REACTING TO FUNNY LITERAL FINNISH TRANSLATIONS

From lohikäärme to rintaliivit - lets explore some literal Finnish translations!
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F.A.Q.
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• How old are you? •
32
• How tall are you? •
6ft 3 (or 192 cm)
• Where do you live? •
Helsinki, Finland
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Canon EOS R (body)
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Adobe Premiere Pro CC

[TheJzoli]

As a native speaker these are so fun to watch, since you don't really think about these normally.

[TheJzoli]

Here's one I just thought of: dictionary! It's "sanakirja" or literally a "word book".

[Pertti Rauma]

You understand Finland language very good 🇫🇮

[ppikme]

This reminds me of how funny it is that in English we have several identical words that all mean something different 😂 when I see people learning English I start to remember how strange it is

[TheJzoli]

@ppikme Those are called homonyms. A lot of languages have them. If not all even.

[Dj Shroom Mixes]

Maapallo. Mieti et se on pallo missä on useita maita.

[Matikkavideot]

It would be fun to hear next time about the differense between compound words: hammasrauta vs rautahammas, huonekasvi vs kasvihuone, viinipullo vs pulloviini, koeajo vs ajokoe, silmälasi vs lasisilmä... It would be fun to hear your guesses about these words' meanings!

[KalleZz]

To be fair, no one in finland really calls the dice "arpakuutio", we usually call it "noppa"

[Eelis Jaroma]

yes really rarely we call it arpakuutio.

[kasper ?]

I mean I didn't even connect that it was a homophobe at first I was like what the fuck is arpakuutio then I shortly after figured it out

[JS]

@kasper ? I think the word you're looking for is homophone, although it's really not a homophone but a synonym in this case. That being said, I have no idea how the two words see different sexual orientations, so they could be homophobes just as well.

[M.K.]

Arpakuutio is the official name, but nobody calls it because it's long

[diynevala]

Every arpakuutio is a noppa, but not all nopat are arpakuutioita!

[MooingBastard]

Jääkaappi actually comes from way back before electricity. The way to keep food cool(er) back then was to have a pantry directly above a space in the basement called jääkellari (ice cellar). In early spring, loads of ice would be brought to the jääkellari from the nearest river or lake. This would be covered with sawdust to insulate it and would slowly melt over the course of the year. Cool air from the jääkellari would be directed to the pantry via a duct, keeping the temperatures there much lower than in the building or outside.

[msfinm]

There were also literal non-electric "jääkaappis" back in the 19th century. They were called iceboxes or cold closets in English-speaking countries and were cupboards with a compartment in them were you would place a big block of ice to keep the temperature down. You would have to replace the ice block quite frequently, of course. Jääkellaris could also be totally separate cellars/ice houses where one would simply store the ice (covered in sawdust, like you said) collected during the winter and then fetch the ice blocks manually from jääkellari when one's jääkaappi would need a refill.

[MikoSquiz]

Older Americans still sometimes call a refrigerator an "ice box".

[Maria]

"Very warm. The heat situation, very warm" absolutely killed me because that is exactly what Finnish people sound like when we speak English. I feel very seen

[M.K.]

Lmao yeah

[Tim Kvenland]

Dave speaks good rally english 😃

[merimackara]

repesin 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Terttu Kivi]

The problem in Finnish is that we are finding out new words when necessary. These must be our language, lämpötila, tietokone, you cut it short with Latin temperature computer

[VinsPlayer]

Alien It's ironic that that was said by an alien.

[Chiel]

Awesome job translating the words and deducting the meaning! Especially the backwards deduction with hammasraudat was very impressive and showed that you have developed your Finnish skills very far already. It was awesome that you showed your thinking process, it made me appreciate the language learning even more. It would be really fun to watch another video like this.

[Dave Cad]

Thank you so much! I was particularly proud of that one too! Even surprised myself 😄

[Seagull]

@Dave Cad These are funny to watch im from finland but still👍

[Peter Tapola]

raudat could also be translated to shackles. "Put the thief in shackles! - Laita varas rautoihin!"

[msfinm]

@Peter Tapola You could also say "put the thief in irons" in English, and that would mean the same.

[Maitoraviste]

I was just laughing to the finnish word for raccoon like couple days ago 😂 Raccoon = pesukarhu = washbear.

[Sara Anna-Maria]

it's the same in German and some other European languages. In this case English seems to be the odd one out

[Fellibrell]

Yeah it's washbear in Swedish too... I think it comes from them washing their food (remember the clip where a racoon tries to wash cotton candy 😂).

[Allu]

Im finnish and i just laughed out loud

[SmurfsAndRaspberries]

Same in Sweden and most of Europe.

[Satu Gustafson]

Yeah, same in German. "Waschbär"

[Arttu]

A few more off the top of my head: Projector = videotykki = video cannon Space bar = välilyönti = gap hit Trimmer = partakone = beard machine Vacuum cleaner = pölynimuri = dust sucker Finnish is awesome, and I'd be really frustrated trying to learn it as a second language...

