Why Does Finnish Sound Like Japanese? 🇫🇮 🇯🇵
Рет қаралды 10,221
Күн бұрынHey guys! Welcome to another video where today we will be talking about the Finnish and Japanese language, more specifically, how they sound similar. Obviously the languages of Finnish and Japanese aren't related, however they share a lot of linguistic features that make Finnish and Japanese sound related. Make sure to leave a like and subscribe if you enjoyed and watch my Finnish video all about the Finnish language! Let me know what other type of content you'd like to see, specifically a Japanese video! (Also sorry for the audio it got bugged and I couldn't fix it)
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Shoutout to @LingoLizard for direct inspiration for this video!
0:00 - Intro
1:03 - Phonetic Inventory
2:34 - Vowels
3:16 - Syllable Structures
4:33 - Typology
5:00 - Ural-Altaic Languages
6:02 - Outro
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#language #viral #comparison #linguistics #japanese #finnish #finland #japan #languageanalysis
@mp2956 24 күн бұрын
No. It doesn't
@PolyglotMouse 23 күн бұрын
Yup, it's definitely subjective. Hope you enjoyed regardless!
@aijint 23 күн бұрын
@@PolyglotMouseur mom
@Stebetto3 23 күн бұрын
*Mongolian throat singing*
@mp2956 21 күн бұрын
@@PolyglotMouse I did. Your channel is great. 👍
@NahNah-xg5wv 20 күн бұрын
@@PolyglotMouse cope
@romeolz 18 күн бұрын
We actually have popular jokes making fun of how japanese sounds like: What do you call a japanese car repair shop? Hajosikotoyotasi = hajosiko toyotasi = did your toyota break down (Edit: I had no idea this kind of jokes were so universal)
@PolyglotMouse 18 күн бұрын
Lol that's hilarious!
@Csibe_Hapsi 18 күн бұрын
The Hungarian variant of the joke: How do you call the Japanese car mechanic? Cheregumi Hamaroda = csere gumi hamar oda = replacement tire [put] fast there We have many of these too :D My favorite is the Japanese bachelor: Maradoka Magamura (I remain independent)
@romeolz 18 күн бұрын
@@Csibe_Hapsi does gumi mean tire by any chance? Because kumi means rubber in Finnish
@Csibe_Hapsi 18 күн бұрын
@@romeolz Yes, like gummy. It's the same word, we use it for tires as well.
@romeolz 18 күн бұрын
@@Csibe_Hapsi huh, i only knew of the cognates mez=mesi and kez=käsi but cool to see that there's more
@Shanx317 23 күн бұрын
Vowel length does matter in Japanese in the exact same way as the Finnish example you gave. This comes up all the time but one common example is ビル (building) ビール (beer).
@PolyglotMouse 23 күн бұрын
Yup, completely missed that. Thanks for letting me know!
@cheerful_crop_circle 22 күн бұрын
But what about pitch accent? Finnish doesn't have pitch accent
@abarette_ 19 күн бұрын
even in native words 世界 ("sekai", world) vs 正解 ("seikai", correct)
@Quitobito 18 күн бұрын
@@abarette_ I don't think せい is the same as せー even if the sound is identical (which is also debatable). But also, 世界 is a 漢語, a native word would be like 世(よ).
@nikki-diary 15 күн бұрын
@@abarette_ These aren't native words, but Chinese loanwords. A better example would be something like お婆さん (obaasan, or grandmother) and 叔母さん (obasan, or aunt).
@ERDude 24 күн бұрын
Sentence structure can also be surprisingly similar at times.
@PolyglotMouse 23 күн бұрын
I definitely should've included that!
@user-pd9qj4of1p 13 күн бұрын
Japanese: SOV Finnish: SVO Yeah, they're so similar
@cheerful_crop_circle 5 күн бұрын
@@user-pd9qj4of1p 😂
@seekthuth2817 19 күн бұрын
The only way it sounds similar to me is the rhythm of it, but tbf, I do speak Japanese, so I'm hyper aware of all the very non Japanese characteristics of Finnish.
@Poobusgoobus 22 күн бұрын
They actually do sound similar, but the accents definetely give it away, if one was to speak in others language it would probably be hard to tell they are
@hakanstorsater5090 15 күн бұрын
I've seen a KZfaq video with the audience trying to guess which languages an American polyglot was speaking. Although spoken correctly, there was an American accent to all the presentations, which made the exercise quite a bit harder.
@letusplay2296 4 күн бұрын
There are some pretty noticeable differences between how they sound. But it's not as night and day as English Vs Japanese for sure
@Qiyunwu 22 күн бұрын
My friends hear Karelian singing for the first time and ask me, what (Chinese) dialect is this
@turkoositerapsidi 18 күн бұрын
They are not Chinese, right?
@are3287 12 күн бұрын
I dont think your friends know what chinese sounds like
@Qiyunwu 12 күн бұрын
@@turkoositerapsidi They are Chinese. I think the reason is that Karelian runo chants stress all syllables equally. They sound like garbled Cantonese
@turkoositerapsidi 12 күн бұрын
@@Qiyunwu I see. But shouldn't they understand something, or they just thought it was too unclearly said? Thanks for info tho.
@Qiyunwu 12 күн бұрын
@@turkoositerapsidi The mutual intelligibility between Chinese languages is poor enough that (sung) Karelian becomes Chinese-passing
@guanoapes771 23 күн бұрын
I have been thinking the same and i actually live in finland 😂
@PolyglotMouse 23 күн бұрын
Glad to see I'm not the only one lol
@shi_no_kurai_kage 12 күн бұрын
Finnish according to me: monotone Japanese according to me: ↗️↘️↗️↘️
@cheerful_crop_circle 8 күн бұрын
But isnt Japanese monotone too?
