
please.
Um and now having gotten intothe culture better, it's so
appropriate.
I find it really intriguing thatyou don't really have a word for
please.
SPEAKER_01 (16:33):
No, and you don't also really need to use it to be
polite.
Right.
Yeah.
You just need to eat.
SPEAKER_03 (16:39):
How do you How are you polite if you're asking for
something in Finnish and says,hey, give me this?
SPEAKER_01 (16:44):
Yeah.
Now there's a few ways.
There's either you can changethe way that you say, can I have
this, or you can add kidos towhatever you're having.
So for example, if I would go toa cafe and I would want to order
a coffee, I could either sayvoicing co sara instead of otan.
For example, otan is like I'lltake.
I can either change it to couldI please could I have not
(17:06):
please?
Could I have?
Or I can just add kidos, whichis thank you, to whatever I'm
having.
So I could, for example, say,I'll have a coffee, kitos.
And kitos is just thank you.
And that's if you learn that,you're also gonna be able to use
it in other things.
SPEAKER_00 (17:23):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (17:24):
So how do we say can I have a coffee?
I could just say uksy, cohabi,kitos.
So that'll be one coffee thanks.
One coffee please, basically.
Um so uksy is one.
Uksi.
That has the Y.
Uksi.
Kohvi is coffee.
That word you're also gonna needa lot.
(17:45):
They're coffee drinkers.
I don't think coffee better.
SPEAKER_03 (17:48):
And there's an H in that one.
So it's not just coffee, it'sCohvi.
Yeah, how about that?
Try that one.
SPEAKER_01 (17:55):
Uksi, cohvi, quietos.
SPEAKER_03 (17:58):
So brush your teeth before you have to say that in
someone's face.
SPEAKER_01 (18:02):
Yeah, okay.
At the stand.
Um if that's too hard, you caneven just say cohvi quietos.
SPEAKER_03 (18:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (18:08):
That'll get the message there.
SPEAKER_03 (18:10):
I use the quietos all the time.
Just like do you speak English?
Uh so then after everything, youcan put that and it makes you
feel like you're being morepolite.
It does.
It's in your veins.
SPEAKER_02 (18:22):
Now, even though I the Finns drink a lot of coffee,
I hear that it's not so great.
So how do we ask for may I havesome tea?
SPEAKER_03 (18:30):
Oh, this from you.
SPEAKER_01 (18:31):
Well, yeah, of course I want tea.
Of course.
Tea in itself is actually a veryeasy word because it's just the
same as we would say just the uhletter T in finish.
Okay.
So you could then say ooksy tekitas.
Okay.
(18:51):
Very simple.
SPEAKER_02 (18:53):
You're gonna need if I want water, I'm gonna say
ooksy thisy kitas.
All right.
And I'm gonna get this coffeeand tea and water at either a
cafe or a restaurant.
So what are our words for cafeand restaurant and those kinds
of places?
SPEAKER_01 (19:12):
Cafe.
Cafe is cohabila.
Now that's a bit hard again.
Uh it basically has the wordcoffee in it.
Cohobi.
Coffee la.
So just the same word as coffeecoffee, go.
Again with the weird H.
SPEAKER_03 (19:28):
And add la.
SPEAKER_01 (19:30):
Yeah.
Okay.
And if you want to ordermultiple things, so for example,
you want a water and a coffeeand a tea, you can add add yuck.
Yuck is and one basic water,yuck, go hobby, coffee, yuck,
(19:52):
tea.
SPEAKER_00 (19:55):
There you go, the king of the happily you're
providing it with all of thesethings.
SPEAKER_01 (20:01):
All of these things.
Yes.
And what are we going to eatwith our coffee and taste?
Mmm.
I wonder, maybe some rye breador a goriolan biraka.
So goriolan birakka is one ofmaybe the most traditional foods
in Finland.
It's kind of like a sandwichtype of bready pastry that's
(20:24):
made of rye flour and like adough part, and then some rice
porridge inside.