[Slaj Coopparšen]

Aivan mahtava kyllä tuo dust sucker😅

[Tim Smithen]

Parachute = Laskuvarjo = Descent shade Bob (haircut) = Polkkatukka = Polka hair

[Arttu]

@Tim Smithen Yeah, also umbrella = sateenvarjo = rain shade Makes perfect sense to me 😄

[Tim Smithen]

@Arttu "Rain's shade" makes more sense to me than a "descent shade". Rain comes down and you shade yourself from it. Giving yourself a "shade" to descent with gives me this weird dissociative feeling with the word, like it's upside down. Like standing *on* the umbrella when it's raining.

[Gold Orak]

In Russian, « пылесос » (pylesos) also literally translates as « dust sucker » and we can notice the similarity between « pöly » and « pyl’ ».

[BassSpiikkeri]

Well, as requested, an attempt at the explanation for the Finnish word "lohikäärme" relating to a flying and fire-breathing mythological lizard. Apologies in advance, this might prove to be quite a heavy comment to read. The first part of the word is actually a loan or an alteration/variation of an Old Swedish word 'flogh', literally translating to 'flying' (compare for example, the word 'flyga'; it has the same origin). Originally, it was 'louhi' in Finnish (meaning 'fire' and/or 'lightning'). In other words, it has nothing to do with the word for 'salmon', it has merely developed into a homophome - a word that sounds identical. The Old Swedish word for dragon is 'draki' (in current Swedish form 'drake'; the history of this goes back to Old Norse and Middle Low German, all the way to a Proto-West Germanic stem). And in the word for dragon (Old Swedish: 'floghdraki', lit. 'flying snake') it was replaced in Finnish with the word meaning 'snake' which was 'käärme'. Thus 'lohikäärme' was born.

[henkki]

Interesting trivia: The word ”lohikäärme” was coined by Mikael Agricola, often seen as the founder of modern Finnish. He also translated the first Bible from German(?) to Finnish, and if I’m not mistaken ”lohikäärme” appeared in this print.

[Elmetzi]

@henkki i think u are right

[Quiwi Lin Lisolet]

There's also another theory where it comes from. In old Finnish it was "louhikäärme". Louhi being this mythical Witch of the North. So it's her snake

[Rarualeine]

It's also possible that 'louhi' comes from the actual word 'louhi' meaning a bedrock mountain where dragons were thought to live (this 'louhi' is also where the Finnish word for mining, 'louhia', comes from ;))

[Ruohon Leikkaaja 57]

Nah. It’s just a reptile like creature with scales like salmon

[Serafina]

To be fair 'sieni' translates also to sponge, not just mushroom.

[FruitsPunch]

Could be washing fungus also

[Elaini]

Sienikakku is also sponge cake, not mushroom cake. :)

[Hannu Soronen]

Spongia officinalis - Wikipedia en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spongia_officinalis That's the original "mushroom".

[Seagull]

Ur wrong im from finland

[boxofcare]

Kuus Kanaa no i’m your you’re from finland

[Sandra Allbright]

One of the things I'm constantly impressed by when it comes to your Finnish skills is that you've gotten so good at telling words apart. Like, for example, if you see the word "tammikuu", you know "tammi" is one word and "kuu" is another. So it's not something silly like "Tam Mikuu". I know our long words can be a bit challenging, but looks like you've learned to handle them fairly easily. I love these videos, very interesting and entertaining to watch!

[PikaChin]

My favorite Finnish compounds would definitely be these two: Flatulence = Ilmavaiva = Air nuisance Perineum = Väliliha = Middle meat And I love the fact that "ilmavaiva" is just one letter away from "ilmalaiva", an airship (also a literal translation) or a blimp. I also recently realized that the Finnish word for butler, hovimestari, would translate as "court master", which brings to mind something completely different. Also the Finnish word for month is kuukausi, or moon period. In the actual month names you omit the "kausi".

[Aqua Queen]

No wonder why I hate this language 😂

[HelsinkiHelsingfors]

Few Finns think this as two words, but: ”Maailma” = maa + ilma = ground + air, meaning the world or globe

[Joonas]

-Zoo = Eläintarha = Animal Garden -Volume = Äänenvoimakkuus = Power of sound -Assassin = Salamurhaaja = Secret murderer

[Diana M. Smith]

I knew Finnish as a child. My parents were from Finland. Now the language is rusty. But you inspire me to re-learn. I enjoyed this exercise in the language. Love your videos!

[Fritha71]

The months in Finnish are indeed poetic, I love how we have completely different words for them than most other European languages. Helmikuu, kesäkuu, heinäkuu, elokuu, syyskuu, lokakuu, joulukuu... Always wondered where 'helmikuu' got it's name, does it come from the snow glistering like pearls or something? Weird, hahah, but that's my favourite Finnish name for a month.

[Fl4shi]

Helmikuu supposedly comes from snow melting then refreezing and forming pearl-like frozen water droplets.

