What Language Do You Use In Your Head?

I haven't been blogging in a long time, have I? It's always harder to get back on track once you haven't been in the flow of things for a long period of time. It's almost like going back to your exercise regime or starting a new one after a long break. My tennis elbow problem is still under control, though depending on the days and what activities I've done and the kind of exercise I do, there can be more symptoms (pain, tightness, etc.). I know for sure that I still can't handle the normal amount of work, so I've talked to my bosses about it. It's a long road to recovery, but I'm positive about healing. 

A friend of mine had the same problem and it took her two full years to recover, but even then she warned me that it could happen all over again if I were not careful (maintaining the right posture at work, doing enough exercise at home). So I've been doing more exercise and I've walked more (instead of riding my bike) these days. The arms don't like certain kinds of exercise movements, but I'm only able to find out about it afterwards, so it's a bit of a trial and error in terms of trying out different kinds of exercise programs.

A FB friend posted this video in her newsfeed and I tried it right away. My left arm was giving me a full-blown headache when I was doing this (didn't happen with the right arm) and I actually felt a bit nausea as well (just like what she described in the video), but I felt so much lighter afterwards. She's also uploaded lots of other videos (a few others I've also tried).


I've also been massaging my back and shoulders with the massage stick I got as my birthday present last year (as per my request). It's been helping me a bit, too. I've been using at least two rolls of kinesio tape, since for some reason my skin doesn't like it when I use it in the sauna, even though some people can keep them on in the sauna with no problem whatsoever. 

Anyway, a few weeks ago someone asked me what language I used in my head to think. I answered, "English, Finnish, and Indonesian." I use Indonesian the least these days compared to English and Finnish, so my Indonesian is getting rusty. I noticed this during the Skype call I made to my mom about a week ago. I struggled in finding some words and only the English and Finnish words came out (along with the image of the words I wanted to convey to her) LOL!!! 

The weather has been pretty warm these days (nearing or a little above 0'C), though there's still oodles of snow everywhere. Here's a photo I took a while back. I received some long-stemmed roses, but my vases were all too short, so I ended up having to use a Lion King pitcher for them ha ha ha ha ha...

Invasion of the Languages

The longer I stay in Finland, the more mixed-up my English becomes. Let me give you some example while they're still fresh in my mind. I realize that these days my past tense use in English has sometimes been mixed up with Finnish.

Here's a set of Finnish, Indonesian, and English sentences as comparison:

- Sinä nukuit hyvin. (You slept well).
- Nukuitko sinä hyvin? (literal translation: Slept you well?)

- Kamu tidur nyenyak. (You slept well.)
- Kamu tidur nyenyak? (You slept well?)

- You slept well.
- Did you sleep well?

Notice that in the Finnish language, in the question form, the verb doesn't change at all, though there's the additional "-ko" ending to denote that it's a question instead of a statement. So sometimes when talking to my husband, I'd blurt out, "Did you slept well?" instead of "Did you sleep well?" as the wires of my brain criss-cross between English and Finnish. And in Indonesian language nothing actually changes, only the intonation changes (going up at the end of the question).

Another example was my use of the word "psychologist". In Finnish, it's "psykologi" and in Indonesian language it's "psikolog". At that time I was writing in English and I wanted to write "psychologist", but instead I wrote "psykolog" (a weird combo of the Finnish and Indo version of the word) HA HA HA HA HA HA...

And don't mention the mix-ups I have with "him", "her", "his", "hers" because both in Finnish and Indonesian there's only one word for both genders. This has been happening since a long time ago. Ah, brain! :-D What an adventure you've had HA HA HA HA HA HA...

Language Mess

Let me try to tell you how messy my brain gets in incorporating the languages in my head. I have four languages in my head: Indonesian (the national language in Indonesia), Sundanese (the regional language in Bandung, my hometown), English, and Finnish. Indonesian and Sundanese are my mother tongues, whereas English and Finnish are two foreign languages.

