A little pet peeve: the changing of proper names by the Finnish. I know, other countries probably do it too, but I'm in Finland, so for now they get the blunt of my rant.
It seems, for some unknown reason, that it is deemed necessary in the Finnish language to change the ending of many, many proper names. I have seen Michael Jackson's name changed to Jacksonin for instance. I can't think of any other specific examples (my brain is, after all, Teflon) but my tutor had to agree that names do have a way of being changed here. She spouted off quite a few, like some political figures, and their names changed so much that they were hardly recognizable.
My tutor suggests that it may simply be that the change makes it easier to pronounce the name in Finnish. Most Finnish first names seem to end in a vowel, for instance; many English names do not. Perhaps this is a plausible explanation, but I still take exception to the whole practice. A name is a name, after all. It is a part of who we are, and one of the ways we differentiate ourselves from others. It is a way that we identify ourselves, and a way that others identify us. I just don't think it is right to go around changing other people's names without their knowlege or permission.
If I ask you about (fill in the blank with a non-Finnishname spelled in Finnish) and you do not speak Finnish, how are you going to know who in the world I am talking about. I'm just saying. If the name has been changed drastically, how would you know? Sure, names like Jacksonin can be guessed at, but I assure you, they do get worse.
Not the end of the world, certainly, but that is my two-cents worth on the subject; take it for what it's worth.
Hi there ! Your tutor isn't a very good one if she's left you with the impression that we change people's names (if that's what you really meant she said) :) If you see funny looking names, it means there's a suffix added to the name...for example, "Jacksonin" means "Jackson's" so it's a possessive suffix in the end of the name. Names, when in basic form, are always the same, original names, it wouldn't make any sense to change them. However, it does get really confusing the more you learn...because instead of saying "to" and "from" (and maaaany other examples) we also add a suffix and/or change the form of the name. Like, lets say someone's name is Jake. If I give an apple "to Jake", in Finnish it would be "Jakelle"....or, if I want to take the apple "from Jake", I'll take the apple "Jakelta". What exactly the suffix is depends also on what kind of a name or word we're talking about, so it's not very logical either...
ReplyDeleteI have to say I'm totally in awe and impressed with anyone who studies Finnish -- trust me, your brain is not teflon...this IS a crazy language. Good luck :))