[Markus Airola]

In Norwegian, the word for buttercup (smørblomst) does directly translate into butter flower in English. Growing up bilingual Norwegian and Finnish, for the longest time I thought voikukka also meant buttercup in Finnish; I was very confused when I eventually found out. Norwegian also has a lot of these literal words, a particular favourite of mine being the word for bat - flaggermus - which literally translates into "flappy mouse".

[kasper ?]

Estonian has my favourite which is nahkhiir (bat) skin(?) mouse which leads Batman (nahkhiirmees) to be skin mouse man😂😂 (nahk is nahka in Finnish)

[DJ North]

In Swedish Batman had the funniest sounding name, Läderlappen 😂

[kasper ?]

@DJ North Swedish sounds always like that it's normal for them (I speak some Swedish)

[DJ North]

@kasper ? Yeah Swedish is Finland's second official language, but in Sweden they "sing" it almost.

[Sara Anna-Maria]

same here. As a German speaker I also assumed voikukka meant buttercup because the direct translation "Butter-Blume" is in fact a name used for "buttercup" in German as well. The Finnish "voikukka" is called "Löwenzahn" in German which translates to "liontooth"

[Rosteripulla]

7:54 Fun fact: As a finn when someone runs through the months, I never hear them pronounce the "kuu". It's always tammi, helmi, maalis... etc. You don't mention it even on the last one, even if you run through all 12 of them.

[M.K.]

Yeah, it's easier and faster to say that way.

[Songfugel]

Finnish language has aversion repetition and obvious things, and you should always try to optimize and avoid repeating of words in a closely related sentences. You can do it by omitting the obvious parts, or by using synonyms if omitting the words is not possible For example, if you have a paragraph that repeats the same word in several sentences in Finnish, it feels very strange. As soon as we have stated what we are talking about, we will try to try to omit references to it, since unless the subject changes, you know what we are talking about. So we make you infer the meaning from the whole paragraph, instead of repeating it. If it is not possible, in case of an adjective or a verb, we will try to find a similar enough word to replace it. Especially the repetitive use of adjectives or names should be avoided at all costs I think this feature of omission is very similar to Japanese language, where half of the sentence might be omitted if it is obvious or if it is uncomfortable subject and the other person should fill in the blanks Listening to a conversation between two Finns (particularly on the phone when you don't hear the other person) can be very funny at times, since both know what they are talking about, and there are only few possible answers. A whole phone call for a contractor taking in a job might go something like this: "Matti, joo, joo, ei jouda, huomenna, ok, ok, huomiseen" xD

[Mikko]

Just like in english when you runs trough the days: sundy, mondy, tuesdy...

[T1m3W4ast3r]

@Mikko yeah but not non-native speakers

[NivolDica]

@Mikko ei oo yhtään sama asia

[Sara Anna-Maria]

As a fellow learner of Finnish: You might want to use wiktionary instead of google translate to look up the meaning of words. It lists different meanings and sometimes gives you some information about the etymology of the word and what other words it might derive from. It's especially helpful with conjugation of verbs and declension of nouns and adjectives. Just in case you didn't know about it

[Small Fan]

Exhaust = pakokaasu = escape gas Nightingale = satakieli = hundred tongue

[emmainkeri]

I started thinking, is it meant kieli as in tongue or language? Both make sense

[Urbaaniapina]

Also fun ones: Beet = punajuuri = red root armchair = nojatuoli = lean(ing) chair peasant = talonpoika = houses boy

[IDE eyes]

To me one fun bird name has been Eurasian Wryneck= Käenpiika=Cuckoo bird's maid. Cuckoo bird's lay eggs to other birds nests for those birds to raise as their own. And this birdspecie is apparently their favorite. Other fun ones that come to mind: Floor lamp = jalkalamppu = foot/leg lamp Chimney = savupiippu = smoke pipe Milky way = linnunrata = bird's track/route Santa claus = Joulupukki = Christmas goat

[Rsk]

Asuntovaunu = house wagon = caravan / camper trailer Maastopuku = terrain / ground suit = camosuit Aasinsilta = Asses bridge / donkey's bridge = awkward transition Virtahepo = Stream horse = Hippopotamus Rintaliivit = chest vest = bra And so on... :P

[Esa Juhani Rintamäki]

Muurahaiskarhu = ant bear = anteater Poliisikoira = cop dog = K9 Alushousut = vessel trousers = undies Kitupiikki = suffer thorn = penny-pincher And so on...

[Eko]

Kuukausi means "moon season" and it's literal because different phases of moon last a month (hence the months end in "-kuu")

[Mikael Kristiansen]

This was actually fun for a speaker of Danish, which is also an agglutinative language, as many of the words are the same in Danish, literally translated (and some are not). Ice cupboard (fridge) is actually cooling cupboard in Danish, but before they were electrified, we picked up a big block of ice at the local "ice dairy" and put it in the ice cupboard... I recall my old colleague saying "Finnish is easy: a book is a kirkja and a song is laulu, so a songbook is laulukirja. And as christmas is joulo, a Christmas songbook is joulolaulukirja..."