And that's something that youmight maybe order in cafe.
So gariolan birakka.
Biraca is a pie, and gariolan isjust the beginning of the word.
Gariolan birk.
SPEAKER_02 (20:46):
Okay, so if we're looking at it, if we're just
Americans trying to read it, wewould say Carillian pie.
Yeah.
Is that exactly?
Okay.
But then it used to get it.
Gariolan beer.
Okay.
Beautiful.
SPEAKER_01 (20:59):
And what is this poola stuff?
Pula.
Mmm.
I'd say what it would bestraightly translated into
English, maybe like a bun.
Like a sweet bun.
Yeah, like a s yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (21:17):
Well, it depends.
SPEAKER_01 (21:18):
For us, yeah.
Yeah.
It's like a pastry sweet bun,basically.
Made out of wheat and butter andsugar and sometimes eggs.
Yeah, yeah.
And so that is what do you callthat?
Yeah.
Bulla.
It actually has a pretty cutename.
Pullah.
I feel I feel like it picturespictures what it actually is.
(21:38):
It's also with uh a hard P, sobulla.
Okay.
Pulla.
Alright.
So ooksy pulla.
SPEAKER_03 (21:48):
Kidos.
SPEAKER_01 (21:48):
Kidos.
SPEAKER_03 (21:52):
Oh, so we've said hello.
What about if you're leaving?
SPEAKER_02 (21:57):
What do you how do you say goodbye?
SPEAKER_03 (21:59):
And and well, first the question, is there a
different do you have to changethe way you say hello if it's
morning, afternoon, evening, orthose appropriate for all times?
SPEAKER_01 (22:09):
Uh you can if you want.
But it's not needed.
So you'll manage with just hatefor the entire day and the
entire year.
Nice.
SPEAKER_03 (22:24):
There are plenty other challenges.
Like easy.
SPEAKER_01 (22:26):
We like easy.
Yeah, we like eye easy.
And you'll even manage with heywhen you say bye-bye.
Okay.
So this is where the easy partcomes in of the language.
So when you greet someone, ifyou want to be casual, you can
say hey.
And when you say bye-bye tosomeone, you're gonna say hey,
hey.
So just say it twice.
(22:48):
Once for hello, twice forgoodbye.
Like the chicken in the Moanamovie, if you watched it.
Maybe you haven't, but maybesomeone has.
Hey, hey.
SPEAKER_03 (22:58):
I know someone has.
I know someone has.
I watched it.
SPEAKER_01 (23:02):
So yeah.
Hey.
And then when you say bye-bye,hey, hey.
Nice.
SPEAKER_03 (23:07):
Very simple.
Easy and finish.
Wow.
SPEAKER_01 (23:10):
But it again, it has to H.
That's maybe not the easiest.
Hey, hey.
SPEAKER_00 (23:14):
Hey, hey.
SPEAKER_01 (23:15):
Mm-hmm.
Well, that was perfect.
You're setting a bad example forthe people.
Oh, pressure.
It's hard.
Really?
Okay, okay.
Maybe I'm just maybe I'm justHey Hey.
I'm not I'm not expecting more.
I'm expecting too little of you.
Is my hey bad?
No, it's very good.
It's perfect.
SPEAKER_03 (23:34):
So good.
SPEAKER_01 (23:37):
Oh true.
Of course.
Of course.
You say hey too.
Okay.
Okay.
Alright.
Yeah.
Well, this was the easy part.
SPEAKER_03 (23:43):
Yeah, that's right.
This was the easy part.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (23:45):
So now that we had a little mental break with that
easy part, what else do we needto uh Uh-oh I have one word that
you can use for everything.
SPEAKER_01 (23:54):
And that is nonin.
SPEAKER_03 (23:56):
Oh, yes.
Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_01 (23:59):
That's perfect for basically every situation.
You can say no need if you'reabout to start something.
So for example, you're about toleave somewhere with your
friends, and you can say, no ni,let's go.