@shi_no_kurai_kage 8 күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circle please read the ACCORDING TO ME part
@pyrylehtonen-caponigro3198 13 сағат бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circle no, because there's pitch accent. It's more monotone than other neighboring languages though
@cheerful_crop_circle 13 сағат бұрын
@@pyrylehtonen-caponigro3198 You mean compared to Korean, Chinese and Russian?
@pyrylehtonen-caponigro3198 5 сағат бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circle Korean and Chinese mainly, because Russian is quite a new language in the region and most Russians live on the European side.
@codyyh9421 23 күн бұрын
idk about sounding similar but they do have a lot of same words but they just mean different things examples: Kita finnish: jaws japanese: north Hana finnish: tap japanese: flower Kani finnish: Bunny japanese: crab Kutsu finnish: invitation japanese: shoes Kasa finnish: pile japanese: umbrella tori finnish: marketplace japanese: bird nami finnish: sweets japanese: wave risu finnish: twig japanese: squirrel sora finnish: gravel japanese: sky taru finnish: myth japanese: barrel
@PolyglotMouse 23 күн бұрын
Thanks for the thought out response, this is very interesting!
@dmytrosukhov4076 23 күн бұрын
Between almost all languages you can find more or less identical words with different meanings. There is nothing surprising here. All these same words exist, for example, in Russian, but there they also mean something completely different.
@PaulVinonaama 23 күн бұрын
kakka Finnish: poop Japanese: excellence
@codyyh9421 22 күн бұрын
@@dmytrosukhov4076 disagree. not true. give me examples what those mean in russian because i couldnt find any translation
@dmytrosukhov4076 22 күн бұрын
kita (кита) - genitive/accusative case of the word whale (kit / кит) hana (хана) - (slang, impersonal) it is doomed, it is hopeless, it's the end kani is available in "tkani" version (ткани) - fabrics kutsu / kutsyi (куцый) - short (in terms of stature, length, size, clothing size)
@Hrng270 11 күн бұрын
I really liked the comparison between Finnish and Japanese, they have a lot of phonology in common, the intonation is similar. They are Asian Altaic languages. The sounds "in,on, en, an, un" the sounds "ka, Ke, ki, ko, ki,ku" "ta, te, ti, to, tu". I'm just talking about phonology and phonetics, there are even more interesting ones that build bridges between the 2 languages. I'm not surprised at all that Japanese passed through Siberia before reaching the Japanese islands, and the Finnish language left Siberia for the Scandinavian peninsula and never stopped being an Asian language. Cool video, I really enjoyed it. 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚
@PolyglotMouse 11 күн бұрын
Thanks, this means a lot!
@Hrng270 10 күн бұрын
@@PolyglotMouse You are affectionate and loving, welcoming, I liked your way, preserve it all the time, it is beautiful, very human🤗💙🫂🍿👄🥂
@PolyglotMouse 10 күн бұрын
@@Hrng270 Thanks, I have no words... This is genuinely an amazing comment! Keep being yourself and doing good in the world!
@Hrng270 10 күн бұрын
@@PolyglotMouse thanks Bro blessings for us all.
@depresso_espressooo 23 күн бұрын
I've learnt Japanese when I was younger and am learning Finnish now! It does surprise me when I listen to Finnish words and question if it is actually Japanese instead, thanks for solving my question which I've been overthinking for months!
@PolyglotMouse 23 күн бұрын
Glad to have helped and I'm happy you enjoyed!
@katakana1 13 күн бұрын
Metsuri
@corinna007 12 күн бұрын
I haven't learned Japanese but I've been learning Finnish for 9 years, and I've never thought they sound even close.
@Pyovali 17 күн бұрын
One thing about Japanese is that it used to have vowel harmony just like Finnish, but then it dropped its front vowels and hence it no longer needs it.
@KaruMedve 16 күн бұрын
I always make the joke that Japanese and Italian made a baby and their baby's name is Finnish 😊
@liv0003 11 күн бұрын
As an Italian I agree with you👍
@SuperMrMuster 18 күн бұрын
You pronounced "tuli" as something like "thuli" and "tuuli" as "thuyli". It is very strange how anglos struggle with these things.
@PolyglotMouse 17 күн бұрын
Accent and different phonetic inventory all play a part, but I'll make sure to pronounce it better next time!
@corinna007 12 күн бұрын
I admit that I found the long vowels and double consonants a challenge at the beginning, but it didn't take long to get used to it. I probably still pronounce them wrong sometimes but it's definitely not that hard.
@SuperMrMuster 12 күн бұрын
@@corinna007 But.... you already have vowel length distinction in English. That's how you distinguish "ship" from "sheep" and 💩 from "sheet". I'm always mystified how, when Anglos start learning a new language, they suddenly forget some very normal things that their very own language does. It even happens to Jackson Crawford who's a trained linguist.
@are3287 12 күн бұрын
@@PolyglotMouse If your background is english, you could pronounce it as "too - ly" as it will make close to exact same sound.