[Kairi Kallas]

I think the "kilpikonna" is like Estonian "kilpkonn" which literally means 'shield frog'. 🐸 Overall, pretty amazing how similar the two languages are in some cases. Even the sandwich-making habits are the same 🤣

[Plasmaorava5000]

And in Swedish it's "sköldpadda", which also literally means shield toad!

[NETSONG]

I love things like this so much. Finnish is my mother tongue so the quirkyness of these may fly under the radar for me but watching this video made me appreciate Finnish. Now I feel eager to start learning some new language myself.

[Slaj Coopparšen]

Finland: Is mentioned anywhere Finns: *Whomst has awakened the ancient one*

[a.i.r_arts]

I ain't ancient lol

[Aoderic]

@a.i.r_arts en ole suomalainen, mutta olen muinainen 🤔

[a.i.r_arts]

@Aoderic Moro muinainen, minä olen suomalainen. :D

[Aoderic]

@a.i.r_arts hyvä sinulle 😁

[Möömöt]

@Aoderic Voin kuvitella miten hämmentynyt @TalentlessArtist oli XD

[**]

I think that "kilpi" was translated to plate, because "rekisterikilpi" is a finnish word for "license plate". Also your finnish accent on 6:36 was on point! 😂 And moon and month are the same word in finnish

[Plasmaorava5000]

And kilp was translated from Estonian, not Finnish 😄

[Janne Heino]

Dave sinä luet ja ymmärrät suomea hyvin! Thank you for working so hard to learn and respecting Finnish language and people

[Daniel Malinen]

FunFact: The first part "lohi-" from the Finnish word "lohikäärme" doesn't mean salmon but its original spelling has been "louhikäärme". And its first part "louhi-" is either a loanword from the Scandinavian languages where it is "floghdraki" (flying serpent) or derived from the word "louhikko" which means a large pile of stones. If it is the latter then a direct translation would be "a snake of stone pile."

[hauskalainen]

I went to a quiz night and one of the funniest rounds was when Finnish place names were translated to English. Many people had never realized how familiar places like Joensuu and Linnanmäki sounds so unfamiliar in direct English translation (River Mouth and Castle Hill).

[MissLarentia]

Winterfell = Talvivaara

[Atulu]

Don't worry Dave, I count the months in some cases too both in Finnish and English.

[66hss]

Tammi doesnt really mean "oak" in the word tammikuu but most likely "an axel, a pole", as it is the first month and the rest of the year is spinning around it.

[Art Thou Nasty]

I always count them..

[Ykskolme]

Not sure if somebody has mentioned this yet, but 'tammi' is also very old word that means core/middle So therefore tammikuu/core moon is middle of winter

[TheMinnaKat]

Google Translate on pihalla kuin lumiukko 😂 I also always get very annoyed with these literal translations because there can be multiple translations for a word and they use the incorrect one to make it sound funnier than it actually is. Nevertheless, you reacting to funny literal translations is entertaining, so thank you again for a fun video!

[WMfin]

Months are literally moon phases. Most literal are kesäkuu and joulukuu. Marraskuu comes from old word for death: marras. Lokakuu means filth-moon. Tammi is reference to oak tree. It is month in the dead winter as hard and immovable as a sturdy oak. I am sure there's some site that explains all of them. Worth to give a look, each one is interesting. What's more, there are MANY references to old pagan days and to "viking era". Here are literal translations of few that comes to mind: Ukkonen or ukonilma = weather of Ukko (god) (means; thunder storm) Torstai = Thor's day (means; thursday) Joulu = Yule (means; christmas) Joulupukki = Yule goat (means; santa claus)

[M R]

even the word month comed from moon /the lunar cycle!

[WMfin]

@M R ah, true! Kuukausi = moon season/phase. Neat!

[Okaro]

However, many think that kesäkuu comes from kesä (summer). It is the other way around. The traditional word for summer is "suvi".

[Jussi Siponen]

@Okaro Jo joutui armas aika ja suvi suloinen -> "The beloved time has come, the sweet summer".

[MissLarentia]

Also the old farming year cycle is obviously visible in Finnish names of the months. Huhtikuu = time to burn the forests (in order to plant rye in the ashes.) Toukokuu = time to plant the fields. Heinäkuu = Hay month. That time of the year when hay is harvested. Elokuu = harvest moon.

[Ackwell]

The lohikäärme as a word has just simplified over time. The original form is "louhikäärme" where louhi is an old word for stones broken up by mining (louhia). So it is actually "rock snake" or a "mine snake" as dragons live inside mountains with their plunder of gold. But the form of the word has shortened over time to just "lohikäärme" which has also changed the literal meaning.

[•-Sky Player-•]

As a finn I can confirm that these videos are really funny

[Jorma Yorccis]

The word lohikäärme (or louhikäärme) is probably derived from old Swedish word 'floghdraki ’ - flying dragon. Finns changed the latter part 'draki' with snake.

