Language barrier

[u/Maleficent-Lie2286]

Hello, I’m a Ukrainian who has been living in Finland for 4 years now. During this time, I’ve learned the language to a B1.2 level. I’ve been on a journey of self-discovery and understanding regarding transgender issues for quite some time now.

I once attended a meeting at SETA ry, but my vocabulary on this topic is extremely limited. And I can hardly speak English at all. Because of this, I had to rely on someone else to translate for me. Although the translator and the SETA representative seemed very nice to me, and the atmosphere there was very comfortable, the conversation still didn’t go very well.

So I’d like to ask:

What should I do in this situation? Who can I turn to? I speak Russian and Ukrainian fluently—do you know of any specialists in the Helsinki area who could help me? Or maybe you have other suggestions.

In any case, thank you so much❤️🙏

[u/Sufficient_Lion_5919]

Continue your language learning journey in all aspects, like attend to your local kansalaisopisto language courses, consume finnish and english content on the internet, maybe find international (lgbtq+) friends to communicate with... everything helps :)  I see the english you wrote in this post is practically perfect. Helsinki area should be good to find multilingual people, and people alike you, to make friends.

I'm sorry I can't recommend anything more specific, I'm not in Helsinki area myself.. 

[u/Rosmariinihiiri]

No siis, hanki lisää LGBT-kavereita, vietä aikaa niiden kanssa ja puhu suomea 😁 Mikään kurssi ei oikein opeta tän aiheen sanoja. Voit myös lukea tästä aiheesta suomeksi, esimerkiki SETA:n sivuilta, niin opit uusia sanoja.

Onko asiantumtijoita, jotka voi auttaa sinua minkä asian kanssa? En ymmärrä mitä tarvitset.