I started studying English at the age of 9 or 10. Went to an English course. Back then we only started learning English in Junior High School (13 years old). Continued studying English at uni (4 years) and then I started tutoring kids and translating books from English to Indonesian until the age of 28.

Moved to Finland in 2007, started studying Finnish on my own for about 9 months, then went on a full-time Finnish course for 4 months and self-study continues until now.


I use Indonesian and Sundanese mainly with my family through Skype calls and in Facebook with my Indo friends. I rarely use long sentences purely in Sundanese, so most of the time Sundanese words are used in Indonesian sentences to describe things that can't be described better by using Indonesian terms/words. I use English mainly in my blogs and FB and my online activities. I use English verbally with hubby, because when I used Finnish with him, my English pronunciation becomes so weird (Finnish has a similar pronunciation with Indonesian language). So these days I use Finnish with hubby's family and at work and in FB with coworkers/Finnish people in my FB. 

My skill levels on those languages have declined in some ways. True, I speak more Finnish these days due to my work, but I'm less concerned with the grammar because most people use the informal version of the language anyway, so bye bye grammar to a certain degree!

Hubby says that I have talked in my dreams using English, Finnish, and Indonesian (he guessed it was Indonesian when he couldn't decipher what I was babbling about in my sleep). 


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Now let me give you examples of the mess:

1. Every now and then I blurt out an Indonesian word either at work or at home. I have NO idea why! 

2. Sometimes I think in English, Indonesian, and Finnish respectively on separate occasions. For example, while writing this post, I think merely in English.

3. Sometimes when I start to think in English (for example), I forget one word and have a hard time finding it on my own. Instead, all I have in my brain is the Finnish or Indonesian word or both Finnish and Indonesian word instead.

4. Sometimes when I speak to hubby in English, I have a hard time finding one word, so to make it easier, I use the Finnish word instead. Not good, I know. 

5. Sometimes I try to write an email in Indonesian and then get stuck with one word. I only have the English and Finnish version of the word in my head and the image of the word. Nice! Not! 


6. Because both Finnish and Indonesian only have one word for "he/she", my brain has reverted back to its Indonesian root. These days when I talk to hubby in English, I mix up the use of "he/she", "him/her", "his/hers" because in both Finnish and Indonesian, it doesn't matter either way.

7. Sometimes at work when I've just finished serving a tourist in English, my brain forgets to switch back ASAP to Finnish. So, I end up using English to serve the Finnish customer behind the tourist, which usually makes us both laugh. :-D

8. There are times when I start stringing up a sentence in my head in English, but all of a sudden in the middle of the sentence a Finnish word appears. 

9. I've started getting more and more confused about English grammar, because my brain sometimes automatically tries to use the Finnish structure of the sentence instead of the English one. 

10. I start to get more confused with the new slang words that my fellow Indonesians use. I have no idea what they mean and it's hard to catch up with the new development when I'm not using it daily (well, not verbally anyway). I wonder how much further away I feel the mental distance between me and my mother tongue the longer I stay here. 


That said, don't wonder why my English has become kinda quirky these days compared to the old days when I didn't know/use Finnish too much. Has anyone else experienced similar problems? 

Note: Apparently they have a term for this kind of phenomena. It's called Language Attrition. It can happen to your mother tongue as well as any other foreign language that you've studied. 

Language Troubles Again

Every now and then at work we have Russian customers/tourists. I assume they have their own business there because many of them buy so much stuff (good for my workplace, hey! :-D). However, it can also be challenging to communicate with them, especially if they're the older types because they don't speak any English. Sometimes some of them speak a little Finnish, but sometimes not. 

The other week I had these encounters.