No need, men na.
Or you can say that if you'rewaiting for someone, you can
say, no need, like it's takingtoo long, no need.
(24:23):
And someone is telling you aninteresting story, and you're
really surprised, or like, Idon't know, this is Or you're
agreeing kind of in surprise.
SPEAKER_03 (24:32):
Really?
SPEAKER_02 (24:33):
Or you don't care.
They just told a weird story andyou're not sure what to say.
Yeah, you can say no neen.
SPEAKER_01 (24:38):
Or you can say no neen.
Like as an agreeing term.
SPEAKER_03 (24:42):
That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (24:43):
Uh works for everything.
I don't think that anyone isgonna question you if you have
no need to do anything.
Yeah.
Someone bumps on the street.
No need.
Works every time.
That's also that's kind of likethe French, what the French say.
Um, like they add this likehesitant tone to all the
(25:06):
sentences.
Nonin is like the thing thatmakes you sound Finnish.
You want to blend in.
In English, we say, uh is thatlike our um?
Yeah, kind of.
unknown (25:18):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (25:18):
No neen.
Oh, yeah, that's a new one.
SPEAKER_03 (25:24):
In context and everything.
It's just so good.
SPEAKER_01 (25:29):
Okay, that's good.
Yeah.
And also from no niin, you'regonna gain two more words, which
are no and need.
Okay.
And what do each of those mean?
No is it's like so.
So for example, if you'restarting a sentence, you can say
no.
I was here and did this no.
(25:49):
Or and then mean is it's kind oflike an agreeing term.
Like yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (25:57):
You're listening to a story and you would normally
say, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (26:01):
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (26:03):
Could you also use none for that?
SPEAKER_01 (26:05):
Yeah, you could.
SPEAKER_02 (26:06):
You couldn't.
Because you can use none foryou.
Yeah, that's not even that's nota good question.
That was a dumb question.
SPEAKER_01 (26:12):
I mean, of course you can.
Um so yeah, two more words fromnoni.
SPEAKER_02 (26:17):
Great, great.
SPEAKER_01 (26:19):
Awesome.
SPEAKER_02 (26:19):
Now, just for fun, like we can't go to our
libraries, our collegelibraries, and find learn
Finnish in your car.
Right.
Right?
There's there's really verydifficult uh processes and stuff
like that.
Just speak Finnish for us.
Tell us a story how like youjust got married, and where you
know you can tell us what aboutour we don't have to know what
you're saying, but some peopleknow what you're saying.
SPEAKER_01 (26:41):
What Finnish sounds like uh I need to preface this
by saying that my husband saysthat my English is impossible to
understand because of how fast Ispeak.
And especially if I speak withmy friends, it's like blah blah
blah blah blah blah.
SPEAKER_03 (26:56):
Okay, so your Finnish is that just impossible
to understand.
Yeah, yeah.
She speaks great English, soyeah.
SPEAKER_01 (27:05):
Maybe that's what I'm actually yapping.
Me mentiin just naimisiin munmiehen kanssa tuossa itse asiime
joulukuussa.
Ja me oli siinä isossavaukisessa kirkossa, mikä on
Helsinki keskustassa.
SPEAKER_03 (27:24):
See, that's not really fair because when she
says it, you're looking at herand you're thinking, this is a
beautiful language.
Close your eyes.
When we would hear our band, wewould hire Finnish musicians who
tour Europe.
And they would be speaking witheach other, and it sounded like
(27:44):
this just monotone.
Yeah, monotone thing.
And so when I was trying tolearn some, I would always do
the things, and they're likelaugh and laugh and laugh.
SPEAKER_01 (27:56):
Like you need to go more Swedish when you're gonna
do have some movement in yourfamily tongue.
Yeah.
And I mean, even if you don't,for example, know a lot of
English, American English,you're still gonna get a grasp
of of like some things becauseit's so like it goes high and
low and you know, it switches upthe tone.
