FAQ

I've been asked several strange or funny questions during my travels and today's post presents two of them and also delves into the world of cultural differences. Quite recently I was asked if I like my native language. I've always thought that everyone loves their mother tongue but apparently that's not the case. This conversation (and an online course in linguistics I'm taking) made me think about languages and identity and the combination of those two. Well, I love Finnish. I mean, who wouldn't love a language that has coined such a useful, funny, and most of all eloquent word as "comma f*cker" (a person who corrects trivial or meaningless things, as defined by the website Better Than English) Oh yes, our idioms tend to be a bit on the crude side.

I love Finnish for many reasons. First of all, it's the only language I can speak without a foreign accent, so when I go shopping in Finland I don't need to relate my immigration story to every cashier. And if someone dares to claim that I have an accent in my Finnish, that won't be without consequences. Secondly, Finnish is the only language in which I can discuss any topic under the sky. If someone criticizes my choice of words, well there are going to be consequences for that, too. In addition Finnish is the language of my family and my relatives, the language into which I naturally revert to when I'm tired, upset, angry, etc. One night not long ago I woke up when Anna was moving in our room and I wanted to ask what's wrong. I was shocked when the thought popped into my mind in English instead of Finnish. I was confused for several minutes and tried to decide which language I should use. The same thing happens on the rare occasion when I dream in English. I'll wake up thinking that something's not quite right in my head.

Another seemingly strange question I was asked quite often in Korea (and a couple of times elsewhere, too. I can understand it in Korea where people often take a western name if they work with western people, though.) is whether or not Laura is my real name. Yes, it is, do you want to see my passport or what? Apparently Laura doesn't fit the image of a Finnish name. It's a sad fact, however, that when I was born it was one of the most common names for a girl in Finland. Yell "Laura!" on the street and you'll have a dozen ladies about my age turn their head.

And finally I thought to introduce you to the one true thing I miss from Finland and that's not dark rye bread. It's the silence. Australian culture and the backpacker culture tend to be very social and people are talkative. The need to comment everything gets a bit tiring for a person who comes from a country where it's seen as polite to leave people alone. One of these days I was squeezing a lemon because I wanted to add some lemon juice to my water and one of these cheery, talkative backpackers around me exclaimed. "oh, you put lemon in your water!" Dude, I know. I can see it myself, so there's no need to mention it. It's like my foreign accent. I know I speak English as second language, it has ceased to surprise me long time ago. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a TV show and someone's narrating my life to the audience ("Now she's packing her suitcase, I wonder where she's going"). And then I want to go and find a society that isn't driven by the need to fill in with meaningless chatter every silent moment that lasts longer than 2 seconds.