Finnish, what's up with that

[Fragony]

I can understand how germanic, Scandinavian, Russian or any other work, but I can make no sense out of Finnish. Where are you from.

[Catiline]

Google is your friend

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finno-Ugric_languages

[HoreTore]

Vodka and saunas. What did you expect, honestly?

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

I can understand how germanic, Scandinavian, Russian or any other work, but I can make no sense out of Finnish. Where are you from.

It's a language isolate - like Basque.

[Kralizec]

It's a language isolate - like Basque.

It's related to Hungarian and the Baltic languages.

[Papewaio]

It's a language isolate - like Basque.

I thought Welsh speakers could understand Basque... Or is it just genes they share?

[Viking]

It's a language isolate - like Basque.

No, Finnish belongs to a sizeably family of languages, including Hungarian (far out) and Sami. Basque is alone.

I thought Welsh speakers could understand Basque... Or is it just genes they share?

Welsh is Celtic, Celtic is Indo-European. You'd rather expect the Welsh to understand German than Basque. The vast majority of languages in Europe are Indo-European, including French, German, Russian, Albanian, Lithuanian and Gaelic. The non-Indo-European languages in Europe is Basque, and the Uralic languages. Close to Europe (perhaps also in Europe itself), there's also the Turkic languages as well as the Caucausian languages.

It's related to Hungarian and the Baltic languages.

Only Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian are Indo-European and thus not related.

[Hax]

Is Estonian Indo-European? It doesn't share many features with Latvian, for example.

EDIT: Estonian is definitely not Indo-European.

[Sigurd]

Hyvää päivää, Mitä kuuluu?

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

It's related to Hungarian and the Baltic languages.

No, Finnish belongs to a sizeably family of languages, including Hungarian (far out) and Sami. Basque is alone.

They only share about 200 words between them - compare modern Norse, English, and Dutch, which share many more.

Wiki seems to suggest that the Uralic grouping is not especially well founded.

The point is... Finnish is an unusual language in Europe which is hard for non-Finns to understand in the main.

[Kralizec]

200 words? Seriously?

Anyway, I'm not so sure that's a reliable indicator. German and Dutch are closely related, have almost identical syntax structures, but what really causes confusion between the two is the large amount of "false friends" - words that resemble eachother but which have very different meanings.

Or Frysian. It's the closest relative of English, and is somewhat intelligable to Dutch speakers as well. I have some Frysian speakers in my family and I can't always understand them when they're talking to eachother, despite the fact that I can understand Dutch and English well enough. The crucial point is, that if you disregard the words in the English language that are of Norman-French origin, Frysian and English do share many words that are basically the same. Someone had to point that out for me; I never noticed it myself.

[Strike For The South]

AND WHATS THE DEAL WITH AIRLINE FOOD

That's all I could think of when I read the title

[Ironside]

Is Estonian Indo-European? It doesn't share many features with Latvian, for example.

EDIT: Estonian is definitely not Indo-European.

It's a comma instead of a dot. Viking's sentence should say: Only Estionian [is related]. Lithuanian and Latvian are Indo-European and thus not related.

200 words? Seriously?

Anyway, I'm not so sure that's a reliable indicator. German and Dutch are closely related, have almost identical syntax structures, but what really causes confusion between the two is the large amount of "false friends" - words that resemble eachother but which have very different meanings.

It's entirely possible that those false friends has a common origin, but have drifted apart with time. For example, English has borrowed the Nordic word for stairs (trappa) twice. A "stair door", aka trap door is the older word, but (possibly due to some accidents, or more probable, a similar method came up in animal traps), trap got it's current meaning a few centuries later.

Second time is for a specific geological formation (trap rock or trapp).

[Viking]

They only share about 200 words between them - compare modern Norse, English, and Dutch, which share many more.

Are we talking about shared word roots or words that are merely mutually intelligible?

Wiki seems to suggest that the Uralic grouping is not especially well founded.

Really? I only see that any relationship between the Uralic languages and any other language family is disputed.

The point is... Finnish is an unusual language in Europe which is hard for non-Finns to understand in the main.

It is pretty similar to Estonian. Greek, Albanian and the Baltic languages are all in a similar position if mutually intelligibility with neighbouring languages is the criterium

[Hax]

It's a comma instead of a dot. Viking's sentence should say: Only Estionian [is related]. Lithuanian and Latvian are Indo-European and thus not related.

Aah, I assumed the lack of an Oxford comma. My mistake.

[Kralizec]

Vodka and saunas. What did you expect, honestly?

Sounds like quite the paradise for gay alcoholics. I'd move there, if I were gay.

[Kadagar_AV]

Sounds like quite the paradise for gay alcoholics. I'd move there, if I were gay.

I think knives have been mentioned as well as a national trait...

[The Stranger]

i recently heard a theory that had to do with the borders of the mongol empire (ran close to finland, estland, hungary and turkey), couldnt find anything about in the wiki article tho. dont know if it has any real credit in the field of this subject

[HoreTore]

*HoreTore deletes post after seeing his point is rubbish*