[MyRonttu]

Let us not forget the old Finnish word for lion, which was 'jalopeura' = noble deer

[RATCHARGEABLE]

I really enjoy these dives into the vast ocean of weirdness that is the Finnish language. It gives you a cool perspective to something that's so close to home. For example tammikuu is such an ordinary day-to-day word, but when you translate it literally to oak moon, it becomes really beautiful and poetic. The others would be pearl moon, earth moon, swidden moon, planting moon, summer moon, hey moon, crop moon, autumn moon, dirt moon, dead moon and yule/"christmas"moon. My favorites of these would be oak moon, pearl moon and dead moon... 🕯️📖

[Jeni]

So I just watched the more recent one and then this one and I think you did amazing! I was quite impressed multiple times, especially how you figured out the lemma of the word rauta. So good job, Dave!

[Visa Toivonen]

Lohikäärme is a modern version of "Louhikäärme". Louhi is a character in Finnish national epic Kalevala. She's a powerful witch and the main antagonist of the verse. So essentially, "louhikäärme" (and thus lohikäärme as its derivative) means "witchsnake", even if "noita" is the way more commonly used word for witch in Finnish these days.

[Jantzku]

Even I had forgotten that 'arpakuutio' is 'dice' because I have always used 'noppa' 😂 and I'm Finnish, born and raised.

[Elderscrollsswimmer]

Only the 6-side dice that is a cube. Noppa goes for all of them - like those with 20, 10, 8 or 4 sides.

[Jantzku]

@Elderscrollsswimmer Yep

[Erin432]

The refrigerator one makes total sense from an English perspective. Before electricity, refrigerators were cooled with blocks of ice and were often called “iceboxes “. My grandmother, born in 1912, always called the refrigerator an icebox-either because that’s what they used when she was young or what she heard from her mother.

[Joosua92]

Lohikäärme can also come from finnish mythology. It is possible that lohi is shortend from Louhi who was antagonist in Kalevala. So dragon would be Louhi's snake.

[Anna Laehdesmaeki]

I really love the finnish word for "the world": maailma (soil+air). It's simple, but accurate: includes not only the ground, but also the atmosphere

[ADEX 720]

Also a good one is: Lentävä lautanen ="Flying plate" = ufo

[Fritha71]

Flying saucer in other words; it's an English word as well and it was in common usage decades ago, but ufo is much more common these days.

[Teija P.]

Ufo is short from unidentified flying object. It doesn't always mean flying saucer.

[Okaro]

That comes from how Kenneth Arnold described the movement (not the shape) or the objects he saw in 1947 in Washington (state).

[Elderscrollsswimmer]

@Teija P. Still, UFO for the Alien Space Ship - a Flying Saucer/plate could as well be a frisbee!

[Lauren Bauer]

4:00 it’s interesting to hear that sandwiches don’t normally have two pieces of bread in Finland. I have a polish friend who does the same thing, they only use one piece of bread, but as an American who has only once traveled outside the us and never out of the continent, it’s kind of a cool thing. Thinking about it, two slices of bread is just some unnecessary bread

[Pabol Thehoe]

Bread is just a tool to eat the toppings, like a handle

[Plasmaorava5000]

Do people actually make sandwiches with two pieces of bread themselves at home?? I thought people only buy them from restaurants or cafeterias or whatever, even in the United States of America.

[Margit Z]

@Plasmaorava5000 American here, yep we do make sandwiches with 2 slices at home too. It helps the whole thing to hold together; you can hold it sideways with one hand, or gesture with your sandwich hand, and nothing falls off.

[lisa phares]

The food was named after the Earl of Sandwich that liked to play cards for money. He didn’t want to stop to eat, but eating and playing would ruin the cards. The bread around the meat kept the hands and therefore the cards clean. And I believe our expression “sandwich between” or sandwiched comes from the food not the other way around.

[Johviska]

Vau, osaat jo tosi hyvin suomea! Raudat -> rauta 👍👍 Good job Cave Dad 🤩

[Johanna Lehtonen]

I'm quite sure the word 'lohikäärme' is corrupted version of the original: Louhikäärme (Louhi's snake = 'Louhen käärme'). Louhi is powerful, northern character in Finnish mytology and her pet called 'Ikiturso' (or 'Iku-turso') reminds dragon a lot, though it lives in water like monster of Loch Ness.

[Apollostowel]

My Finnish husband sitting next to me said "maapallo" is globe, like one you buy in a store, or if you're referring to the earth as a globe. Both his mom and stepmom were English teachers, so he's pretty good at this translation thing.

[SysiPaska]

The story behind lohikäärme is: Our finnish language developer Mikael Agricola brought use thousands of new words and he saw "dragon's" skin which looked like salmon's scales (so there is lohi, salmon) and then the dragon was long snake with wings, so there the snek :) I hope you read it because you wanted to know

[Kvarkki]

So interesting to hear how you process the Finnish months in your brain, through numbers. I process the months in English in a similar way. I always have to first associate August with the number 8 to "remember" which month it is (and to not confuse it with October...). What was also quite surprising was that after I had lived in England for several years, I started to mix up maaliskuu and marraskuu in my head - and it's my mother tongue we're talking about! LOL I also quite often say freezer when I actually mean fridge in English. I think my brain is still processing the 'jää' part in 'jääkaappi' and the mouth has meanwhile translated the word into freezer before it all clicks together!