I've finished serving a woman who bought tons of stuff. I remember that she bought 15 big packs of chocolate powder (to make chocolate drink). She started packing her stuff because she wanted to get tax refund, so my other coworker was dealing with that while I stayed behind the till. Once she had finished packing, my coworker asked me if I could refund some money to her. It was as if I had counted the chocolate powder packs wrongly. The customer had packed everything up in many bags except for 10 packs of chocolate powder. 

We tried to communicate in English, but to no avail. My coworker was confused and so was I, because I felt that I had counted them right. Mind you, all the bags were tied up, so it would have been too hard to open all of them up just to count the chocolate powder packs. Yet the customer kept on pointing towards the 10 packs of chocolate powder that she had left on next table. My coworker again asked me if I had counted the chocolate powder packs wrongly, but I said I remembered there were 15 of them and the customer must have put 5 of them in one of the bags.

Then it hit me!!!! She wanted to return the 10 packs of chocolate powder packs because she probably thought 5 would have been enough. So I said to her with big gestures, "So you don't want these 10 packs?" 

Then she replied, "Yes, yesss, don't wanttt..." (pointing to the 10 packs on the table).

HALLELUJAH!!!! Finally we were progressing. My coworker wasn't able to start processing the tax refund if this matter wasn't sorted, so I returned some money to her and then it was all settled. Phew!



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Anyway, that same day not long after the above incident, a Russian man came over to my friend who was behind the till. He had a tub of yoghurt in his hand and he asked my friend something in broken English. My friend didn't understand what he wanted, so I decided to follow him.

He pointed to the tub of yoghurt and asked, "Three?"

I thought he wanted to buy three tubs of yoghurt, but there was none left on the shelf, so I told him I'd come with him.

When I reached the spot, I realized that there were still plenty of yoghurt left. Then he asked again, "Three? Banana, vanilla?"

I thought he wanted me to read out loud the different kinds of flavors that was available in English, so I started naming them out loud.

He shook his head and said, "No, no, three...banana, vanilla...Do you have at the back?"

After we did this a few times, I finally realized what he wanted. He wanted three kinds of flavors in each tub of yohgurt, so I told him, "Ahhhh...you want three flavors for each of them. No, no, unfortunately we don't have it. These are the only options available."

He asked again, "You don't have at the back?" (he meant in the warehouse)

I replied, "No, no. Just these." 

Then the woman who was with him said something in Russian that I assumed meant, "It's OK. Just take some. These are fine, too."

It felt GOOD to finally be able to decipher what he wanted he he he he... 

Language Mix-Up: Plum

Usually in our household, the one making pancakes is hubby but this time I wanted to do it by myself. I started doing it while hubby was having dinner, but when he saw what I was about to do, he said I was doing it the wrong way. 

I asked him why there should be any specific order? Would it make a difference at all?

He said, "If you're doing it in the wrong order, the pancakes will get plum."
 
I was really confused, so I asked again, "Did you just say plum?"

He said, "Yeah, they'll get plum."

I asked back, "Plum? Luumu?" (Luumu is the Finnish word for plum)

Then he realized his mistake and he said, "Lumpyyyyy!!!"

I couldn't help laughing out loud HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...OK, now I should start cooking the chocolate pancakes slice by slice! :-D

A "New" Language Problem

When I first started doing this part-time job, many people who came wondered about how well my Finnish could be, so they would speak to me slowly and clearly and they would even use body language as well. However, now that I've been there for at least half a year and most of them now assume that I can understand many things (though they don't know how much I know), they have started talking to me about different topics in a faster speed if the store's not too busy. That in itself is actually nice - having conversations with people in Finnish is nice.

The problem is that sometimes I only understand the gist of what they're saying without understanding EVERY SINGLE WORD, so I'd attempt to mimic their body language and facial features as best as I can, as fast as I can in response to what they're telling me.

Other times I have no problem understanding every word or almost every word, but there are times when I wonder if what I'm guessing is right or not 'coz Finnish words have many different meanings so it depends on the context and 'coz I still don't know all the meanings of the words, there may be some misunderstanding.