But with Finnish, you're gonnamiss everything.
SPEAKER_03 (28:17):
Oh my goodness, yeah.
Are they happy?
Are they angry?
Are they like, is it a story orare they telling me off?
I I Is it dramatic?
Is it totally?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (28:27):
It's really it's just kind of kinking me.
SPEAKER_03 (28:29):
Yeah, but it's really cool.
It's like a secret language.
SPEAKER_01 (28:32):
If you can speak Finnish, and yeah, yeah, they're
gonna got it going on.
Yeah, have a nice party trick.
unknown (28:38):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (28:39):
You can tell about all the all the six six meanings
of koosipala or something.
SPEAKER_02 (28:44):
Yes, we had a guy tell us this the other day.
SPEAKER_01 (28:46):
Well, maybe we could this can be maybe an interesting
thing.
SPEAKER_02 (28:50):
We were we were at a restaurant, so how do we say
restaurant?
SPEAKER_01 (28:53):
Uh Ravindola.
Ravindola.
Ravintola.
SPEAKER_02 (29:00):
Great.
Okay, great.
So that's where we were.
And the guy told we were tryingto learn some Finnish because we
were teaching him some English.
Yeah.
And so he said, if you know thisphrase, it means six different
things.
Yeah.
And it was that.
So tell us that one now.
SPEAKER_01 (29:14):
So it is koozy pala.
unknown (29:17):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (29:18):
Koozypala.
And to be honest, I'm not evensure if I'm gonna remember all
the six meanings, but means six.
It also means your moon.
It also means spruce, like as atree.
Yeah, well, then when we go tothe pala, pala is coming back,
(29:39):
it's also burning, and maybesomething else, but when you
combine them together, can bethe six are coming back, it can
also be the spruce is on fire,it can also be your moon is on
fire, it can also mean your moonis coming back.
(30:00):
So also six is coming back.
Yeah, true.
Also, six is coming back.
So it's vogue to be six.
Again, with this, you're gonnaknow a lot, but are you gonna
know how to use it?
That's another question.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (30:12):
No, no.
The answer is A.
SPEAKER_01 (30:14):
A.
Probably no.
I can't even I can't evenremember all the meanings.
SPEAKER_03 (30:19):
And how many Us are in the word cool zero two.
Two.
So as an American, what if Iaccidentally only say one of the
Us?
SPEAKER_02 (30:30):
That's gonna get you in trouble.
SPEAKER_03 (30:32):
See what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_02 (30:33):
This is a rated G program.
SPEAKER_03 (30:35):
It changes it completely.
I mean, I've made so manywonderful, hilarious mistakes in
Finnish because I only say nonow or whatever.
Yeah.
In public from the stage.
SPEAKER_02 (30:45):
And it just sounds the same to us.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (30:47):
Yeah.
Because my student's name isVessa.
And I don't hear the differencebetween Vesa and Vessa.
SPEAKER_02 (30:54):
Where is Vesa?
And y'all, if you listen to thebeginning, you know what Vessa
means if you listen to thebeginning of Vesa.
That's right.
SPEAKER_03 (31:00):
Vessa.
SPEAKER_02 (31:00):
So you don't want to call someone a toilet.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (31:05):
Unless you mean to.
SPEAKER_02 (31:06):
But we don't do that in Finland.
We're nice.
Right.
That's so nice.
Because this is a happy country.
Finland claims to be thehappiest country in the world.
Yeah.
Other countries also make thatclaim, but Finland is one of
those.
SPEAKER_03 (31:17):
Well, I think like lately they've been voted or
something the happiest countryin the world.
I say they.
You guys.
SPEAKER_01 (31:23):
Yeah, we have voted ourselves as the happiest
country in the world.
SPEAKER_02 (31:28):
Why you need to visit and why you need to learn
Finnish.
SPEAKER_03 (31:31):
Yeah, visit the happiest country in the world in
the summer time.
