One of the efficacies of writing stuff down..? 26 1 19
...is that one is then able to question its validity in a new and perhaps enlightening way..?
Unsurprisingly I revert to my musings about the two cultures of this my adoptive country and the very different receptions I got from the one culture compared to the other when my latest thoughts might derive from the fact that I only ever took one of these two cultures fully on board!
And the thing to remember about cultural differences is that they are anything but obvious...
Kicking off as an eventual emigre then in Kuusankoski in the summer of 1960 and being hired by the most amenial Sw-Finn DI Gräsbeck but then being assigned to work for FinnFinn Maisteri Pauli Paasonen it was clear who were the masters of this particular meeting of minds, as it was clear I would become a FinnFinn owing to the fact the majority of Finns spoke Finnish, and therefore be able to converse with more than 95% of the population, as I was not good at learning languages, and learning Swedish would have involved consigning a whole new vocabulary, full of exceptions in terms of how to pronounce the letters of words depending on which letters were collected together, to give me knowledge of how to converse with the minority who anyway had the best grasp of my own native English language!!
Not only that but of course it was also to do with the fact that only FinFinns were available to me in terms of the friendships one made on the whole although I did make friends with the odd Lindström, I now recall.
So working first in Kymi-Kymene, and then in Oy Kaukas Ab, for periods totalling 5 years, and living in predominantly Finnish Finnish communities, I became steeped in their culture to begin with.
Fast forward now to 19th January 1988, arriving as Joint Research and Development Director to Oy Visko Ab, a Sw-Finnish Company whose headquarters were on the Island of Åland, with many of its Finnish citizens unable to speak Finnish, and not a few unable to speak English either, and you will see how the problems were mounting, cultural differences being set aside for the present!
Which is to say they and I were largely in-communicado, unable to converse in any language the one with the other.
The odd one of their kind pronouncing: "He doesn't even speak Swedish!" when happily I got to hear that Trygvi Eriksson, the man who ultimatelty became the long-time owner, rounded on the person in question with the admonition:"He may not speak Swedish but he knows a hell of a lot about `Paper´, the basis for making fibrous cellulosic casings."
That on the one hand, and a contempt on the part of the Sw-Finn Högre Tjänstemän (Senior Office Staff) for their FinnFinn subordinates (majority of FinnFinn workers on the shop-floor).
Take this as a literal example now of how they also viewed me: an Off-comer who hadn't mastered their Sw-language, but able to converse in Finnish (for which some of them also harboured contempt) and you may begin to understand the disadvantaged situation I was finding myself in...
My best example of what I am talking about concerned this very smart SwFinn Marketing Mgr (smart mouth full of wise saws, and an excellent sense of humour) for our US Mkt, but who whenever there was a quality problem blamed the FinnFinn plant workers, who out-numbered the SwFinn Plant Workers 4:1. So delightful, when accustomed as I was to this guy getting the wrong end of the stick, and having one of the Sw-Finn Plant workers take the sample of casing he had affixed to the notice board, as a complaint for all to see, apparently defective only because of the way it was folded, being removed and taken to his office to be shown it was in perfect condition, when he got egg on his face, and had to eat his own words. Who, on another occasion, when I told him a casing was defective owing to its wet-strengthening epichlorohydrin resin content not having been fully cured, he rounded on me saying "I don't buy that one ******!" Like he really didn't understand about the chemistry involved in fibrous cellulosic casing manufacture, but exalted by his wouldbe higher status of being a SwFinn, felt superior, so full of Sh*t! Hahaha!!!
In conclusion. On this occasion I shall content myself by delivering myself of the above Trygvi Eriksson's words, or as it turned out his prophesy because I was never to learn Swedish, but, nay bother, I delivered a very superior knowledge about the casing's basic nature in PAPER my special expertise!
Unsurprisingly I revert to my musings about the two cultures of this my adoptive country and the very different receptions I got from the one culture compared to the other when my latest thoughts might derive from the fact that I only ever took one of these two cultures fully on board!
And the thing to remember about cultural differences is that they are anything but obvious...
Kicking off as an eventual emigre then in Kuusankoski in the summer of 1960 and being hired by the most amenial Sw-Finn DI Gräsbeck but then being assigned to work for FinnFinn Maisteri Pauli Paasonen it was clear who were the masters of this particular meeting of minds, as it was clear I would become a FinnFinn owing to the fact the majority of Finns spoke Finnish, and therefore be able to converse with more than 95% of the population, as I was not good at learning languages, and learning Swedish would have involved consigning a whole new vocabulary, full of exceptions in terms of how to pronounce the letters of words depending on which letters were collected together, to give me knowledge of how to converse with the minority who anyway had the best grasp of my own native English language!!
Not only that but of course it was also to do with the fact that only FinFinns were available to me in terms of the friendships one made on the whole although I did make friends with the odd Lindström, I now recall.
So working first in Kymi-Kymene, and then in Oy Kaukas Ab, for periods totalling 5 years, and living in predominantly Finnish Finnish communities, I became steeped in their culture to begin with.
Fast forward now to 19th January 1988, arriving as Joint Research and Development Director to Oy Visko Ab, a Sw-Finnish Company whose headquarters were on the Island of Åland, with many of its Finnish citizens unable to speak Finnish, and not a few unable to speak English either, and you will see how the problems were mounting, cultural differences being set aside for the present!
Which is to say they and I were largely in-communicado, unable to converse in any language the one with the other.
The odd one of their kind pronouncing: "He doesn't even speak Swedish!" when happily I got to hear that Trygvi Eriksson, the man who ultimatelty became the long-time owner, rounded on the person in question with the admonition:"He may not speak Swedish but he knows a hell of a lot about `Paper´, the basis for making fibrous cellulosic casings."
That on the one hand, and a contempt on the part of the Sw-Finn Högre Tjänstemän (Senior Office Staff) for their FinnFinn subordinates (majority of FinnFinn workers on the shop-floor).
Take this as a literal example now of how they also viewed me: an Off-comer who hadn't mastered their Sw-language, but able to converse in Finnish (for which some of them also harboured contempt) and you may begin to understand the disadvantaged situation I was finding myself in...
My best example of what I am talking about concerned this very smart SwFinn Marketing Mgr (smart mouth full of wise saws, and an excellent sense of humour) for our US Mkt, but who whenever there was a quality problem blamed the FinnFinn plant workers, who out-numbered the SwFinn Plant Workers 4:1. So delightful, when accustomed as I was to this guy getting the wrong end of the stick, and having one of the Sw-Finn Plant workers take the sample of casing he had affixed to the notice board, as a complaint for all to see, apparently defective only because of the way it was folded, being removed and taken to his office to be shown it was in perfect condition, when he got egg on his face, and had to eat his own words. Who, on another occasion, when I told him a casing was defective owing to its wet-strengthening epichlorohydrin resin content not having been fully cured, he rounded on me saying "I don't buy that one ******!" Like he really didn't understand about the chemistry involved in fibrous cellulosic casing manufacture, but exalted by his wouldbe higher status of being a SwFinn, felt superior, so full of Sh*t! Hahaha!!!
In conclusion. On this occasion I shall content myself by delivering myself of the above Trygvi Eriksson's words, or as it turned out his prophesy because I was never to learn Swedish, but, nay bother, I delivered a very superior knowledge about the casing's basic nature in PAPER my special expertise!
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