Anyhow, the thing is that many times when I only understand the gist, I don't have time to ask the person if what I think he/she means is right or not 'coz usually there are other people whom I need to serve next or I need to do something else quickly. All in all fortunately there has NOT been any BIG problem when it comes to this new problem. It's just something that I've just realized recently and I just want to write this in this blog. I guess I just need to keep on building my vocabulary then. :-D

P.S. Found a birthday gift for MIL which I gave to her already today (unfortunately the size was a little too small but she can exchange the size tomorrow - YAY!!!!) and I've ordered one for R2 (their birthdays are only 3 days apart). Tasks done!!! Went to visit MIL today and she said that it seems that her back is getting better, though she's not sure how OK it is 'coz she's been taking painkillers he he...I sure HOPE it's getting better even though it may take some time to heal. :-D

He and She: Language Mix-Ups

Because in Indo language there're no separate words for "he" and "she", just like in Finnish, after living here for about 3 years, I've started mixing up the use of "he" and "she" in the English language. I guess it's normal in a way 'coz in this case Finnish has the same usage of "he/she" like Indonesian language.

Another problem I've encountered is that it seems there are two separate parts (or compartments?) of my brain - the Finnish part and the English part. For example: whenever I work in a Finnish environment, I always try to use my Finnish brain. Meaning I need to focus on understanding Finnish and then using Finnish as a reply - i.e. using my Finnish brain. So, when sometimes foreign tourists come, I have trouble switching to my English brain. One time when I was trying to tell the tourist how much he/she had to pay, I mixed up the words, so I used both Finnish AND English (I said the first number in English and then the second one in Finnish). ARRRGGGH!!! How annoying is that?

I think it occurs more often now 'coz in my daily life I use my Finnish brain more often than my English brain. Even at home with R2 I try to use both English and Finnish - though sometimes when I panic about losing my English ability, I use more English than Finnish, but then the dilemma is that if I use more English than Finnish, then I feel that I'm not using fully the resources that I have on hand (I mean his being a native Finnish speaker). ARRRRRRRGGGHHH!!!


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Side note: I remember one time when I was doing the training at the hotel, the boss came over and said something in English and 'coz I was using my Finnish brain and I was trying to think of what kind of Finnish words she was saying, it took me at least 5 seconds before I finally realized that she was using English to talk to me!!! And right away she said sorry and she switched to using Finnish again.

So, the next time I had to use English again, I had to literally take a few seconds to switch to my English brain before I said the numbers correctly in English. Then they all came out in English. Phew!!!

And I've started thinking more in Indonesian than in English these days - which is a shame actually 'coz it took time to really use English actively in my daily life. But anyway, what happens happens...another thing I realize is that when I'm stressed out and I need to count quickly and act quickly (like whenever I am a cashier), I find myself counting in Indonesian. Why is this weird? Because before I started learning Finnish, for years I had forced myself to count in English (even when counting in my head), but now I've resorted more to Indonesian than English.

Maybe one reason is 'coz Finnish has more similarities to Indonesian than English (and Facebook has helped me use Indonesian more often than before). After all, Finnish and Indonesian pronunciation are similar. Secondly, the usage of "hän" (in Finnish) or "dia" (in Indonesian language) as opposed to "he" and "she". Thirdly, Indonesian and Finnish use the same kind of statement to say "half past (what time)". So, instead of saying for example "half past six", we'd say "half (to) seven" both in Finnish and Indonesian.

What language is in my head when I'm writing my blog posts? English, of course. Well, just wanna let you know the kind of mix up going in my head these days when it comes to languages. If somebody has ever experienced something like this, please do let me know so that I know I'm not crazy ha ha ha...

Where Do I Start?

So many things to say, but I can't cram them in one post. Oh well...