@leopartanen8752 10 күн бұрын
Yes, in English they pronounce hard consonants always with a soft H. T as (Th), K as (Kh) and P as (Ph), and their R is already soft.🤷🏻♂️
@SK-zi3sr 11 күн бұрын
You should of used finish words with skoinen and asuwa sounds which does sound more like Japanese than the audio you used
@sleepybraincells 17 күн бұрын
stops are plosives are interchangeble. It's not because plosives have a puff of air and stops don't. In fact, Japanese stops /p t k/ have more aspiratition than finnish stops /p t k/.
@cheerful_crop_circle 17 күн бұрын
Really?
@Uralicchannel 10 күн бұрын
Ural-Altaic is not abandoned as a convergence zone however. There was real contact between these in the old days, even if they weren't related.
@piousmuffin5285 15 күн бұрын
As a Finn learning Japanese, I've always found the language highly intuitive compared to something like Russian or Mandarin. The first thing that immediately popped up at me was how many similar words there are. Just off the top of my head: Kasa - 'pile' in Finnish, 'umbrella' in Japanese Aki - masculine first name in Finnish, 'autumn' / feminine first name in Japanese Kana - 'chicken' in Finnish, feminine first name in Japanese. If you ignore the pitch accent, the Japanese vowel consonant pairs, the Japanese 'r'/'l' sound being a mix of both, and couple of the more out there Finnish vowels, they're not all that different phonetically. Which is crazy considering there's seemingly no relation between the languages. And don't even get me started on the cultural similarities between the two countries.
@cheerful_crop_circle 15 күн бұрын
Pitch accent actually isnt that much different from stress
@PolyglotMouse 14 күн бұрын
Yup, the similarities are too shocking to ignore!
@Hypetreme 10 күн бұрын
I'm a Finn and have always secretly hoped that Finnish and Japanese would be related languages. I've always thought there are some similarities. The similarities are more in the singular words than on anything else.
@Joshua-w5hJ77 19 күн бұрын
its obviously a stretch to say they sound the same but some words do sound pretty japanese the spoken version of katsoa is katoa which sounds especially japanese when you conjugate it in the te imperative form (katokaa) the imperative forms of odottaa sound pretty japanese too (odota, odotakaa, etc) although in spoken finnish its usually shortened to oota
@cheerful_crop_circle 19 күн бұрын
The pitch accent of Japanese makes it sound slightly distinct as opposed to Finnish which doesn't have a pitch accent
@tis9531 18 күн бұрын
The colloquial version of "katsoa" is "kattoa". "Katoa" is the imperative form of the verb "kadota" (to disappear). Likewise "kattokaa", "odottakaa".
@Madippadibabas 16 күн бұрын
@@tis9531 since you mentioned "disappear", the informal imperative version of that in Japanese is 消えろ or "kiero" which also means "crooked" in Finnish and is pronounced the same minus the pitch accent
@kakahass8845 15 күн бұрын
There's actually a word in Japanese that is pronounced "Odotta" (踊った) it's the past form of "To dance".
@justskip4595 10 күн бұрын
@@tis9531 Then there are different ways different dialects can say those like "katsoa" being said "kahtoa". Example from my life of local variations: When I was on like 7th or 8th grade in school, the Finnish homework had word "Sanko" in it and I had absolutely no idea what that meant so I went to ask my mother what that word meant and she didn't know it either. My little brother that is 2 years younger also got curious and he had never heard of that word ever before either. After we had been trying to figure it out for maybe 15 minutes, my mothers new partner came in and asked what we were talking about and then he was like "Are you joking?" and my mother got annoyed at him that we are not. He then said that it is "Ämpäri" on other name and then we figured it out. None of us had ever heard that they call "Sankko" "Sanko" in the southern Finland. We were even thinking that could it be typo that it was supposed to be "Sinko" = "Rocket launcher" or "Sanka = "the frame/earpiece of eyeglasses/handle".
@Madippadibabas 16 күн бұрын
There are so many Finnish-sounding words in Japanese as a consequence of how the syllables in the latter are always formed with either a single vowel (a, i, u, e, o) or a consonant followed by a vowel (ka, ki, ku, ke, ko etc.), plus the abundance of double consonants. I studied the language up to a conversational level a few years ago and discovered a few words that (purely coincidentally) sounded a lot like their Finnish counterparts: せい sei = syy (fault, with some imagination you can probably hear the similarity here) 重ねる kasaneru = kasaantua (pile up, add up) 苦しみ kurushimi = kärsimys (suffering, again a bit of a stretch but yeah) きっぷ kippu = lippu (a train ticket) Plus the way the "no" particle is sometimes in casual speech shortened to a "-n" suffix that's identical to the genitive suffix used in Finnish. An example of this could be 俺ん家 oren chi = mun koti And let's not forget the really common, casual-ish interjection ねー nee~ which reminds me of how Finnish people also tend to insert "Nii!" or "Nii-i!"' into casual conversations. In the end those are still just funny coincidences, and while the grammar and sound of both languages is very similar at times, there's really nothing more to it IMO. Finnish and Japanese are vastly different and unrelated languages in the big picture.
@PolyglotMouse 15 күн бұрын
Thanks for the interesting comment! I love learning more about these two languages
@kakahass8845 15 күн бұрын
The ね thing is used and almost pronounced exactly like the Portuguese word "Né" (Contraction of "Não é").
@Madippadibabas 14 күн бұрын
@@kakahass8845 oh yeah definitely! I'm actually living in Portugal atm due to exchange studies and I hear people using né in conversations almost every day
@basementsage1443 23 күн бұрын
can you talk about how portuguese sounds like russian to the uninitiated
23 күн бұрын
You mean The portuguese from Portugal
@alonzoperez2470 22 күн бұрын
Exactly because Brazilian Portuguese doesn't sound anything like Russian. But sometimes the grammar is a bit similar. The grammar structure.
