English

For the past two weeks I've been helping a woman from church practice her English. In return, she's trying to teach me Finnish. Trying is the keyword.

We use a website that shows common phrases in Finnish and then the English translation. Last week we covered the topics of Greetings and Family Members. Greetings was cool. Family Members was a little weird. There were phrases like 'My husband and I are seperated' or 'She lives with her fiance'. OK. I was thinking the phrases would have more practical applications like 'These are my children.' or 'My husband needs to find a bathroom.'

Tonight the topic was Security and Customs. Even with her saying the Finnish first and me repeating it still took a L O N G time for me to get it. She, on the other hand, is a rock star when it comes to English! She can nail tough words like 'required' and 'declare' but stumbles on 'the'. I've heard the 'th' sound is hard for French speakers. Maybe Finnish speakers, too.

I've never tried to help someone with English before. I find myself about to say 'It rhymes with...' or 'It sounds like...'. Yeah, that's not going to work.

Luckily, we spend as much time laughing as we do learning.