SPEAKER_02 (31:34):
Yeah, come in the summer.
SPEAKER_01 (31:35):
There have to be.
At the winter time, we justhibernate.
The whole country doesn't existin the winter time.
SPEAKER_02 (31:42):
Now, speaking of the country, just some little fun
facts.
Santa Claus is from here.
SPEAKER_03 (31:47):
Yeah, from Lapland.
SPEAKER_02 (31:48):
We have discovered, Rory and I just recently took a
trip to Lapland.
We'll tell you about in somefuture episode.
The Sami people are there, whichis the indigenous people of like
not only northern Finland, butalso Norway and Sweden.
And so we now have learned wherethe elves are inspired from.
(32:09):
Santa's Elves and this reindeer.
We kept driving around seeingthe reindeer.
So we got all that.
So Finland's got that going on.
And so if you didn't know, SantaClaus is actually from Finland.
So that's super fun.
SPEAKER_03 (32:21):
Yeah.
And then and there are reindeereverywhere, up in the Laplands,
so you gotta be careful drivingbecause they will be in the
road.
SPEAKER_02 (32:27):
Yeah, probably just driving around stage.
SPEAKER_03 (32:29):
So now we know why Santa has reindeer pulling his
sleigh.
SPEAKER_01 (32:31):
Yeah, the whole thing.
SPEAKER_03 (32:32):
Of course, duh reindeer everywhere.
Yeah.
There's no horses running aroundlike that.
It's gonna be reindeer.
SPEAKER_01 (32:37):
Nope.
Yeah.
And you can also see thenorthern lights.
Thank you.
That's what I was gonna pointout.
In the city and Lapland, both.
Actually, I even though it'spretty warm right now, I think
that we saw some northern lightslike a month ago.
Even though it's summer,basically.
Wow.
Sweet.
So it's possible all year round.
SPEAKER_02 (32:56):
Maybe not as often as in the winter, but and then
because Samps is up there,you've got the Arctic Circle up
north.
Also, Finland has seasons, isone of those places where you
can come in the summer andyou're gonna have like daylight
for gazillion time, you know,and like hardly the sun hardly
goes down at all.
And then there's certain partsyou can go and you have all of
(33:17):
the nighttime.
Like all the time.
Yeah.
And it's nonstop dark.
And like it'd be cool, butdepressing.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (33:27):
It'd be cool to experience if you knew you could
leave.
SPEAKER_02 (33:30):
Right.
Right.
And not have experience all thetime.
Four seasons.
Yeah.
And then what we like about thefinished chocolate, and that's
not all finished chocolate.
We found this the one brandFotzer.
Fotzer.
What we like about theirchocolate, well, I mean we
should say love, is that Belgianchocolate is very rich and
almost bitter.
(33:50):
It's like that dark vibe, likeit goes more the dark direction.
Switzerland goes more like thesweet direction.
And the finished chocolate islike right in between of the
two.
And so there's always a war oflike what's better, Belgian
chocolate or Swiss chocolate,and like it's finished
chocolate.
SPEAKER_03 (34:07):
Right.
You're asking the wrongquestion.
SPEAKER_01 (34:09):
You're looking at the wrong thing, yeah.
That's right.
And it's so much in the perfector the perfect middle that you
could basically eat a whole barat one in one sitting.
It's not too sweet, it's not toobitter, it's uh just it's
perfectly milky, smooth.
SPEAKER_03 (34:27):
It's a blessing and a curse.
Yeah, it is, yeah.
Yeah, I I would never eat awhole chocolate bar generally in
one setting.
But if you give me the yellowwith the hazelnuts, yeah.
Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02 (34:38):
Now, you also have something very disgusting that
people like here.
Now, we think that probably we Iwould not vote for fish soup,
and you have some very strangethings.
Fish soup is probably like agood food or whatever, but you
have some weird fish thingsgoing on.
But we're gonna just stick tothe candy world.
You have this stuff calledsalamiaki.
