Will I ever Finnish?

Day 2 of my learn-to-count-in-many-languages challenge. Tonight I learned Finnish. And, by golly was it a real mouthful. See for yourself. This is worse than French, I think.


"They wouldn't be able to count seconds," my roommate remarked. "It takes longer than a second to say each number. They'd have to skip a few, like, 'sixty-three, sixty-six, seventy...'"

Surprisingly, though, the outrageously long names for Finnish numbers have not discouraged the country's math scholars from rising to the occasion. According to the 2009 PISA report (Programme for International Student Assessment) Finland was the top country for science education and the second place country for math education. Impressive.