Do conversations in a foreign language feel intimidating because you feel like you don’t know how to say what you want? Are you afraid of the awkward silence and the drops of sweat dripping down your forehead as you struggle in search for words and some way to express what you want to convey? We know how you feel. Actually, anyone who has ever tried talking to someone in a foreign language knows how you feel. When this happens, the most important…
The stand-up comedian Ismo Leikola thinks the most important word in Finnish is ”no niin”. Depending on your intonation, it can mean anything from ”exactly” to ”dinner is served” – you could almost hold a conversation saying nothing but ”no niin”. Well, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration – but Ismo is right about one thing, and that’s the importance of small filler words in conversation and language learning. Have you ever paid attention to how many extra little…