First things first then. I've done 7 weeks of training. Only 6 weeks to go. YAAAAYYYY!!! I hope I can lose a little bit of weight before I fly to Indo 'coz I'm sure I'll gain weight when I'm there, esp. 'coz I haven't eaten any "real" Indonesian/Chinese food since last October. Yum yum...I'm drooling buckets already when thinking of all the food I can eat later he he...

Today my MIL gave me a pair of woolen "tossut" that she made herself. Here they are:


Aren't they cute? Maybe someday I should ask MIL to teach me how to do it. We'll see he he...


Here are two flower pics that I took two weeks ago. Last week and today rain came pouring down, so I didn't take any pictures. The good thing about the rain is that my MIL doesn't have to water all the plants she has outside, so she can rest. :-))))





One funny incident happened at work about a week ago. I had just finished cleaning one room when the boss walked along the corridor and spoke to me while walking towards me "bla bla bla bla bla...?" My brain was trying to absorb the "Finnish" words, but they sounded weird. Half a second later, I realized she was speaking ENGLISH!!! I was using my "Finnish brain", but she was using a different language, so I was flabbergasted for half a second.

She realized she wasn't speaking to me in Finnish when she almost finished her sentence, so she said to me in Finnish, "Sorry" and she translated her words into Finnish HA HA HA HA HA HA...Then I replied in Finnish, of course. I tried to speak only in Finnish at work, 'coz I really needed the exercise. One bad thing about this type of work is that I don't speak or hear too much Finnish, esp. when I have to work alone (there are days I work alone, there are days when someone helps me out).

Oh, and don't worry about my family who live in Indo. They did feel the earthquake, but fortunately nothing bad happened to them or my friends. Phew! I hope God protect them all and that help comes quickly for those in need.

Now I need to start doing something I've been wanting to do in a while. I'll blog hop tomorrow, OK? Have a blessed weekend, everybody! :-))))

Problems Arising

I just realized some problems I'm starting to experience at work. Although it IS more fun to have plenty of coworkers and we can talk about anything during our break, but here are some basic problems that I've encountered lately compared to my two other training places:

1. If there are more than 2 other people on the table during the break (sometimes there can be 5 of them!) and they start talking about many topics, if I REALLY want to follow the conversation well, I don't have much time to start formulating my responses. Why? Because if I start thinking about my responses (especially if they're long ones), I'll LOSE TRACK of the rest of the conversation.

Thus I resort to focusing on the conversation and I end up just smiling or nodding or showing the right mimic and blurting out short phrases. So I've become a passive listener instead of being an active participant of the conversation.

This problem is not as bad if there's only one other person with me or maximum two other people with me.

2. If I don't understand some words (which happen regularly since they talk about LOTS of stuff and my vocabulary is still limited - plus in normal conversations people sometimes use the slang words), I feel bad if I keep on asking as I'll ruin the flow of the conversation. ---> I'm pretty sure they won't mind if I ask them, but it just doesn't feel okay to ask all the time EVERY single day, every single break we have...

Thus I only try to guess - sometimes I guess well, sometimes I just don't have a clue of what they're talking about. Sometimes I can remember the word or phrase that I don't know so that I can ask R2 about it when I get back home or I can look it up in the dictionary, but most of the time I don't remember anymore as the conversation shifts to other topics.

This problem can be eliminated if I only talk to ONE other person, since then if I don't understand, we won't be able to carry a conversation, right? So either I have to ask or pretend that I understand hi hi hi hi...I don't mind asking if it's a one-on-one conversation since it's pretty easy to do.

3. More often than not, after our break is over, I start formulating my responses to whatever they have talked about during the break, but then once I know what to say, it's already too late to say it to them, right? It's kinda crazy, but I'm still in this phase of learning this language.

Okay, I just thought I should write these down here to remind myself about this. I'll blog-hop later, OK? I'm so sleepy he he he...

My New Nickname + Language Mix-Up

Most of my relatives call me either "Cici" (Big Sister) or "Lia", whereas my school and university friends call me "Amel" or "Mel". However, now I have a new nickname ha ha ha ha ha...It's "Ameli" (pronounced like "Amelie" in French).