@PolyglotMouse 21 күн бұрын
Put it on my list!
@kakahass8845 15 күн бұрын
@@alonzoperez2470Correto, o nosso português é "Syllable timed" (Eu sei lá como falar isso em português kkkk) enquanto o te Portugal é "Stress timed" tipo inglês.
@viatorinterra 12 күн бұрын
I love the Altaic Sprachbund
@nyyppa7956 19 күн бұрын
Both languages lack prepositions and definite/indefinite articles, which I believe is one factor what rhythms the Indo-European languages differently. In Indo-European languages, large proportion of the subjects, predicates and objects consist of two separate parts, at least in English this is the case. Another phonetic feature is that in both Japanese and Finnsih short wovels and elongated vowels are not pronounced as diphthongs, and when we want to make a diphthong, it's more clear. Starting with one properly pronounced vowel and then transforming into another, with the exception of letter "i", which can be sometimes pronounced similar to letter "y" in English (e.g. whey, nay, yet). And since front and back vowels are regarded as completely separate vowels in Finnish, you have to have the mouth already in the right shape when you start pronouncing/voicing each vowel. English is more "lazy" in this aspect, and many of your short vowels sound like diphthongs to Finns. I'm pretty sure it's the same for Japanese because when they try to mimic a foreign accent, beside the pitch pattern and stress, that's what they change on their pronunciation. Good example of this difference is how you pronounced 'tyuuli' instead of 'tuuli' on this video. It's only a short beginning of that elongated vowel but it still sounds wrong to native speaker. How you pronounced that word is easily understandable but it's these kinds of dipthongs that give a strong foreign accent to your Finnish.
@PolyglotMouse 18 күн бұрын
Hey thanks for the thoughtful comment! I have never actually studied Finnish, and I only learned the pronunciation through looking at a IPA chart, so that's why it didn't sound correct. I definitely want to study it in the future!
@cheerful_crop_circle 18 күн бұрын
Dont Japanese particles work similarly to prepositions and articles though?
@kakahass8845 15 күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circlePrepositions? Yes. Articles? No.
@justskip4595 10 күн бұрын
@@PolyglotMouse Indian Pale Ale charts?
@cheerful_crop_circle 22 күн бұрын
Japanese can create consonant clusters and consonant endings in only 3 ways (and they don't exceed more than 2 consonants next to each) : 1. With the sound "n" like in the words "riNGo" and "niNGeN" 2. With geminate consonants/consonant length like in the word "Nippon" and "kekkon" 3. With vowel devoicing where the vowels "i" and "u" get devoiced between voiceless consonants or at the end of words like in for example "ichi" being pronounced like "ich" and "yakusoku" being pronounced more like "yaksok"
@PolyglotMouse 21 күн бұрын
Yes, this is more or less what I explained, but I didn't fully go in depth, thanks for the comment
@abarette_ 19 күн бұрын
I don't think ん quite qualifies as a consonant it only releases between vowels (全員 "zen'in", everybody), otherwise it's more like a purely nasal sound, kind of like a /m/ with no release I guess it is sometimes released before fricatives like /z/ (存在 "sonzai", existence) or /ɕ/ (論証 "ronshou", proof) but ehhhh that seems like assimilation more than anything
@cheerful_crop_circle 19 күн бұрын
@@abarette_ Yeah true. It is more specifically a MORAIC nasal consonant because the Japanese language is spelled syllable by syllable or mora by mora because there arent symbols that represent individual consonants and "n" is the only exception
@cheerful_crop_circle 19 күн бұрын
@@abarette_ That is distinct about Japanese writing (specifically Hiragana and Katakana) because there arent symbols/characters that represent a single consonant sound. Everything represents either a consonant + vowel or a single vowel. I dont know if there are other languages that have a similar syllabic/moraic writing system. Maybe there arent
@abarette_ 19 күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circle pretty sure Greenlandic languages use a similar syllable-based writing system, though much more artificial
@jozek3820 13 күн бұрын
Can you please do a full analysis of the slovene language. It would mean a lot to me
@PolyglotMouse 12 күн бұрын
I'll put it on my list!
@jozek3820 12 күн бұрын
@@PolyglotMouse thank you so much, ill be the first one to watch it
@siimtulev1759 10 күн бұрын
As Estonian I would say there are many similar words and pronunciations. That's also the reason I am learning the language :P
@MatEl9990 14 күн бұрын
As a Finn I can't see it
@cherrywinhtwe6422 14 күн бұрын
I have been learning Finnish and Japanese at the same time, so sometimes I get confused 🥹🤌
@Shadowthevampire 6 күн бұрын
Finnaly someone hears it not just me /A swedish person.
@corinna007 12 күн бұрын
No, they don't sound similar at all. I only know a few simple words and phrases in Japanese, but I've been learning Finnish for about 9 years. But even as a beginner, it never crossed my mind that the two sound remotely similar.
@cheerful_crop_circle 5 күн бұрын
I think you should make a video comparing Serbo-Croatian and Japanese , because they kinda sound similar too
@PolyglotMouse 24 күн бұрын
Hey guys! I'm back with another video regarding Finnish, but this time with Japanese! Make sure to leave a like and subscribe if you enjoyed and let me know what other types of videos I should do next! (Sorry for the audio btw it bugged and I couldn't fix it. Next video is going to be great...)
