Many paths lead to discovery

In Finnish class, we moved onto the chapter: Eksistentiaalilause (Existential clause).

English speakers use "there is" and "there are" to acknowledge existence. Other languages don't do this.

For example, here are two sentence constructions in Finnish:

"Pöydällä on kuppi" (On the table is a cup)
"Kuppi on pöydällä" (The cup is on the table)

The alternative English construction would be:

"There is a cup on the table."

When Zhenia asked whether Finns had an equivalent of "there is," our professor said yes, but that it's strange to use. "Why should there be the word 'there' in the beginning of a sentence," he asked, with a smirk. "It is unnecessary. It is a waste of energy." He asked whether Russian used the existential clause. Zhenia said no, and he replied "Oh, I should learn that." After a pause, he said, "Splaciba," which means thank you in Russian.

Awesome. I thought languages were concrete and that there was not much room for discussion. But every language has its own peculiarities and strengths and weaknesses. I thought learning a language meant learning an isolated set of rules and vocabulary that people once created and agreed on. I now realize that a language is not only a tool, but it is a window into a culture. Even generalizations about Finnish people as quiet, polite and reserved can be connected with the language.

We also discussed ordinal numbers and numerals. Try saying this:

Tuhatyhdeksänsataayhdeksänkymmentäseitsemän

Now type it in google translate and see how well you did.

(It means one thousand, nine hundred and ninety seven.)

Here is more information on Finnish numberals:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_numerals

This evening Doc Lounge is showing "The Kingdom of Survival," with interviewees including Noam Chomsky, Dr. Mark Mirabello, Ramsey Kanaan and Joe Bageant. After, there is a journalism pre-christmas party and then an afterparty. I'm on the verge of getting sick, so we'll see if I'll last tonight.

P.S.

I thought of titling this post "There are many paths to discovery," but finally decided to spice it up. Is it possible that we can get stuck and numb in the routine of language that our sentences become so boring and formulaic and never change?