Who's been calling me "Ameli"? My mother-in-law and my current Finnish teacher he he he...Now why don't you share with me your nicknames, as well, if you want to?

Oh, almost forgot...I used to be called "Cidut" as well (Cici gendut = fat big sister). I got that nickname since I was almost always chubby. I certainly don't like that nickname, but gladly after a while my family stopped calling me that he he he...Well, mostly my naughty brother was the one using that nickname to call me!!!

Speaking of languages, I find that sometimes my brain gets so muddled up that I mix everything up. For example, sometimes when I come home and Arttu says something to me in English, I'd immediately try to think in Finnish (I try to focus as though I'm listening to Finnish). ARRRGGGHHH!!! Of course it makes me unable to understand what he's saying...and then I'd ask him to repeat himself...and I still try to think in Finnish, but then a second later I realize that he wasn't speaking in Finnish (of course not!!!).

And in the classroom, sometimes I forget the English terms and I only remember the Indonesian terms...and thus I have trouble finding the Finnish terms since my dictionary is English-Finnish-English HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...Oh dear...

I talked about this to my female French friend and she has also experienced the same thing! She knows French, English, Spanish, and German. She said that sometimes when she heard some words in Finnish that were similar to Spanish words, she immediately started to think in Spanish and of course it didn't make any sense hi hi hi...

I LOVE the fact that going to a classroom means that I can relate to other students' problems and we can share our problems and more often than not, we'll be able to understand them COMPLETELY 'coz we're in the same boats he he he he...That's another good thing about the course: having your own support group he he he...

Anyway, I'll stop here and blog-hop a bit, then I have to take a nap before the party starts. Have a SWELL weekend, everybody!!!! ;-D

Snowy Weekend

Hi, guys!!!

I haven't been writing since I was SO tired ha ha ha...My brain just refused to work well. I'm not used to my new schedule yet, so by Friday I was half a zombie already, but still a cute zombie, though (if I may say so myself HUA HA HA HA HA...). *wink*

Friday went fine. No homework, but I'm gonna try to make a list of the verb changes form so that I can learn more and more verbs plus the changes. Have I told you how much I LOVE preparation and plans? I know I'm not the most flexible person on earth, but I'm trying to be flexible. However, if there are things I CAN prepare and plan, I'd rather do it. It's just how I'm wired, I guess.

I realized one thing about learning a new language. One of the hardest things is to learn the nuances of a language, the connotations or subtle difference of meanings behind certain words. No matter how well a person's vocabulary and grammar, but if that person doesn't learn the connotations of the words, then he or she might use the wrong ones. Sometimes I try creating a sentence and I ask Arttu if that's the right way of saying what I want to say, but he will correct me. Why? Because that certain word has a slightly different meaning than what I want to convey. It is tough, but also interesting.

Funny thing is that when I went to my in-laws today and I heard the conversation between Arttu and his second brother, it was SO TOUGH to understand since they talked VERY fast and they shortened many words. When Arttu's second brother asked me something in Finnish, I had to ask him to speak slowly he he he he...

Today has been BEAUTIFUL. When we arrived at my in-laws, it was SO foggy and white. White everywhere. When I went out to go to their sauna, I couldn't believe my ears. The birds were singing and this time there were SO MANY of them that their song was SO loud. Can you imagine standing still in the middle of a vast snowy, foggy yard and being entertained by possibly 50 birds singing TOGETHER at the same time? It was as though time was standing still, you know? I almost didn't want the snow to melt away he he he he he he...

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Plus it was SO refreshing to go outside from a 60'C sauna to a -10'C weather without wearing my outer pants (only long john) and jacket. Of course I wouldn't have stayed outside too long, but it felt GREAT!!!