@Alexandros.Mograine 11 күн бұрын
saying finnish sounds like japanese is clickbait, the better wording (which you used in the video) is that they have surprisingly many similarities. I have heard that finnish is much easier for japanese to pronounce.
@srilankarelaxation5889 18 күн бұрын
Finally someone said it
@MeepMu 17 күн бұрын
0:00 Yes. Yes.
@ribdakse3970 23 күн бұрын
I'd say your pronunciation of Finnish "talon" sounds more like "tälon", with an /æ/ sound. Otherwise there isn't anything too notable in the pronunciation, at least nothing that I notice.
@PolyglotMouse 23 күн бұрын
Thanks for the input!
@dmrfnk 8 күн бұрын
@@PolyglotMouse Except for the fact that the stress should be on the first syllable if any, as you mentioned previously in the video. Also your vocal length for a is like short and a half there. It's difficult, no hard feelings ;)
@Yudentheepicboy 24 күн бұрын
No no, I actually do see the similarities. Never thought two languages so different from eachother would sound similar in some way. Really cool video! Looking forward to your future content.
@PolyglotMouse 23 күн бұрын
Thanks a lot!
@jgr7487 18 күн бұрын
This was liked by Altaic language family enthusiasts.
@seneca983 12 күн бұрын
My guess (before watching the video): the low number of consonant phonemes and relatively low amount of consonant clustering. (EDIT: Couple of minutes into the video, I guess I should've mentioned also that both languages have 2 lengths for most phonemes but somehow I forgot that.)
@cheerful_crop_circle 12 күн бұрын
Japanese actually has a lot of consonant phonemes (way more than the Austronesian languages for example)
@seneca983 12 күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circle I'm not sure that's the case. Looking at the Wikipedia pages for the phonologies of these languages I get 13 consonants for Finnish and 18 consonants for both Japanese and Malay/Indonesian. So Japanese doesn't seem to have that much more consonants than Finnish and about the same as the biggest Austronesian language. Of course, you can get a bit different results depending on the way you count. I didn't count phonemes that are rare and only occur in some loanwords (like [b], [g], and [f] in the case of Finnish) and I didn't count affricates as individual phonemes (but rather as combinations of two consonants).
@cheerful_crop_circle 12 күн бұрын
@@seneca983 Well , then maybe Im dumb
@johnnorthtribe 14 күн бұрын
Every time I hear this comparison I shake my head. I have heard Finnish since I was a child since I had many Finnish friends here in Sweden. I was also a fan of anime. Those who think they sound similar would most likely not hear difference between turkish, hebrew, arabic and farsi. Or any African languages for that matter.
@cheerful_crop_circle 14 күн бұрын
So overall, do you think they sound similar?
@PolyglotMouse 14 күн бұрын
It could honestly be subjective. A lot of Finns say that they think they sound similar and that there are jokes about the similarities. Linguistically, they have a lot of similarities, but when you know the differences, then they will stand out more. I just find your examples hilarious because they are so different from each other. At least Finnish and Japanese have some similarities, even if it's coincidental
@johnnorthtribe 14 күн бұрын
@@PolyglotMouse Finnish and Japanese are even more different than those neighboring countries. I see no similarities at all between Finnish and Japanese.
@johnnorthtribe 14 күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circle no
@homifelldown5683 12 күн бұрын
Finno-korean hyperwar
@hakanstorsater5090 15 күн бұрын
Regarding phonetic inventory and your comment "Honestly, for two completely unrelated languages, there's a big bag of similarities", I beg to differ. There are only about ten consonant sounds remaining, with the bulk very common cross-linguistically.
@bruhistantv9806 13 күн бұрын
Altaic moment
@salade99 14 күн бұрын
Hey, did you know that Japonic language family is isolated language family only exists in Japan unlike Germanic or Romance languages are spoken across many countries???
@cheerful_crop_circle 14 күн бұрын
Yeah , Japanese is only similar to the other Japonic languages. It doesn't have similarities with languages that arent Japonic (except Chinese because of borrowed loanwords and characters)
@liv0003 11 күн бұрын
So ? What does this have to do with this video?👀 Even Finnish has no familiarity with the Germanic or Romance languages, it's not even an Indo-European language for that matter.
@-o-6100 23 күн бұрын
When I first heard of the name Kimi Raikkonnen I thought he was Japanese
@cheerful_crop_circle 22 күн бұрын
That is because of the agglutination. Both are agglutinative languages and have consonant length/geminate consonants
@turkoositerapsidi 18 күн бұрын
Räikkönen*
@shan4680 10 күн бұрын
We did have an Australian politician refer to Nokia as a Japanese company in a derogatory fashion once but then our politicians are often idiots.
@pyrylehtonen-caponigro3198 13 сағат бұрын
I mean some say that it's a Japanese fishing company and Finland doesn't exist
@Sorcering 23 күн бұрын
vowel length is important in japanese tho 😅
@Sorcering 23 күн бұрын
also no idea what you mean by "only double kk can appear at the end of a syllable" that makes no sense
@PolyglotMouse 23 күн бұрын
It was an example of what could appear at the end of a syllable
@cheerful_crop_circle 22 күн бұрын
Isnt it important in Finnish too?
@turkoositerapsidi 18 күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circleDefinitely it is. Consonant doubles are as well. I am suomi so I know about it. Video gave example of tuuli, tuli. But there is more. Tuuli, tuli, tulli. Tiili, tili, tilli. Taakka, taka. Kylä, kyylä, kyllä. Uuni, uni. Tali, talli. All complete different words. Also different vowels of a ä o ö u y (y is same as ü in Deutsch or Eesti), words: talli, tälli. Hame, Häme. Työ, tuo. Different pronunciation and different meanings unrelated.
