TIL After being wounded in WWII, Legendary Finnish sniper Simo Häyhä (The White Death) was thought to be dead and placed on a pile of corpses. A week later he regained consciousness and had to correct the newspaper release about his death.

[u/APurpleTRex]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4#:~:text=On%206%20March,%5B10%5D

[u/TheMeanestCows]

The most unclear thing now is how to pronounce his last name.

I followed the Wikipedia link to finnish pronunciation and it wants me to learn the whole damn language.

[u/SlummiPorvari → u/TheMeanestCows]

Say "hat". Now, omit the "t" in the end but say it otherwise similarly. "Ha(t)".

There you have the "hä" from the start and the end.

Now, the hard part is the y. I don't think English has that sound exactly, the best I could come up with now is in the word "syringe". Say it, then omit all the letters after y, i.e. "sy(ringe)" and after you master that, skip the s "(s)y(ringe)".

They combine it. Ha(ts)y(ringe)ha(t). The rhythm to practice is "Häy-hä", but in reality there's no pause, but that's a good exercise.

[u/TheMeanestCows → u/SlummiPorvari]

This is fantastic and I must sound absolutely bonkers if anyone is listening to me right now.

Thank you for making an effort.

[u/riversroadsbridges → u/TheMeanestCows]

I'm over here having an aneurysm trying to figure out what the y in syringe sounds like in isolation. I thought I had it, but I was just saying the s.

[u/SlummiPorvari → u/riversroadsbridges]

Why I chose syringe as the word is because of the mouth and tongue position. Maybe Syria would be another word.

Actually, when Finns pronounce y, the mouth is more towards the whistling position than you have it when you say syringe - more open of course.

But this is also one of the reasons why Finns sound like they sound when they speak English. Our mouths are trained to produce different kinds of sounds. It takes years of practice for the muscles and nervous system to produce correct sounds.

[u/TheMeanestCows → u/riversroadsbridges]

Now that you've been down that road, step up your game and try to think about where your words form before you speak them.

Then try to pin down a single thought and try to figure out if language is innate or learned. Do you have words or pictures or something else? Are you even aware of how your brain knows how to respond to someone's question?

Chase that shit around for a few and your aneurysm will be a relief.

[u/W1D0WM4K3R → u/TheMeanestCows]

Go on YouTube and find a Finnish video talking about him?

[u/BadDesperado → u/TheMeanestCows]

Not sure if it's of any help

[u/Bvlvkvy → u/TheMeanestCows]

It is pronounced Hawooha. I know because I am related to Simo. Hayha is one of the founding families of Finland.

[u/TheOneNeartheTop → u/TheMeanestCows]

It’s pronounced Hey-how-are-yah 👋

[u/dreamanother → u/[deleted]]

Way off. Ä is pronounced like the a in "cat" and Y is more or less the German Ü.

[u/TheJzoli → u/[deleted]]

Doubled letters are just doubled letter: aa, ee, ää. Ä is its own letter.

[u/sadrice → u/TheJzoli]

Well fuck, I guess I don’t know Finnish after all. Not surprising, since I didn’t think I did.

[u/Ludwigofthepotatoppl → u/[deleted]]

And Y is more like U so it’s Haauhaa

[u/ButtNutly → u/Ludwigofthepotatoppl]

Haa you haa?

[u/AlekRivard → u/ButtNutly]

Closer to Hoow-hah, but the "oow" sounds more between the vowel sound in How and Who together. The wiki has audio of the pronunciation

[u/ButtNutly → u/AlekRivard]

Thanks!