HANCOCK, Mich. (WJMN)- Is sauna pronounced SOW-na or SAH-na? This is a topic of discussion on Finlandia Men’s Hockey’s social media segment called “Santeri Says”, with host Santeri Seppinen.
Seppinen is a Finnish native from the city of Turku, so it only made sense to attend a school in the Upper Peninsula with a rich Finnish culture and of course a huge hockey background.
“Santeri Says” began when one of the assistant coaches approached Seppinen with the idea that he should do a show where he teaches people how to pronounce Finnish words, and so he did.
The first post went up in September 2019, where he taught how to pronounce the last name “Pietila”. Since then there have been two more episodes posted and has a couple of thousands of views each.
“[The social media segment] is just about everything related to Finnish language. They’re hard words so I don’t give them a hard time about it,” said Seppinen.
In one segment, Seppinen visits Suomi Restaurant in Houghton where they serve one of their most popular dishes called pannukakku, which is referred to as a Finnish “pancake” made out of eggs, milk, flour, and sugar. Seppinen said it tastes just like home.
The “sauna” episode was even reposted on the Embassy of Finland in the U.S.‘s Facebook page:
To see episodes of “Santeri Says”, you can visit Finlandia Men’s Hockey Facebook or Instagram pages.
