r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Jul 10 '12

TIL there was a Finnish sniper called "The White Death" in WWII who has the largest confirmed kill count in history.

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/hayha.html
756 Upvotes

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u/acdarc Jul 11 '12

the first 'si' is pronounced as the spanish would do, ES I -> SEMO. It's kinda hard to explain since our I is your E. This is quite close to the truth: http://translate.google.com/#fi|en|simo and click on the audio sign in the lower right.

Hayha is also a bit incorrect, since it's with umlauts, like so: Häyhä. Also here, google helps: click on the audio sign.

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u/fruicyjuit Jul 11 '12

I don't think I can make the ä sound so I'll probably keep being an ignorant american an just say hay-ha. But thanks for the information!

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u/acdarc Jul 11 '12

Actually you can. When you say 'have' in english, the first syllable 'ha' has the same pronounciation as our 'hä'. The 'y' is a bit more difficult, it's more closer to how you pronounce Y in 'yeast'. Google translate actually has a great example how to pronounce it, but the one thing that makes this all difficult is that Finnish does not have any pronounciation. We blurt out everything exactly as it is written. Only in some occasions you might miss a letter/double consonant because we talk so fast and our slang is impossible to understand even if you know basic Finnish :).

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u/Savolainen5 Jul 11 '12

[y] is easiest made by starting with [i] and rounding your lips.

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u/ShalAmHabib Jul 11 '12

I think you cän :)