query: Where are you going?

[Hannu Tommola]

Well,

more precisely, in Finnish, Miten menee? 'how goes' may always be  
replied, more or less exhaustively (preferably less, if you aren't  
sure whether the person asking really wants to know...), but normally  
_hyvin_ 'well' or _siinä-hän se_ (there-PTL it) 'ok' will be enough.

Quoting "M.M.Jocelyne Fernandez-Vest"  
<m.m.jocelyne.fernandez-vest at VJF.CNRS.FR>:
> so that even in Finnish, where the polite personalized greeting does  
> not use the verb /mennä/ "to go" (but rather a verb "be able to"   
> (/voida/) --/Miten voit ?  or "/have the strength to" (/jaksaa/)   
> -/Miten jaksat? "/How are you doing?),

These questions are not greetings, but using them one is really asking  
how it is with the person's health etc.

> resorts to a verb of perception (/Mitä kuuluu ?/ "What-is-being  
> heard?", and its idiomatic answer /-Ei kuulu mitään/ 'Nothing is  
> heard", which is positive, although it can sound rather abrupt to  
> non native ears,

One doesn't answer, in Finnish, the polite greeting-like question Mitä  
kuuluu? with Ei kuulu mitään 'Nothing is  heard', unless you are  
joking..

Hannu Tommola

-- 
Hannu Tommola, Professor of Russian Language (Translation Theory and Practice)
School of Modern Languages and Translation Studies
FIN-33014 University of Tampere, Finland
Phone: +358-(0)3-3551 6102
www.uta.fi/~trhato