My story (also) lives here: Galina Lurie

Can a word find a performative way into one's vocabulary? Can you think of a way to encounter an unfamiliar word right now on this spot?

Here are the stories of four Finnish words and expressions that have found their way to a new immigrant through everyday life. If you have a similar story you'd like to share, you are welcome to send it below.

KESKELLÄ
I was skating late at night by myself on a small ice rink in a neighborhood, when an ice cleaning machine showed up. I skated to the side and was going to wait for it to finish. After clearing the center, the machine operator stopped and shouted to me 'something something keskellä'. I googled it, and it turns out it means 'in the middle'. I presumed he told me I can skate in the center as he continued cleaning. So I did. I skated in the middle of a rink, as the machine circled around me cleaning for the next 20 minutes.

JAKSA JAKSA!
I was jogging on a rainy November evening. I passed a man who was walking with hands full of grocery bags on the way home, and he shouted to me: 'Jaksa jaksa'! Unsure whether I was harassed or not, I looked it up at home: 'Jaksa jaksa' is an expression, it means 'You can do it!'
(Galina, 5 months in Finland)

AVOINNA
I had been living in Helsinki for a couple of months, I think, and my colleagues and I went to a bar after a play. One colleague was running late and asked us to send her the name of the bar so she could come later. The door said “Avoinna,” so that’s what I wrote to my colleague. She couldn’t find the bar in the end and went home. It wasn’t until later that I found out “Avoinna” just means “open” :-D
(Dash, 6.5 years in Finland)

HYVÄ - EI HYVÄ
It was one of my first days in Finland. I was coming back from the store with my groceries and standing at the bus stop. Two tired-looking gentlemen were sitting at the stop when a third one approached them and asked, “Hyvä?” -“Ei hyvää,” replied one of the men, and the three of them sat there in silence.
Although I didn’t understand Finnish at the time, I understood that exchange, and I thought then that everything would be fine for me here, that I wouldn’t be alone, and that I would always be able to find someone to talk to, despite the language barrier, and carry on a conversation.
(Pavel, 4 years in Finland)