17 күн бұрын
Can you do Norwegian next
@PolyglotMouse 16 күн бұрын
I put it on my list, although it may take a while!
@krcsirke 11 күн бұрын
I have same feeling with Hungarian and Korean.
@googleistdoof6656 16 күн бұрын
non-linguists hearing foreign languages for the first time...
@PolyglotMouse 16 күн бұрын
Pretty sure you don't have to be a linguist to hear differences in a foreign language, although you may not be able to pinpoint why that is, thus is the reason I created this video
@kennethcuevas238 12 күн бұрын
I think only similar is when they speak a letter or with K its so obvouis same sounds other than that nothing else. Finnish sounds more italian for me.
@56Zdlingo 18 күн бұрын
I here them
@cocopus 10 күн бұрын
I'm sure if you look hard enough you could say any language sounds like any other language.
@cheerful_crop_circle 8 күн бұрын
Yes. Because they are all human languages
@kakahass8845 15 күн бұрын
"In Japanese vowel length isn't important" Meanwhile Japanese: 少女 and 処女 differ only by vowel length.
@cheerful_crop_circle 15 күн бұрын
Well , vowel length in Japanese is very important (especially when compared to other East Asian languages like Korean and Chinese that dont even have vowel length)
@kakahass8845 15 күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circleYes I agree did you not see the quotation marks around the first sentence?
@cheerful_crop_circle 15 күн бұрын
@@kakahass8845 BTW , does the combination of vowel length and consonant length give a certain language a different rhythm/cadence compared to languages that dont make distinctions between short and long vowels, and short and long consonants?
@kakahass8845 15 күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circleI don't think so but this is too subjective in my opinion.
@PolyglotMouse 14 күн бұрын
Vowel and consonant length objectively make a certain language sound different, but in my opinion, rhythm comes down to accent and phonology
@chorronmekhlug2666 21 күн бұрын
In my opinion the two languages are completely different. Completely different sound systems. Only a couple of words can be considered similar to Japanese, that is, for example, jotakuta, jousi, haarukka or jorottaa
@cheerful_crop_circle 20 күн бұрын
Perhaps Japanese sounds more similar to some Austronesian languages like Maori or Hawaiian or maybe some African or indigenous/tribal languages (perhaps Swahili)?
@cheerful_crop_circle 20 күн бұрын
Also maybe Ainu?
@chorronmekhlug2666 19 күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circle Ainu reminds Japanese a lot in sounding but I suppose it is because of the influence that has been lasting for centuries
@cheerful_crop_circle 19 күн бұрын
@@chorronmekhlug2666 Korean also sounds very similar to Japanese
@chorronmekhlug2666 19 күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circle Not at all in my opinion. Completely different sound systems: in Korean aspiration occurs often and closed syllables are more common, there are more vowels (which do not have length difference as in Japanese) and consonant clusters. Both languages have the yo ending (in Korean it occurs especially often because it is the verb ending of the "polite" speaking style), that can make the expression they sound similar
@hayabusa1329 19 күн бұрын
Make one with mandarin chinese and vietnamese
@PolyglotMouse 18 күн бұрын
Comparing them or a profile on each of them?
@hayabusa1329 18 күн бұрын
@@PolyglotMouse compare them like this video. I live in Taiwan and I'm curious to compare another tonal language to mandarin
@hakanstorsater5090 15 күн бұрын
@@hayabusa1329 I think there was a theory that tonal languages were an areal feature that originated with mostly unrelated languages being in contact with each other.
@mirae9163 13 күн бұрын
Cantonese sounds much closer to Vietnamese than Mandarin does.
@AverageHungaryan 14 күн бұрын
Hungaryan Tokaj -tokyo Toyota -Toyota Szuzuki - Suzuki Baka - baka Naphon -Nihon, nippon There is a connection proto Turanoaltaic-sumer-aryan(middle pre-jurassic hungaryan)
@are3287 12 күн бұрын
Finnish and Japanese sounding vaguely similar hardly give any credence to the altaic theory as none of the other languages in the group sound similar to either of them
@bluetoothxray 4 күн бұрын
lmao, lmao, lmao, lmao, altaic, lmao, lmao
@mysteriousDSF 17 күн бұрын
1:04 you can hear the similarities, right? No, I cant. At all. 😅
@cheerful_crop_circle 17 күн бұрын
Wdym?
@mysteriousDSF Күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circle he implies that we all hear the similarities but I just don't
@KingsleyAmuzu 17 күн бұрын
Could you make a video to why Turkish and Hungarian sound similar?
@PolyglotMouse 16 күн бұрын
I put it on my list!
@arthemas8176 10 күн бұрын
Finnish sounds like a Japanese with Italian intonation
@pyrylehtonen-caponigro3198 13 сағат бұрын
Finnish is much more monotone than Italian though
@focotaku Күн бұрын
Basque sounds more like Japanese.
@BazookaLuca 23 күн бұрын
They actually both belong to the super mega Altaic family encompassing Uralic, Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, Koreanic, Japonic and Inuit too because why the hell not I also didn't know where to put Mapudungun so let's put it in there too along Georgian and Basque
@PolyglotMouse 23 күн бұрын
🤣
@cheerful_crop_circle 22 күн бұрын
The most similar languages to Japanese outside of Japonic, are Korean and Ainu. No other language is similar to Japanese. Because of the Kanji, it is similar to Chinese
@BasshunterBelial 23 күн бұрын
Well I have heard a Chinese person speaking Finnish, and thought that she's speaking Japanese.