Then Arttu's second brother came along and gave me his new wok. You know something INCREDIBLE? The kind of wok that he gave me was EXACTLY the kind of wok I had been WANTING TO BUY, but I didn't since I didn't want to pay for it HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...THANK YOU SO MUCH, Jarppa!!! ;-D I think it'll be VERY useful in the future since the wok is pretty deep and it has a lid on it, so when my family gets bigger, it's easier for me to cook bigger portion of meals HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE...

Okie dokie, I won't write too long. Just wanna tell you all that I've been doing fine, though more tired than usual. And as usual I got food from my mother-in-law HE HE HE HE HE HE...;-D

Oh yeah, almost forgot, one of my ex classmates, IN, had finally given birth of a baby boy today. She sent me SMS, saying that her baby boy was born in the AMBULANCE since the labour was so quick. As I've told you before, if women are going to give birth in this village, they have to be driven away to Rovaniemi (around 1.5 hours from here). Gee, I can't imagine giving birth in an ambulance, but the most important thing is that the mother and baby are fine no matter where she's giving birth he he he...

I'm going to visit her later on. I wonder what to give her, though hmmmm...Have to browse around in the stores he he he he he...I also don't know when I can visit her, but I DO want to see her as she's a friendly person. ;-D

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Language and Its Intricacies

My spring course is starting again mid January until April, then we'll have summer break and we'll start again in autumn. I must say I'm VERY excited since I'll be meeting my friends again, especially my Brit friend MC. She's such a jolly, friendly person and she always lights up the class he he he he...

Other than that, of course I can't wait to learn more Finnishhhhhhhhh and practise it!!! A few weeks ago I was in my in-laws and I was trying to read some comic strips in the local newspaper. That day I was able to read one comic strip without the help of dictionary and I could understand the whole thing. I was SO HAPPY that I even told Arttu about it he he he he he he...This is how I felt like:

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I still remember the first few months I was here. I was making VERY slow progress in learning Finnish and I couldn't understand a thing people were saying to me. I always tried to read the newspaper or magazines in my in-laws, but I couldn't understand anything, except perhaps just a few simple words. Nowadays I can understand more words since I know more about the changes of the word forms. Even then I know I still have a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNGGGG way to go, but I'm going to CELEBRATE each new step towards understanding the language better he he he he...

One tough thing about learning a new language is this: the limited vocabulary. So, even though I can probably ask many questions (after looking up certain words that I probably don't know in the dictionary), I may not be able to understand the answers, especially if the answers are long and they use words that I don't know yet. I often experience this when I ask something to my mother-in-law and she gives me an elaborate answer. Then I'll just give her a blank look and she'll understand that I don't get it HI HI HI HI HI...and we'll both have to wait for Arttu to translate it for me ha ha ha...

Another funny incident that often happens when you learn a new language is this: you hear some words or phrases that sound FAMILIAR, yet you can't seem to remember what they mean!!! You search high and low, even in the nooks and crannies of your brain, but the meanings aren't embedded in any part of your brain yet.

This kind of experience always makes me feel like biting my finger and think REAL hard and say, "I KNOW those words, but what do they mean?" But of course it's futile since in real life...conversation goes fast...and the moment you're stuck on the words that you don't understand, you miss out on the rest he he he he he...Such is life when you don't know the native language he he he he he...

Anyway, here is a list of the exact same words in Indonesian and Finnish:

1. Tuli ---- Finnish: fire, Indonesian: deaf
2. Sama --- It has the same meaning both in Indonesian or Finnish: the same
3. Satu --- Finnish: fairy tale, Indonesian: one
4. Kita --- Finnish: mouth (of a cave), Indonesian: us
5. Lupa --- Finnish: permission, Indonesian: forget
6. Paha --- Finnish: bad, Indonesian: thigh

It's always interesting to see how different the meanings of exact same words in another language, don't you think so? The first time I learnt about "paha" (bad in Finnish), my brain always conjures up the image of a "thigh" HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...