The International Association
of Hyperpolyglots
HYPIA
est. 2016
Interview with
Juho Kyntäjä
Name: Juho Kyntäjä
Nationality or Ethnicity: Finnish
Where do you live?: Vantaa, Finland
Languages: Finnish, Russian, Swedish, English, Polish, Spanish, Mandarin, Estonian. Elementary level Danish, Czech, Ukrainian, German, Lithuanian.
Member since:
2024-10-31
1. What’s your story? How did you get into all these languages?
Learning to speak another language, it has been extremely interesting to see how differently different language communities embrace an adult that is, in a way, joining the community by showing skills in the said language.
First, there are the two slightly arrogant world languages, English and Russian, who expect everyone around, or at least the nearest neighbours to learn their language. The mere fact of you speaking those languages does not surprise native speakers nor give rise to a lot of positive emotions around. Granted, the situation changes with Russians after they learn I am a Finn, and then the mood goes from ‘of course you need to speak Russian’ to ‘how did you learn it so well’. When I did Russian – Finnish translations for an agency, customers would sometimes ask me which one is my mother tongue. With English, Americans have sometimes thought I was a Brit, but English people, to my disappointment, have never expressed that mistaken view.
Then, there is Polish. My Polish is good enough for people to constantly mistake me for a native speaker, and funny situations where someone refuses to believe I am not a Pole have also happened at least a dozen times. One time we were talking to a Polish guy who was playing music in the background, and I said I recognise the song but do not remember the name of the band, and he was genuinely outraged by me not knowing this band that had been enormously popular in Poland in the 1980’s. Well, that was until my wife told him I did not grow up in Poland. Oftentimes when in Poland, people will come to me to ask how to find places, and very often I can give them good advice, laughing inwardly that they probably had no idea they just asked a foreigner.
Swedish is playing hard-to-get. Most Finnish Swedish speakers, the small minority that they are, will switch to Finnish the very moment when a recognised Finnish speaker enters the discussion. You really need to say in clear terms you want them to speak Swedish, and even then, success is not guaranteed. On the other hand, Swedes in Sweden will of course not switch to Finnish because almost none speak it, but if there is the slightest difficulty with you speaking Swedish or understanding them, they will immediately resort to English. Moreover, our Finnish pronunciation of Swedish will sometimes get laughs in Sweden for being the Moomin kind of Swedish.
With Estonians, they seem to consider it quite natural that a Finn may speak their language, quite like we see Finnish speaking Estonians all the time. Anyway, it does not cause a lot of discussion either way. And in fact, that is quite funny because Estonian has by far the smallest number of speakers of all the languages I can handle. I presume they would be much more admiring to any other foreign nationality being able to speak Estonian. But as Estonian and Finnish are so closely related languages, Estonian is the easiest foreign language for Finns to learn, and vice versa.
Spanish is another world language, but it might be my Northern looks that make the native speakers usually not expect me to speak Spanish. Spanish speakers, on the other hand, have usually heard a lot of “foreigner Spanish” and are quite patient with us who are not always as fluent as we would like to be. I once visited the South of Chile with my wife, and that is an area with lots of people of German descent. In a cafeteria in Puerto Varas, the owner whose grandmother was Polish asked me: “but you are Chilean, aren’t you” which really made me speechless.
Mandarin is a language that I really started working with at the age of 48, and I presume the natives will never mistake me for one of them. That would not entirely be due to missing language skills but rather that, at least when in Europe, your average Chinese person does not expect someone with my face to be speaking Mandarin. It has happened multiple times and in multiple occasions that if I start a conversation in Mandarin, I will get an answer in English. The funniest about it is that apparently the other person has understood what I said but probably due to the wrong face factor is in disbelief that I might understand a reaction in Mandarin. On the other hand, even if you say or write something really elementary, Chinese people will be very appreciative about it.
As you see from these examples, the response for speaking someone’s native language can be anything from admiration or disbelief to a certain sense of entitlement and expectation. But that is just one part of why languages are so interesting.
2. Which language(s) do you wish you could spend more time practising?
I am still learning Mandarin and would like to have more time for it. Generally, my language practice mainly consists of talking and listening to people, watching TV programmes and reading novels – not reading word lists and grammars.
3. What are some languages you’d like to learn in the future?
At my current job, I have a lot of meetings in Brussels, and it seems like it could be good to speak some French.
4. So let’s be honest, what’s the sexiest language?
Obviously Polish since my wife is a Pole.
5. What’s the greatest pleasure you get from speaking so many languages?
Being able to talk to so many people and follow discussions in different language communities. It also gives you a deeper understanding of the respective cultures which is always fascinating.
6. Some people say the world is really just going to have a few languages left in a 100 years, do you think this is really true?
Hopefully not. Languages are such a richness to humanity. It does not look good for many small local languages now though. On the other hand, it looks like multilingualism is on the rise.
7. What is your message to young (and not so young) people out there who are interested in studying multiple languages?
Just do it. You will be able to figuratively travel the world without actually going anywhere.