The stereotypical Finnish-English accent

Ok, now here's a demonstration of the stereotypical Finnish-English accent :D This kind of variety surely has its fair share of differences to the so-called standard forms of English, but that doesn't really make it any less useful or valuable. If it works for communication, I say use it :)

Category:

Education

Tags:

• finnish
• english
• accent
• stereotypes
• language
• linguistics
• rp
• finland

[oakstrong1]

I have a British accent but a neighbour from California found it difficult to follow and I found his accent very hard to understand until I got used to it. Yet we are both native speakers. My point is that there are no right or wrong accents, only speakers with clear or unclear diction.

[villevn]

@oakstrong1 Exactly. English as a second language is often easier to understand than native accents, it's pretty interesting... :D

[oakstrong1]

@villevn That is because English students are taught *received* pronunciation (Queen's English, as they say), which means it is pretty much artificial accent, "designed" for uniform communication, I guess originally to separate educated people from commoners.

Isn't received, or official Finnish (kirjakieli) taught at school now? I think there has been a strong decline in the number of people who speak their local dialects any more, or at least it is much diluted esp. last 30-40 years.

[villevn]

@oakstrong1 Yeah, that's true. Different situation...

Kirjakieli? Yes, it's taught at schools, but hardly anyone actually speaks like that. Same as with RP, I guess.

[oakstrong1]

Some students are shy to speak because they worry about their accent or the grammatical mistakes. But I think that while grammar is important for accurate and precise communication, in everyday situations you can get by with very little (correct) grammar. (Just listen to native speakers.) Accents are of no relevance as long as you speak clearly enough for people to understand you. After all, the purpose of learning language is COMMUNICATION.

[villevn]

@oakstrong1 Yep, communication indeed. Hope more people would realise this and stop worrying about their accents...

[Tryfing94]

Am I the only one who thinks speaking english with a finnish accent is fucking brilliant?

[VerityVulpes]

This is great :) I study English myself and for years it really pained me that even though my accent's not this "bad", I couldn't completely shake the Finnish characteristics. Even though an English friend of mine claimed to love my accent, it took an American lecturer defending all the global varieties for me to realise I wasn't butchering the language. I shall play my accent to my advantage! :D

[labellooos]

well, finnish people who speaks like this is too lazy to pronounce the words :D i dont want never speak like that.. haha i hope i dont sound like that:DD

[Skelros]

@sohviheyy

glad for you but people dont care ;p

[emppumamma]

Tää on niin totta... :'''''D

[enenenergp]

DEMONSTRATION of the stereotypical finnish-english accent! Se puhuu muissa videoissa ihan hyvin ja hyvällä R:llä -.- ottakaa selvää ennenku rupeette haukkuu ja valittaa. Tässäki videos se lipsuu välil englannin R:ään