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like two berries

Posted on 8 November 2013 by Kate Sotejeff-Wilson — Leave a comment

Idioms are great. But they don’t always translate easily. Finnish idioms differ from English ones according to the culture. In the land of forests, you don’t stand around uselessly like a lemon, but sit like a mushroom (“istua kuin tatti”), and…

more than moomins: illustration and translation

Posted on 9 August 2013 by Kate Sotejeff-Wilson — 4 Comments

Tove Jansson would be 99 today. I began learning Finnish by reading the Moomin comic strip, which made Tove Jansson’s name around the world. Started in the London Evening News in 1954, the complete collection is still being published in Finnish. Tove’s 1960s…

Finns found in translation

Posted on 20 July 2013 by Kate Sotejeff-Wilson — Leave a comment

After Tove Jansson’s Moomins and Alexis Kivi’s classic Seven Brothers, Johanna Sinisalo was the first Finnish author I read. She best known internationally for Not before Sundown, which was translated into 13 languages. Here’s a recent short story of hers from the website for Finnish…