Common misconceptions about Finland
To name just a few...
- Finland is a bleak, freezing and remote place somewhere in Northern Europe; few people would volunteer to live there.
- It is always winter in Finland and the country is covered in snow year-round.
- Polar bears roam the streets of the northern towns and occasionally venture into Helsinki. (okay, probably the only people who still think this are Texan farmers - - I hope they retaliate with a list of common misconceptions about Texas).
- Finnish people are so used to being cold that they never complain about it, even shrugging at full-blast air conditioning while people from other countries turn into icicles.
- Finland used to belong to Russia. Hence the extinct car code SF (Soviet Finland).
- Finland is a neighbouring country of the United States (a certain Kurdish driver in Eastern Turkey).
- All Finns dress in those Laplandish costumes you see on tv.
- The Finnish language is very similar to Swedish.
- The Finnish language is very similar to Russian.
- Russian is the official language of Finland.
The list goes on and on. Feel free to add!
posted by Dani @ 22:22
1 comments
1 Comments:
Here are some I've heard of:
"Public transport in Helsinki is free"
"You can see the beautiful fiords on a daycruise in Helsinki"
"Finnish people aren't Christian- they are protestant"
"Finland is the neighbouring country of Bolivia" (a Spanish policeman in charge of residency permissions)
"Finnish people eat raw fish for breakfast" (Well, sometimes and sort of...)
"The Finnish language is like Russian spoken with Italian accent"
"Finnish language is the long missed sister of Japanese."
"Ramstedt was the greatest Finn (and person in general) ever lived, therefore all the Finns are talented turchologists by nature" (this helped me to get good grades in the past... :D )
"Finnish, Turkish, Korean AND Japanese are related" (common ancestor being Sumerian)
"Filipino is spoken in Finland"
"All Finns are bilingual"
* * *
Okay, I know it's all very language-related in my examples.
PS. It was only last week I was asked about where it is possible to see polar bears...
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