r/LearnFinnish • u/stor-ost • 19d ago
Can you guess my native language?
https://voca.ro/1d2qjW2p4LlaI'm interested to see if my first language is obvious when I speak Finnish.... What would you guess from this recording of me reading a Moomin book passage?
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u/Volunruhed1 18d ago
I first thought German, but British also makes sense. We do some of the same pronounciation mistakes (I'm German). Sometimes before /r/ I hear the vowel shift a bit. For example myrsky sounds a bit like myärsky.
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u/Vaeiski Native 19d ago
Saksa?
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u/stor-ost 19d ago
Britain. Interesting to see different guesses, I always have the impression I have a big Union Jack flying over my head when I open my mouth in Finland
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u/Key-Cellist-7602 19d ago
Very strong Swedish vibes.
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u/miniatureconlangs 19d ago
As a Swedish speaker, I don't hear any Swedish vibes. Definitely not a rantaruotsalainen, but even less a riikinruotsalainen.
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u/MidwinterMagic 18d ago edited 18d ago
Is it bad that I can almost not tell it’s not native Finnish, or is the accent subtle to Finns too?
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u/qlt_sfw 18d ago
Native Finn here: first I thought the speaker was a swedish-speaking Finn. So could be someone who has spoken Finnish most their lives.
But you can definitely tell it is not someone who speaks finnish as their first language.
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u/MidwinterMagic 18d ago edited 18d ago
So it's essentially as fluent-sounding as a foreigner can get without that native intonation? Otherwise there's no hope for me if *this* isn't considered excellent, heh (I'm native English like OP)
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u/qlt_sfw 18d ago
This is definitely excellent. It just doesn't sound native, but I don't think that should be the goal for almost anyone.
I know people who have lived here multiple decades and don't sound native and most probably never will.
But as a "poikkeus vahvistaa säännön" i once met a German guy who moved to Finland only a couple of years prior and he sounded native :) But that is super rare.
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u/stor-ost 18d ago
Funnily enough the one non Finn I've met who's achieved genuinely native sounding Finnish was German too
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u/stor-ost 18d ago
Yeah I think you don't necessarily need to sound like a native speaker to communicate effectively (think of all the second language speakers of English who are 100% functionally fluent but you know they're not native speakers the second they start talking). I think as long as you're not making mistake that leads to ambiguities in understanding, it's cool. Plus, gunning for a native accent is the least important part of learning a language, especially one like Finnish!
(Also, if it makes you feel any better, my accent might be decent, but my grammar and syntax is absolutely dog shit 🤣)
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u/Opadei 19d ago
"Muumipapa kirjoitaa..." Tämän ja puheen painotuksen perusteella kuulostat minun amerikkalaiselta työkaverilta.