[Haha that's cute... but instead of laughing, Tuuri launches into rapid-fire Swedish.]
Hi Emil, thank you for calling. I just went to Wikipedia and read a few articles in Icelandic to test my knowledge of the language-- articles about things I don't know anything about, by the way! and Wikipedia because I couldn't think of another place that would have so much reading material in Icelandic-- and I'm pretty sure it's not just language similarities, I think I somehow gained the ability to understand Icelandic. I say somehow but we both know that it's probably Retrospec's fault.
[She still sounds... almost upset.]
Anyway, I need you to be honest with me! I don't think I'm an accurate judge of my current Swedish language ability, so you need to tell me the truth: how do I sound? Language-wise, I mean! Have you noticed any differences in my speaking ability?
[ She starts up the rapid-fire and he raises both his very large, very dark eyebrows as he listens. He responds in Swedish: ]
I mean. You said Icelandic a lot, did you mean to say Icelandic so many times?
But it's fine. It sounds like it always does. Really serious almost, but better than most other Finns, and nothing was wrong? Why are you worried about that, your Swedish is fine!
Ugh, I knew it! About sounding serious, I mean, I try to do the sing-songy boppy thing that you guys do but-- but what if I've lost that?!
[No, she's just overthinking it.]
I heard about this girl who got fleunt Russian and intermediate Japanese from the app-- but in exchange, her English got worse! I need to check for that sort of thing!
[and then she gasps]
Emil! What if it's Finnish?! I don't even know how I'd check my Finnish without alerting my brother that something is wrong!
You do too! And anyone I talk to back home would mention it to my brother and he would get upset anyway! We're a tiny language that no one wants to learn and if I lost the ability to speak it I'll never be able to get it back!!
[She takes a second to breathe, though, and adds almost tentatively once it occurs to her.]
I might have a cousin I could talk to who wouldn't bother to talk to my brother, I guess.
I think your Finnish is probably fine! I mean, my Swedish sounds okay right?
Wait, what if my English gets worse?
It wasn't even that good to begin with... I probably shouldn't be speaking Swedish to you right now... What if I lose the ability to speak English at all!
More like my cousin wouldn't tattle on me, I think. Like it wouldn't occur to him to hang up and immediately call my brother to tell him how weird I'm being.
[No, wait, Emil, this is supposed to be Tuuri's freakout.]
Your Swedish is fine! Your English is probably fine! I've never heard of them messing with someone's languages unless they learn a new one-- maybe you better try listening to different languages online to make sure you don't know a new one? Icelandic is totally new to me! It would be very low on my list of languages to learn!
Oh no, what if I can't speak Swedish anymore, but I can speak Danish? I don't want to speak Danish! I'll still be able to text my mom and everything, but then I can never call her again...
[ SO MUCH FREAKING OUT, WHY DID YOU THINK EMIL WOULD BE A GOOD PERSON TO COME TO ABOUT THIS ]
[ Oh god he just always thought it was in Finnish for some reason, partially due to the inscrutable death metal screeching and partially due to the fact that he hasn't actually listened to this song since he was 8 and his English vocabulary did not in fact include the words "hard," "rock," or "hallelujah." ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Can you call me
voice
Um...
Ahoy-hoy?
[ I imagine this is a joke between them ]
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Hi Emil, thank you for calling. I just went to Wikipedia and read a few articles in Icelandic to test my knowledge of the language-- articles about things I don't know anything about, by the way! and Wikipedia because I couldn't think of another place that would have so much reading material in Icelandic-- and I'm pretty sure it's not just language similarities, I think I somehow gained the ability to understand Icelandic. I say somehow but we both know that it's probably Retrospec's fault.
[She still sounds... almost upset.]
Anyway, I need you to be honest with me! I don't think I'm an accurate judge of my current Swedish language ability, so you need to tell me the truth: how do I sound? Language-wise, I mean! Have you noticed any differences in my speaking ability?
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I mean. You said Icelandic a lot, did you mean to say Icelandic so many times?
But it's fine. It sounds like it always does. Really serious almost, but better than most other Finns, and nothing was wrong? Why are you worried about that, your Swedish is fine!
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[No, she's just overthinking it.]
I heard about this girl who got fleunt Russian and intermediate Japanese from the app-- but in exchange, her English got worse! I need to check for that sort of thing!
[and then she gasps]
Emil! What if it's Finnish?! I don't even know how I'd check my Finnish without alerting my brother that something is wrong!
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Or did someone else tell her?
[ Why would anyone tell her that ]
I mean, you don't feel different right?
And we don't all sound like we're yodeling! I don't.
Not really.
[ UM ]
Okay but that's just how Swedish sounds!
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[Sorry Emil she's... not listening.]
All of you definitely sound like that all the time!
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[ He crosses his arms over his chest ]
And can't you call someone else back home about it, not just your brother?
Doesn't anyone offer Finnish classes around here?
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[She takes a second to breathe, though, and adds almost tentatively once it occurs to her.]
I might have a cousin I could talk to who wouldn't bother to talk to my brother, I guess.
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I think your Finnish is probably fine! I mean, my Swedish sounds okay right?
Wait, what if my English gets worse?
It wasn't even that good to begin with... I probably shouldn't be speaking Swedish to you right now... What if I lose the ability to speak English at all!
Wait...
...Did you learn any Icelandic?? Before?
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[No, wait, Emil, this is supposed to be Tuuri's freakout.]
Your Swedish is fine! Your English is probably fine! I've never heard of them messing with someone's languages unless they learn a new one-- maybe you better try listening to different languages online to make sure you don't know a new one? Icelandic is totally new to me! It would be very low on my list of languages to learn!
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Oh no, what if I can't speak Swedish anymore, but I can speak Danish? I don't want to speak Danish! I'll still be able to text my mom and everything, but then I can never call her again...
[ SO MUCH FREAKING OUT, WHY DID YOU THINK EMIL WOULD BE A GOOD PERSON TO COME TO ABOUT THIS ]
Tuuri, quick, can you still understand this??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAh9NRGNhUU
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[At least Emil's freakout was helping her put her own in perspective...
She follows the link-- obviously she knows the song as soon as she hears it, but wonders why Emil linked it to her.]
Uh, yeah, I'm not worried about my English. [No way, could he be--] Wait, don't you understand it?!
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This song's in English?
[ Oh god he just always thought it was in Finnish for some reason, partially due to the inscrutable death metal screeching and partially due to the fact that he hasn't actually listened to this song since he was 8 and his English vocabulary did not in fact include the words "hard," "rock," or "hallelujah." ]
Wait, wait, I know other Finnish songs!
[ He does not ]
What about this one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bykv0Hw_IeI
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[Like, seriously man, double check on that. Still, she opens the next one.]
Oh, cute, you know this one too! And I do still understand it, even if it's mostly gibberish. So that's a good sign!
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[ If his roommate isn't just being polite, which... ]
Wait, isn't it supposed to be not... gibberish if you can understand it?
[ How is Finnish confusing if you're Finnish? ]
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbAzBRg6ClI
What about this one? It's one of my favorites!
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Okay, I got that one! I guess I don't have to worry about Finnish. Or at least not Finnish sports songs.
Thanks, Emil.
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...Let me know if you think you're losing anything else, okay??
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