[Tapio_M]

There's an old novel called Rautatie, where a couple living in rural eastern Finland hears that they are building a railroad in the neighboring town. Not knowing what exactly it is, they take it literally and assume that they are building a road made of sheet metal. It's been made into a movie in the early 70's and it's available on Yle Areena. If you ever want to see an old Finnish movie, I can recommend it. But be warned, it's not your average action flick. It's about the "hickyness" of the Finns in the late 19th century.

[jorma korpi]

Congratz on your Finnish! You have made a huge progress through out these videos. Very entertaining to be a part of your jorney. This video was one of funniest ones! Have to say, as a Finn, most of the time I am completely oblivious about these oddities of Finnish language, yhdyssanat just comes so natural. But many years ago I had this summer job as a whole salesman. My customers often were professional handymen and sorts, rarely I had to sell them anything, they would only ask whether we had this and that. That was the moment when I realized how you can really twist up the Finnish language when it comes to "work lingo". "Työukot" would come to me and ask "missä on pöllön silmät?". Where are the owl eyes? I was flabbergasted... Apparently those were the aluminium things you put in hole and strike with a hammer to seal it up / attach something.

[Kari Teinänen]

I always sing a song still in my head about months that we learned in the English lessons in the third grade like 100 years ago 😅 It's like: January, February, March, April, May...lalala...even tough I am reasonably fluent in English really 😅

[Ville Lahtinen]

As a native Finn, you don't usually put much thought on these kind of things. For us, they're always been like that: lohi is salmon, käärme is snake, but lohikäärme is a compeletely different thing. I believe that this comes from old pagan religions, just like word ukkonen/ukonilma (thunder). It was believed that Ukko Ylijumala controlled the weather and thunder was the way to show that he was angried. Also, I'm very bad at month names equally on every foreign language I speak. I often get confused between June/July and August/September. Same goes for Swedish and Spanish as well.

[Wombat]

About that tammikuu thing where you thought "kuu" means month. Month is actually kuukausi, and the "-kuu" end in every month's name is kinda just short for kuukausi. As for kuukausi, it literally means "moon season/moon age", because it's how long the moon takes to go around.

[UnknowN_TM]

Actually, i'd say i speak english quite well by now, but i still do months by counting "january, february, march" etc. because i still haven't bothered to actually learn them correctly. Sometimes i even forget what a certain month was called in english. I know numbers thankfully tho😅 I feel like numbers are way more important than months, but of course if you're gonna be living in the country where they speak the language you're learning, then it would probably be a good idea to learn them thoroughly aswell

[Maja Arna]

You are nowadays better with recognising different parts of those compund words (I mean yhdyssanat, i hope used the right word 😂)!

[ma ma matt]

You did! Yhdyssanat is the right word!

[adpwd]

In case someone hasn't already explained it, the Finnish word for "oak" in tammikuu actually means originally a core or a nucleus. So it refers to midwinter, but the word has lost its meaning and usually people don't know what it used to mean.

[Raven Fin]

Konna also means frog tribe (Bufonidae) in Finnish, and that's why turtle is like a kind of frog with a shield. In the Finnish language, tammi has meant pole, axis, middle tree. January is the center of winter. This month split the difficult winter season in two.

[Latexu95]

3:53 I think that tradition originally came from Sweden, where there is its own word for a big sandwich buffet, "smörgåsbord", which is also used in English to emphasize a big variation of things, like a feast or a banquet. And in Sweden sandwiches are often seen as a form of art, where all the toppings are in a perfect harmony with each other, and closing it with another bread slice would ruin the sensation.🥪

[Rido]

Your pronouncing stuff pretty well, keep at it haha! You should do one video about "spoonerisms" also called "sanamuunnos" in finnish !

[Juhani Pitkäkari]

This is old Finnish: jalopeura (noble deer) meaning 'lion'. During the shift of 19th and 20th century, there was a Finnish boom. Swedish names were changed Finnish. The modern work for lion, leijona, was unthinkable during those days. The Finnish versions weren't always so successful, like this one.

[TheOMAha94]

Thanks! Haven't even noticed, that we are so literal. Maybe that's why its so easy to create a lot of word jokes in finnish. I personally like to combine two or more of those double words. Like kirjolohi (rainbowtrout) and lohikäärme (dragon) = Kirjolohikäärme, then just try to imagine it: could it be like a colourful dragon, or snake looking like a rainbow trout? Another one: sähkövirta (electric current) + virtahepo (hippo) = sähkövirtahepo. Literally electric current horse, or just electric hippo.

[Tristan J. Cumpole]

An old world for fire is "louhi". "Louhikäärme" would be more correct.

[Elderscrollsswimmer]

My food idea works here too, it likes to eat rainbow trout/salmon.

[Kasper Joonatan]

Such fun watching at this! Why do you eat sand and witches 😮

[Erika Kervinen]

Your impression of a Finn speaking English was spot on:D

[L0ker]

Kuukausi, or "moon season" is the word for a month in Finnish, which is where the "-kuu" at the end of every month comes from.

