week 13, 2021
ponnistella = ponnistella - to struggle, to strive
Hän ponnisteli saadakseen oven auki. - He struggled in order to get the door open.
Meillä jokaisella on unelmia, joiden eteen kannattaa ponnistella. - We all have dreams, which are worth striving for.
Not to be confused with ponnistaa - to push (such as pushing when giving birth)
week 12, 2021
ottaa = to take
This is a really important verb, but it has so many uses in Finnish. In the most basic sense it means "to take (in one's hand)", meaning the object is literally within in reach. Such as...
Otatko kahvina? Otan. = Will you take/have some coffee? I will.
It is NOT used for the following cases, to take someone somewhere / to take a day off:
to take the kid to school - viedä lapsi kouluun
to take a day off - pitää vapaapäivä
It IS USED however for the following...
ottaa nokoset = to take a nap
ottaa vapaata = to take some free time/time off
ottaa päähän/aivoon = “take to head/brain” = to be pissed/ frustrated
ottaa rennosti = to take it easy
And it has lots of other uses such as...
ottaa yhteen: to engage, to fight, to cross swords
Poliisi ja mielenosoittajat ottivat yhteen. - The police and demonstrators clashed.
ottaa yhteyttä: to get in contact
Otan yhteyttä hänen kanssa ensi viikolla. - I will get in contact with him next week.
ottaa kantaa: to take a stance, or a position
Poliitikkojen pitää ottaa kantaa hoidon priorisointiin. - Politicians should take a stand about care prioritisation.
ottaa huomioon: to take note of, to take into account
Mitä yli 70-vuotiaan pitää ottaa huomioon koronavirustilanteessa? - What things must over 70s take notice of during the coronavirus?
ottaa käyttöön: to put into use
Työnhakusivusto otti käyttöön sukupuolineutraalit ammattinimikkeet. - Work search web page started using general neutral job titles.
ottaa lääke: to take medicine
Mihin aikaan päivästä otan lääkkeen? - What time of the day do I take the medicine?
Bonus: it is used in my favourite Finnish saying:
“syödä mieluummin kuin selkäänsä ottaa” - rather eat than get a beating (rather eat than take it in the back)
week 11, 2021
lipsahtaa = to slip / to slip up
Lautanen lipsahti hänen kädestään ja murskaantui lattialle. - The plate slipped from his hand and smashed on the floor.
Tekstiviesti vakavasti sairaan lapsen perheelle lipsahti väärään numeroon. - A text message to a serious ill child went to the wrong number by mistake.
Jokaiselta lipsahtaa joskus väärä sana. - The wrong word slips out of everyone sometimes.
Here are some basics about work life in Finland.
I've heard and read that Finland has some of the best working conditions anywhere. It is hard for me to judge if this is true, but here are the basics about work life in Finland (from my experience) so that you can judge for yourself.
Learning Finnish at work
This is in an important issue for foreigners in Finland, who are working and who want to improve their Finnish. I've heard all kinds of different experiences. I have heard some people say they didn't learn any Finnish at work and even when they made a genuine effort to speak Finnish with colleagues the response was very mixed and most people wanted to speak in English. On the other hand I've heard the exact opposite story - where people have learnt lots of Finnish at work and had no problem getting their workmates to use Finnish with them. My personal experience has been the later. I've also heard about companies paying for Finnish lessons (either arranged within the company or externally) plus letting employees do the lessons in their work hours. But of course I am sure it depends a lot on the workplace, what language the person was hired in (and whether the working language is English or Finnish).
On the other side of the issue, I have commonly heard Finns and foreigners alike say quite proudly that you don't need to speak Finnish to work in Finland. I would claim that is a myth. The more accurate statement would be in a select few fields of work you can use English instead of Finnish. Plus if your work doesn't involve language skills at all then again you don't need Finnish (i.e. cleaning or something not involving customers). I would however comment that the idea you can go to work in English (and be promoted etc.) is pretty misleading. Most Finns speak English (to varies degrees of fluency) and all Finns speak Finnish - so you definitely need to have some nice skills to set you apart if you want to get by without Finnish. And even if you do that higher education / special skills etc. it is not a guarantee you will be able to work in English (check what the working language is your field).
*I will add here Swedish language may be helpful in some parts of Finland, but it isn't really used where I live and I don't know any Swedish speaking Finns so I can't comment on this further.
Holiday leave
In Finland you should get about 5-7 weeks of holiday leave per year. It depends on your exact field and how long you have been working there, but from what I know you earn about 2 days of paid holiday leave per month (so a total of 12 x 2 = 24 days of paid leave per year). This doesn't include public holidays (pyhäpäivät). Public holidays in Finland (such as Christmas day, New years' day, etc.) as all paid public holidays on top of holiday leave.
Working hours
From what I know working hours in Finland (in the context of a full time office job) are similar to in other comparable countries. That is a normal working week is 37.5 hours. I have read and seen myths about that people in Finland "leave work at 3 pm", but all I would say to that is most people in this kind of work have flexible hours, so coming in at 7 am and then leaving at 3 pm is an option.
Work day schedule
Leading on from the previous comment, the normal schedule in Finland is a bit different to other countries. People tend to get to work early (before 8 am). The first coffee break is 9 am. Lunch is at 11 am. The second coffee break is about 2 pm. People leave by about 4 pm. From what I understand the two coffee breaks each day are paid (15 minutes for each break), whereas the lunch break is not paid. Of course schedules do vary, and some people work 9-5.
Work culture
One comment I've heard and read is that foreigners in Finland have been refreshed to find out that work culture in Finland doesn't involve working ridiculously long hours to prove that you are dedicated. I am sure this does vary depending on the workplace and field, but I would tend to agree. At least I haven't noticed people claiming (proudly) they work 60 hour weeks, which I do remember from workplaces I worked in outside Finland.
Perks and benefits
This naturally varies completely from workplace to workplace. I have heard of companies where the employees get a paid day off when moving house. I've heard of lunch deals (such as 25 % of lunch costs paid). I've heard of mobile phone costs being paid by the work. Parking. Free childcare if your children are unwell. The list goes on. But it depends on your company and your contract.
Sick leave
Sick leave is well protected in Finland. If you are working regularly you are entitled to sick leave. I was actually surprised by the this because in Australia is actually depends on your contract whether you are entitled to sick leave, but that does not seem to be the case here. Even if you are a "hourly worker" (tuntityöntekijä) - meaning only get given the hours your boss wants to give you - you are still entitled to sick leave.
Finnish words in this post
pyhäpäivä = public holiday
tuntityöntekijä = hourly worker
week 10, 2021
olla hajontaa = to be dispersed, to have dispersion
jossain on hajontaa = there is dispersion (in something)
Kyselyn vastauksissa on jonkin verran hajontaa. = There is some amount of dispersion in the answers from the questionnaire.
week 9, 2021
parantaa: to heal, to improve
So the verb “parantaa” has two meanings:
- to heal, cure (used with the genitive form)
- to improve, to make better (used with the partitive form)
Hän paransi minut. = He cured me.
Geeniterapia paransi metastasoituneen melanooman. = Gene therapy cured metastatic melanoma.
Haluan parantaa tuota tuotetta vielä. = I want to improve that product still.
Hyvin toteutettu lääkehoito parantaa ja lievittää oireita. = A well executed medical drug treatment improves symptoms and reduces their severity.
week 8, 2021
asentaa: to install, to set up (transitive)
Minä asensin uuden ohjelman tietokoneeseen. = I installed a new program to the computer.
Jos takka on jäänyt hankkimatta talon rakennusvaiheessa, sen voi asentaa useimpiin taloihin jälkikäteen. = If a fireplace has not been installed during the house building phase, it can be installed in many houses afterwards.