@turkoositerapsidi 18 күн бұрын
Really?
@etruscanetwork 19 сағат бұрын
Ok, but why do finnish and greek sound similar to me? Finnish and japanese don't really sound any similar, japanese sounds like anime, finnish doesn't sound like anime
@pyrylehtonen-caponigro3198 13 сағат бұрын
Irl Japanese doesn't sound like anime
@NahNah-xg5wv 23 күн бұрын
It doesn’t.
@Abu_theaf 23 күн бұрын
I can speak Japanese and they don't sound similar at all to me, have also seen a video saying Russian and Japanese sound similar which is just wrong, but idk it might sound similar to a person that doesn't speak Japanese nor Finish
@PolyglotMouse 23 күн бұрын
Yes I feel like once you speak either you can hear the differences more than the similarities, although I've had Finns comment that they think they are similar!
@Abu_theaf 23 күн бұрын
@@PolyglotMouse that's very interesting, i don't know how Japanese sounds similar to Finish for Finns
@cheerful_crop_circle 22 күн бұрын
Russia is the only country that borders Japan so Russian in some ways has more similarities with Japanese than Finnish
@Abu_theaf 22 күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circle Poland and Germany are Very close to each other same as iraq and Iran, do they have similarities in language? Nope they don't
@cheerful_crop_circle 22 күн бұрын
@@Abu_theaf Polish and German are both Indo-European and Arabic has a lot of influence from Persian and the other way around
@pekkatervala8476 10 күн бұрын
Not really. I've been following Japanese KZfaqrs, artists and bands for many years. Still, I don't have a clue, how to understand and speak even a little. Kanpai = kippis, kawaii = nätti. That's all...
@PolyglotMouse 8 күн бұрын
No, no. I didn't mean that you could magically understand the other if you spoke one, but rather they sound the same when spoken. Sorry if I didn't make that clearer
@pyrylehtonen-caponigro3198 13 сағат бұрын
Kawaii=söpö/suloinen Nätti=kirei
@jyay4397 9 күн бұрын
I don't hear similarity...
@Endermania 17 күн бұрын
I think Finnish sounds more like Chinese
@cheerful_crop_circle 17 күн бұрын
Ok
@kakahass8845 15 күн бұрын
Not enough sibilant affricates.
@pyrylehtonen-caponigro3198 13 сағат бұрын
Finnish is monotone, Chinese has tones
@studyingkitty08 14 күн бұрын
Cheese
@Solotocius 12 күн бұрын
TURAN‼️‼️‼️ /jk
@reverendnon5959 23 күн бұрын
But... They don't sound alike at all
@cheerful_crop_circle 21 күн бұрын
Your profile picture is a Russian from the movie Snatch
@reverendnon5959 21 күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circle yea
@salade99 14 күн бұрын
Well, Finnish is a language from Asia, so that makes sense. Even there were some linguists that claimed Ural-Altaic language family theory in which they said Finnish and Japanese had a common ancestor, although it's completely denied nowadays.
@forgottenmusic1 11 күн бұрын
Finnish and Japanese can sound similar only to people, who know about 2 languages, American and Gibberish. F.e. Finnish has 8 vowels, and it uses A LOT of diphthongs, while Japanese has only 5 vowels, and it uses NO diphthongs at all.
@cheerful_crop_circle 8 күн бұрын
Russian has only 5 vowels and it barely uses diphthongs too
@forgottenmusic1 8 күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circle Actually, Russian has 6 or even 7 vowels. In addition to a, e, i, o and u it has "ы". The 7th one is similar to Finnish ä (ae) and has no sign of its own. It appears very rarely, like in words pyat' (5), and "blyad''" (ho).
@cheerful_crop_circle 8 күн бұрын
@@forgottenmusic1 So the seventh vowel in Russian is actually "y"?
@forgottenmusic1 8 күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circle The 6th, "ы" is usually Latinized as "y". Words like ty (you sing.), vy (you plur.). What is confusing, is that if Latinized for English, y can be either that vowel, or the consonant marked j in other languages than English.
@cheerful_crop_circle 8 күн бұрын
@@forgottenmusic1 What about Serbian? I think Serbian has exactly the same 5 vowels like Japanese and doesn't have diphthongs just like Japanese.
@arita2002 12 күн бұрын
These two languages sound absolutely different.
@edwardoowew 11 күн бұрын
It sounds a bit Japanese and at the same time like Polish/Russian sounds.
@matt92hun 12 күн бұрын
Finnish doesn't even have [b] and [g], unless you count [p] and [k] which are what English speakers mean when whey write and , but they don't aspirate their written [p] and [k], like in English, so bussi (bus) and pussi (bag) sound the same.
@cheerful_crop_circle 12 күн бұрын
"b" and "g" exist in Spanish
@matt92hun 12 күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circle Spanish is not Finnish though.
@pyrylehtonen-caponigro3198 13 сағат бұрын
In most dialects of modern Finnish, if not all bussi and pussi sound different. You'll really only not hear a difference when some old people speak. b and g exist nowadays for loanwords
@laurelcook9078 23 күн бұрын
Suomi sounds like German a bit
@turkoositerapsidi 18 күн бұрын
Not that much. But I am suomi so I don't see for that reason.
