In order to graduate next May, I needed to take at least two semesters of foreign language(Second language). Fortunately for me, the university lets you test out of a language. So logically, I should be able to test out of English since it is my second language, but since I graduated from U.S high school, I cannot do that. This leaves me with the option of testing out of Finnish. Yes they want to make sure that I can speak Finnish fluently enough that I can test out of two semesters of a foreign language. So I call the linguistic department and give them all my information and they tell me that it might be a while before they can find someone who can test me. No surprise there since Finnish is not a language that many people know or even have a desire to know. After three months of waiting, they finally set up a test date for me. So I find my way to the linguistic department building and this how the test goes.
"Hey, I'm professor so and so. I do not speak any Finnish. I want you to tell me how you learned Finnish first in English and then I want you to tell me the same thing in Finnish. I will listen to you and see if it sounds fluent."
"Well I was born and raised in FInland and learned Finnish as my first language. Then my family moved to California and I learned English. I went to school in Finland for 8 years and I talk with my family in Finnish every week"
Then I told my exciting story in Finnish, which was very weird and kind of uncomfortable.
I also had to translate few sentences from a text book from the 1960s and then she announced that she could tell that I am a native speaker.
I wish all of my tests were like this...
9 comments:
Wow, Eevi, congratulations! I hope you and Troy went out to celebrate a job well done.
That is awesome! Yay for Finnish!
After clicking on blog after blog after blog...I happened to land on yours. Pretty exciting! Dan is going through the same with Hungarian. Hopefully it will work out for him too.
Am I the only one that finds this absolutely hilarious?? I am practically dying of laughter over here.
That sounds amazing! I wish MY tests were like that, too... I tested out of Estonian by taking a challenge exam at BYU. I think they once had someone who spoke Estonian who made a multiple choice test and they've been using it ever since.
WOW! Sounds legit eh? Man life is funny somehow how we have to jump through hoops and do pointless exercises just for the sake of the "system" or "process". Hey you guys should hot tub it up tonight at the gryglas. call if you are interested.
you could have told her she had bad breath, and that she could use a shower. Said in an excited voice....... she probably would have believed you...... haha
This is awesome. I love how she was "yeah - I can tell you're a native speaker..." after admitting that she doesn't speak Finnish! So hilarious! I'm glad you got that all cleared away - one step closer to graduation. Hoorah!
Moi! tykkään aina lukeen sun blogia:) heh aika huvittava juttu tää kyl mut hyvä et sait sain hoidettuu. Anteeks etten oo kirjottanu, mut kiitos mailista ja yritän vastata pian. Mulla on huomenna tentti ja seuraavalla viikolla myös. kyl sä tiiät millasta lukemista se on. Oon ihan väsyny. aamuisin ei meinaa jaksaa nousta. Nyt takaisin lukemaan. Rakastan sua!
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