[Giordano B.]

English can also be very surprising. Who could ever guess that a 'butterfly' is not a 'fly of the butter' (it translates 'farfalla' in Italian, nothing to do with butter). Not to mention 'Dragonfly': a charming insect we call with a charming name (Libellula). No dragons involved.

[shaairah]

Super fun and you are doing extremely well! I'd love more of these :)

[Maazitung]

I'm a Finn and I'm shocked that I came across this channel only now :o As you know, we usually go "torille!" whenever we are even mentioned on KZbin.

[HuskyCube]

this usually happens but I'm looking trough the comments without any comment saying that right now :D and I think this channel is cool to watch from finnish perspective! Been watching randomly recommended videos here and there!

[omenoid]

The original form "louhikäärme" was still there in the 50's-70's (at least in Donald Duck comics). A "plate villain" is just plain ridiculous :) The correct literal translation in that case would indeed be a "shield toad".

[Gys Wuyts]

Origins of lohikäärme: lohi comes from the old-swedish flogh = flying. When salmon swims upriver to their spawning grounds they jump "fly" up the rapids.

[pahakasvi venuksesta]

but the finnish word was louhikäärme.

[Elmetzi]

@pahakasvi venuksesta no it wasnt

[Azgueila]

@Elmetzi louhikäärme vas a thing but it was just a variant and had nothing to do with the Finnish mythology Kalevala that has the character named Louhi

[Elmetzi]

@Azgueila oh i tought he was talking about the Word that was in the video

[Azgueila]

@Elmetzi Agricola did have the variant of lohikäärme that was louhikäärme but louhi was just variant of lohi in this context but even though louhikäärme is in principle correct it's not used in modern finnish language

[Eeva]

I only learned to name the month by its number a while ago. I would always have to recite the entire list of months on my head, both in Finnish and in English.

[Laxy Yorma]

Kilpikonna could be "shield thug" as well. "Arpakuutio" may be a little old fashioned word and "noppa " more popular today, but you can hear "arpakuutio" occasionally. (the Nut island's Peace divides Finnish dialects into eastern and western type)

[James Bernadette]

I think "konna" in this instance is meant to be toad, not thug.

[Elderscrollsswimmer]

But it only works for 6-sided one as the others are not cubes.

[Tommi]

English has many frases too that sounds funny when translated literally, like Shooting star, Safe and Sound, Over here etc. 😅 Probably the hardest and puzzling word to really understand was Colonel. It really didn't make any sense how to spell it.

[sroblem]

One Finnish word I find fascinating is MAAILMA. Containing maa (Earth/ground/land/country) and ilma (air). So ground-air which means the world or universe. So everything in theground and in the air; the world. Works beautifully.

[Meri Papunen]

I love your finnish pronounciation, as native finn, it sounds so 😄

[Tsalop]

Speaking of Finnish months... They do have names rooted into what the month is about. Tammikuu / January (lit. oak month) = in old finnish tammi meant the heart so tammikuu refers the month to be the heart of winter. Helmikuu / February (lit. pearl month) = refers to the pearl like ice that the month usually has Maaliskuu / March = either means the month of revealing earth or month of bubbling sap Huhtikuu / April = from word huhta meaning "to swidden" because it was usually done that month Toukokuu / May = lliterally meaning the month of field work (when you turn the fields, plant the seeds, etc..) Kesäkuu / June (lit. summer month) = From the first actual month of summer Heinäkuu / July (lit. hay month) = Usually hay is harvested during this month Elokuu / August (lit. harvest / living month) = From the word elonkorjuu that literally means harvest time Syyskuu / September (lit. autumn month) = The month that starts the autumn Lokakuu / October (lit. messy / dirt month) = From the fact the fields are usually messy and muddy due to all the rains of autumn Marraskuu / November (translates to something like death month) = From the word marras meaning death as basically everything growing dies turing the month Joulukuu / December (lit. Christmas month) = because does this need explanation :D

[Gamer Bear]

Yeah, open-face sandwiches are way more common in my experience as well when it comes to ones people make at home.

[Satu Gustafson]

It's interesting that some of them work in German, too. "Voileipä" is "Butterbrot" (butter bread). It usually means one slice of bread with butter and cheese, cold cuts or jam on top, not a sandwich in the stricter sense. We also have the "shield toad" (Schildkröte), the fridge in German is a "cooling cupboard/closet" (Kühlschrank) but some people call it "Eisschrank" (ice closet), too. A bra is a "Büstenhalter" (bosom holder) in German. A buttercup in German is a "Butterblume" (butter flower). We also have keskiviikko. It's "Mittwoch" (mid week). "Erdball" (maapallo) also exists as an alternative expression for "globe", almost exclusively used in the context of "around the globe" ("rund um den Erdball). Funny. German and Finnish minds seem to think alike sometimes. :)

[Audiojack]

That was a fun one to watch. There's a lot of of great and very literal compound words in finnish for sure!

