RE: How to become a friend with a Finn?
Please remember, most Finns know very good English, but they think they suck at it.
My wife and sister are English teachers and they both have encountered many students in upper secondary school who very arrogantly believe their English to be flawless while being utterly in the wrong. That type of student will raise a ruckus if they get an 7 or an 8 if they have been getting 9s or 10s in comprehensive school. Their parents are often as difficult as their children.
There was one student who will never be forgotten who was half Finnish and who had lived an Anglophone country until she turned seven. Neither of her parents was a native speaker of English. Her first language was in actual fact broken English. She would maintain hard in class that "I hope you happiness" was correct English when her corrected paper was returned.
Authoritarian upbringing used to result in the type of people with low confidence you describe. Authoritarian upbringing, however, has long been a thing of the past. Today's situation is that there are many children and youth who have been coddled and raised without boundaries. It does not help at all that the new national curriculum puts the student "at the centre" ("keskiöön"), as if these little emperors hadn't already been there for their whole lives ...
I'm amazed if there has been such a change in the Finnish youth. Not with the skills in English, but if they assume they are great English speakers!
When I was younger I noticed how almost everyone was really insecure about their English skills. When they were supposed to talk with exchange students, they were really shy because they were worried they will say something wrong.
The big thing which helped them was the fact none of the exchange students were native English speakers either!
I can't remember if we had the mentioned authoritarian upbringing, but it can be true. I'm just too used with the low confidence of Finns and might not notice the change with the younger generations.
Thank you for having a big package of information :)
I'm amazed if there has been such a change in the Finnish youth. Not with the skills in English, but if they assume they are great English speakers!
Not all of them, of course. Many do, however, without having the skills to back it up.
I always get 10s in upper secondary school but I still acknowledge that I am not that great. I am decent when compared to my class mates but when comparing to a native speaker, I am bad. I can read and write well enough but my talking skills are almost non-existent. There was this one occasion though when my talking abilities truly amazed me. I was chatting with 2 girls in Poland and my speech sounded better than it usually does in Finnish. The problem I have is that I can't talk well in any language.
"I hope you happiness"
What did she mean and how she would have had to say it correctly?
She wanted to wish someone a happy life.
The above is incorrect use of the verb "hope". You never hope anyone a noun phrase in English. It would be correct to say:
"I wish you happiness" or "I hope (that) you will be happy".
I accidentally the coca cola bottle.
Of course! :)