YES! I even wonder if Finnish brains might have a more complicated structure derived from speaking such a complex language. Why is Finnish difficult? Let's start with pronunciation. Every letter must be pronounced. Here's an illustration:
Kokko, kokoo koko kokko kokoon! Koko kokkoko? Koko kokko. Which is pronounced:
Kok-ko ko-koo ko-ko kok-ko ko-koon! Ko-ko ko-ko-ko? Ko-ko kok-ko. (Put the emphasis on the first syllable every time and use a long "O".)
Translation: Kokko (a name), gather the whole kokko (midsummer fire)! The whole fire? The whole fire.
Another example of the importance of pronunciation:
Me tulemme takaisin tapaamaan sinun miehesi.
Me tulemme takaisin tappamaan sinun miehesi.
The first says, "We will come back to meet your husband." And the second says, "We will come back to kill your husband. " Just a simple mispronounced double "P" can be a killer. In addition, Finnish has a neat little feature called consonant gradation. The purpose of consonant gradation is to make it impossible for foreigners to find words in the dictionary. Every noun has about 30 different forms and when these different forms come into play they can lead to changes in the spelling of words if the words have t's, k's or p's in them. T's become d's, p's become v's and k's disappear from time to time. This is called softening. In addition, they harden at random times. As you might guess, spelling is something of a challenge as well, what with the hardening and softening and also not being able to tell for sure how many vowels were in the word when you heard someone say it. Like did they say tuli or tuuli or tulli (came, wind, customs)? If you know enough of the language to have an idea what someone is talking about, then it shouldn't be much of a problem to know which word is being used from context. However, when you are getting a migraine trying to pick out two or three words thatyouknowoutofastringoftenwords with no pauses in between it can be tough. Finns also talk as they inhale which makes it possible to speak even faster.
Prepositions are a challenge in crossing over to any second language. Finnish is especially interesting in this area. They have prepositions, post-positions and case endings to communicate position. And, of course, the noun referenced either gets the ending attached to it or changes its form depending on which pre/post position it is. When I try to actually speak in complete sentences and have to figure out which endings to use with which noun and where to put it in a potential sentence my listener either tells me what to say once they figure out where I am headed or switches to English so they can get on with their day. I keep hoping that once I have heard enough of the spoken language some of these things will come out of my mouth as easily as they do for a four year old Finn.