[Keppis]

I love to watch these kind of videos every now and then (you're doing great in Finnish by the way :) ) . But that butterbread-sandwich differentiation can be puzzling, I'd say "voileipä", butterbread, can be just bread and butter and toppings and sandwich should be translated as "kerrosleipä" or "kerrosvoileipä" because there are 2 slices, layers of bread. Just a few thoughts about it :)

[Petra]

The word for ”bra” is funny in Swedish, too! Bh = brösthållare = breastholder 😂

[Fritha71]

No wonder the Swedes shortened the word in everyday usage! 🤣

[Okaro]

Before fridges there were boxes or closets where one put ice that one bought to keep things cold. Those were known as iceboxes in English. In Finnish the name remained even when the technology changed.

[SLStrawberry]

Idk if this has anything to do with the origin of the word dragon in Finnish, but in many Asian cultures dragons actually are considered water lizards/serpents rather than fire breathing creatures. Also the Finnish epic Kalevala has this huge water serpent that might have been the inspiration for the word?

[a.i.r_arts]

As a finnish person this was really fun to watch. :D

[James Parker]

I’m so glad I found this channel!!! I decided to learn Finnish at almost random ( I’m a huge history nerd and gun nut, plus I dislike communist Russia) but I have no one to to practice with or tutor with, this is Close enough! Hyvä Suomi!

[G-mo]

This is one word only, but if you were to translate "soup" (keitto) literally, it would be "a boil"

[jan?]

A brew, you could say.

[Pau Tato]

hyvin tehty, dave! you did such an amazing job! finnish is such a hard language to learn and you are doing a decent job! you can be proud of yourself!! also it's funny to me as a german how some words are the same in german. we also do very literal words. kilpikonna also is shield-toad in german (Schildkröte) and we could also say earth-ball (Erdball, just sounds very poetic then). lentokone is also close as flying-stuff in german (Flugzeug). i lived in finland for a year and in my finnish lessons we discovered a lot of similarities :) my favorite one was the dandelion, which we also call butter-flower (Butterblume), or lion-tooth (Löwenzahn), or blowing-flower (Pusteblume) because you can blow the seeds away :)

[CripperRoo]

Nice deduction skills Dave! Good to see your vocabulary has increased :) Was a fun video!

[pete heikkinen]

January is the first month of the year on the Gregorian and Julian calendars. In the northern hemisphere, it is on average the coldest month of the year, midwinter, which is also suggested to be the name of the month, because in Häme dialects, for example, the word oak also means heart or core (“heart tree”) and pole or axis. January has also been called the heart of the month. The Great Oak, which appears in Kalevala poetry, is a giant tree covering the sky, the world tree

[Fingers]

Indeed, the old meaning of tammi was pole or axis. So, tammikuu was the turning point for the winter.

[Hayder Mohamed]

Ihan video ja myös mielenkiintoinen aihe. . Jatkaa sama mallin.. 🇫🇮👍

[Finnish Finn]

There are many funny literal translation in vegetables as well. Broccoli is in finnish: Paraskaali Parsa= Aspargus Kaali= Gabbage Broccoli is: Aspargus Gabbage Kale is Leaf Gabbage

[Peter Rjalz]

My respect for learning this weird but cool language

[WMfin]

I love this literal approach of Finnish language! It was also satisfying to watch you figure out hammasraudat! Do you use Reddit? This could be posted to subreddits like r/suomi and r/finland. I don't know language subs, first to come in mind are r/etymology and r/doesnottranslate

[Dave Cad]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed! I'm not a Reddit user, but from what I understand posting ones own content is frowned upon but if someone else wants to, that's great 😀

[Henry Modig]

These are quite funny.. Especially from a not Finnish person.thank you for chearing my day.

[oh2mp]

My dad had a good friend who was Hungarian but had lived in Finland for a long time. That man made sometimes fun about this literality of Finnish. He eg. called accordion as "ilmapuristin" (literally air press) even he knew that the real Finnish word for it is "hanuri" or "haitari" :)

[anthail]

Kind of funny for a Hungarian to mock Finnish, considering here we have two very similar, literal, weird languages.

[oh2mp]

@anthail I think it was not mocking but just verbal acrobacy. And when someone is capable of that, it tells that they know that foreign language quite well on that phase.

[Elderscrollsswimmer]

Palkeet or palje would go better for ilmapuristin...

[AniDrawAnime]

When you try to use google translate and you speak Finnish = the pain 😂😂😂

[Patralgan]

Now this is incredibly interesting. Another immigrant to Finland youtuber Ken Tagaki (Korkealinna) in his newest video about the best Finnish words mentioned the word pyykkipoika. I think that's an insane coincidence.

[Not my real name]

The first part of "lohikäärme" comes from old Swedish; "floghdraki", where it means "flying". The Finnish word "louhi" has some different meanings though, from fire to "louhikko" which means a field of jagged stones. The verb "louhia" means mining. www.kielikello.fi/-/kysyvalle-vastataan "Pesusieni" originally meant the ocean animal, Spongia officinalis, sea sponge: fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesusieni