pennywise256 Posted May 5, 2012 Report Share Posted May 5, 2012 Hello, I'm Mexican, and currently about to finish IB1. I'm exactly one year away from my examinations. However, I'm going to continue my studies in Finland, starting next July. I'm taking the odd subject "Social and cultural anthropology" as part of my curriculum, but I really can't make my mind up of what the whole thing is about. My memory is bad for that kind of issues, and mostly, and even though my teacher is really good and is always looking for the best way to convey his ideas, we always come down to the point where it become tremendously boooooooring. Furthermore, there's no IB school in Finland offering the subject, so I would need to be a "self-taught", that's one more reason to add to the feeling that I'm not making it because of Anthro But, since I'm going to live in Finland, and obviously learning the language naturally, I guess I just could kind of switch places, and even do it in HL! People have said it's one of the most difficult languages to learn there are, but I learnt English in just one year, and without even travelling to an English-speaking country, so I really believe I can make it. Is this even possible? If you are in Finland, could you give me an advice on whether this is a smart decision? Is Finnish language really that hard? Thanks Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NahMean Posted May 9, 2012 Report Share Posted May 9, 2012 I'm a student studying Finnish B SL here in Finland and as a native speaker of the language, it comes easy for me. On the other hand, we have some students who went into the language ab initio, despite it being a B language and some prior knowledge should be known. The reason for this is that our school does not provide Ab Initio languages for some strange bizarre reason. The students do struggle with Finnish and I must say it is a very difficult language to learn. Self-teaching Finnish is even more difficult, so I would definitely not recommend that. So yes, Finnish is THAT hard and for a foreigner to the language; it is very difficult to adapt to Finnish pronunciation, spelling, WORD ORDER, and even vocabulary. Finally, I'd like to add that the grade boundaries for Finnish B exams are notoriously high. The reason for this is that Finnish B is merely taken in Finland, where native speakers such as myself, take the language. This proves to be difficult for foreigners to get a grade higher than a 4. If you can, I recommend you take another language, but if absolutely necessary take Finnish B STANDARD LEVEL as the HL exams can be a bit trickier (even for me). Hope this helped! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rio Posted May 9, 2012 Report Share Posted May 9, 2012 (edited) To be honest, I think that you shouldn't pick Finnish B at all. Finnish can be a very difficult language for a foreigner and it is highly unlikely you will reach the sufficient level in Finnish language needed to ace the HL exam in just a year. Edited May 9, 2012 by Rio Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
blenderer Posted May 9, 2012 Report Share Posted May 9, 2012 I'd say go for Finnish B SL. HL is too much of a risk I think. I mean, Finnish is truly a difficult language to learn for a foreigner and can't really be compared to English, Swedish or for example French. One of the major differences is that while in English we use prepositions, in Finnish we don't but rather add them to the end of the word. A simple example:The word "a house" would be in Finnish "talo".But if we want to say "in the house", in Finnish it would be "talossa".So as you can see, we add "-ssa" to the end. BUT unfortunately it isn't that simple, because for different word types those endings are also different and because of that even these basic things can get tricky. As a matter of fact, this feature of Finnish language can make single words reeeaaallly long, like this one: "epäjärjestelmällistyttämättömyydellänsäkään". That is according to many sources the longest single word there exists in Finnish.So although I'm not a language expert I would say you shouldn't take HL. Many foreigners have learnt the Finnish language really well, but that's taken them many years. Your case, one year during which you should also do other schoolwork, it's going to be a struggle.Having said that, I think that if you are motivated to study Finnish you should definitely go for SL instead of dumping the whole idea. Try it and see how it turns out. SL subjects aren't as important for university applications anyway, so if you don't do well it doesn't matter as much or if you do well then that's great and you can be really proud of yourself! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pennywise256 Posted May 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2012 I see, and get the picture: Finnish is really a difficult language to learn. But actually I'm starting to learn it from now on my own, and practising it with an ex exchanger who attends the same school than I. I'm like a "pro" when it comes to learn other languages, so I really trust in myself. Finnish is a higher deal, so, that's why I will not risk my diploma by taking it at HL, but I will take it anyway at SL. Living in Finland, and speaking it colloquially, plus a 200+ hours compulsory course I have to attend, will certainly help me making it on SL with flying colors Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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