(34:59):
And how do you say that inFinnish?
Salomiaki.
SPEAKER_01 (35:02):
So that's two cakes.
Two case.
Salomiaki.
SPEAKER_00 (35:05):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (35:06):
Okay, yeah.
And so how would you describethat?
It's basically salty, really,really salty licorice.
So if you've ever had blacklicorice, kind of the same
taste, but then again, not atall, because you're not gonna
taste anything else over thesaltina.
SPEAKER_03 (35:22):
Yeah, imagine like licorice, and for me, it's like
soak it in ammonia.
SPEAKER_01 (35:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (35:26):
And then salt it down.
SPEAKER_01 (35:27):
Some people say it tastes kind of like they would
think car tire tastes like.
SPEAKER_02 (35:33):
But I love it.
You can pick car tire candy, oryou can have chocolate.
SPEAKER_01 (35:40):
Yeah.
Uh totally up to the same.
So I wonder which one is thefavorite.
SPEAKER_03 (35:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Or if you're in Finland, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (35:47):
I love salomiyaki, and we have salomiyaki,
everything we have salamiak.
Yeah.
Ice cream, salmiyaki chocolate.
Yeah, which is actually both ofthem.
Because the chocolate save thesalomiyaki taste.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And some people even eatstraight up salomiyaki because
it's kind of, it's almost like aseasoning in itself, so you can
have like dried up, juststraight up salomiyaki.
SPEAKER_03 (36:08):
Dip your finger in it, or oh.
Okay.
I have my own way of saying itbecause of my thoughts on it.
Salomiyucki.
SPEAKER_01 (36:16):
Salamiyaki.
Yeah.
Yucky.
SPEAKER_03 (36:17):
So it emphasis on the yucky thing instead of
although I did have it in thechocolate and it was really
good.
Yeah.
The fatset of the colour.
Yes, the combo.
Yeah, I know.
SPEAKER_01 (36:28):
I think that's one of my favorites.
And I I think that it's kind oflike an I could compare it to
Australian.
Is it marmite?
The big mite.
Oh, right.
That's strange.
Yeah, maybe.
Yeah, maybe not the flavor, butit's something.
It's like an acquired taste.
Right.
Good work.
SPEAKER_00 (36:45):
There you go.
Good analogy.
SPEAKER_02 (36:48):
Alright.
Any other final thoughts ofthings we might a word we might
need to know for traveling toFinland?
I'd say snow.
SPEAKER_01 (36:57):
Okay.
Because you're gonna see a lotof fat here in the winter
season.
Okay.
And that is lumi.
I think that lumi is actually avery pretty Finnish word and
it's also a name that manyFinnish people have.
Lumi.
Cute.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (37:11):
Now, is that two U's, two M's?
How do you spell it?
SPEAKER_01 (37:14):
Lumi, so it's just one of everything.
L-U-M-I.
Lumi.
SPEAKER_02 (37:20):
Alright.
Yeah.
Well, keep those polio for thetwo wonderful tips on travel
phrases and all of the thingsthat we need to know when we're
visiting Finland.
Thank you, Evelina.
We really thank you so verymuch.
So for having me.
And we will see y'all on thenext episode.
(37:43):
Yay! We hope we've inspired youthis episode.
So join us next time.
Please subscribe to, rate, andshare our podcast with your
friends.
SPEAKER_03 (37:54):
Or, you know, whomever.
SPEAKER_02 (37:56):
And please like and follow us on Instagram, YouTube,
and Facebook.
SPEAKER_03 (37:59):
We are also on X and on all social platforms.
We are at The Romies.
That's T-H-E.
R-O-A-M.
And our main hub is our website.
SPEAKER_02 (38:10):
At www.theromies.com.
SPEAKER_03 (38:12):
That's right, that's T-H-E.
SPEAKER_02 (38:15):
R O A M.
I E S dot com.
We'll be there until next time.
Yeah, thanks for listening.
Bye.
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