@Garfield_Minecraft 4 күн бұрын
it doesn't sound alike at all what do you mean? well i guess that's because i speaK NIHONGO. well finnish sound like ancient chinese
@jytvreal 12 күн бұрын
Not really, I think if anything it's probably similar sounding to Italian but even that's a stretch
@Retog 23 күн бұрын
I understand Japanese so they sound nothing alike to me.
@ronin667 5 күн бұрын
To my ears, Finnish sounds nothing like Japanese at all. Korean, however, totally sounds like Japanese to me (I don't speak either); the accents and the syllable structure sound quite similar, even though the vocabulary is totally different. So my rule of thumb is, if something sounds like Japanese to me but there is no "wa" and no "-masu" anywhere to be heard, then it's probably Korean.
@cheerful_crop_circle 5 күн бұрын
I have always thought that Japanese sounds more similar to Russian (or the other Slavic languages like Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian and Bulgarian) than it does to Korean.
@ronin667 5 күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circle Why? East and South Slavic languages have way more consonants than Japanese.
@cheerful_crop_circle 5 күн бұрын
@@ronin667 The similarity is mostly in the vowels and certain phonetics, because they all have only 5 vowels and certain phonetics are similar
@ronin667 5 күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circle The perception probably depends on what your native language is. When I hear Russians speaking German, I notice they tend to diphtongize a lot, like "ye" instead of "e", "uɐ" instead of "u" and "oa" instead of "o", something that Japanese speakers don't do. Also, slavic speakers tend to pronounce postalveolar fricatives way more in the back of the mouth than Koreans or Japanese.
@cheerful_crop_circle 5 күн бұрын
@@ronin667 Russian people pronounce "e" like normal "e" without palatalization/sounding like "ye" or "i" like normal "i" without sounding like "yi". Russian speakers mostly palatalize and soften in their own language. When it comes to Russians speaking other languages, they dont palatalize and dont use mitigation at all. I dont know where you got that impression (it also depends on the individual accent). As for the the other thing you said , yes , you are right that Slavic speakers pronounce sounds more from the back of the throat/mouth compared to Korean and Japanese speakers
@cedriko1662 18 күн бұрын
Spanish sounds more similar to Japanese than Finnish to me.
@cheerful_crop_circle 17 күн бұрын
Because both have the same 5 vowels
@chiarapavone780 23 күн бұрын
I don’t hear similarities actually. Finnish sounds more like russian and japanese… is japanese.
@cheerful_crop_circle 22 күн бұрын
Well , some people say that Japanese sounds like Russian or Bulgarian
@chiarapavone780 22 күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circle I speak some russian and very very little japanese and i don’t think they are similar. Many russian words to me sound similar to english and italian (the italian one must be because of the latin influence).
@cheerful_crop_circle 22 күн бұрын
@@chiarapavone780 Well , they are either from Latin influence or the common Indo-European connection. Russian itself sounds very different from Japanese but Japanese itself sounds kinda like Russian
@chiarapavone780 22 күн бұрын
@@cheerful_crop_circle I don’t agree.
@cheerful_crop_circle 21 күн бұрын
@@chiarapavone780 Russian - Japanese with a Slavic accent Japanese - Russian with a samurai/ninja accent Spanish - Japanese with a Spanish accent Japanese - Spanish with an East Asian accent
@liuzh1han 22 күн бұрын
barely even similar what
@win_ini 13 күн бұрын
tämä on jumalanpilkka! huono video!
@zion9860 22 күн бұрын
No, these languages do not sound alike.
@cheerful_crop_circle 22 күн бұрын
So they sound very different just as they are very different when they are written?
@alonzoperez2470 22 күн бұрын
Interesting. But Finnish was supposed to be a viking language
@Madippadibabas 16 күн бұрын
as a Finn, WTF are you talking about
@alonzoperez2470 16 күн бұрын
@@Madippadibabas Finnish was supposed to be a viking language if the vikings had conquered Finland.
@Madippadibabas 16 күн бұрын
@@alonzoperez2470 What do you mean by supposed? The language developed in the Ural mountains around 5000 years ago, far from any Viking influence. Even in an alternate history timeline where the Vikings had conquered Finland, it would still be a Finno-Ugric language, not Indo-European like Old Norse or Swedish.
@alonzoperez2470 16 күн бұрын
@@Madippadibabas wait I thought Swedish was a Germanic language. Meh.
@Madippadibabas 16 күн бұрын
@@alonzoperez2470 it is, Germanic is a subgroup of the IE language family.
@moder4228 21 күн бұрын
This channels gonna blow up, it’s too high quality to not have a high chance of being dragged into the algorithm.
@PolyglotMouse 21 күн бұрын
That honestly means a lot to me! Thanks so much 🙏
@AA-ux6gg 22 күн бұрын
as japanese i agree sound like similar but also like similar austronesian bantu italian greek language but not related Cuz swadesh list wiktionary/wiki/Appendix:Finnish_Swadesh_list wiktionary/wiki/Appendix:Greek_Swadesh_list wiktionary/wiki/Appendix:Italian_Swadesh_list wiktionary/wiki/Appendix:Japanese_Swadesh_list wiktionary/wiki/Appendix:Korean_Swadesh_list wiktionary/wiki/Appendix:Standard_Mandarin_Swadesh_list wiktionary/wiki/Appendix:Swahili_Swadesh_list wikipedia/wiki/Liste_Swadesh_du_kikongo wiktionary/wiki/Appendix:Maori_Swadesh_list
@AA-ux6gg 22 күн бұрын
I can’t put URLs on KZfaq
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