FSI Conversational Finnish

Learn and discuss the Finnish language with Finn's and foreigners alike
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Pursuivant
Posts: 15089
Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2004 11:51 am
Location: Bath & Wells

Re: FSI Conversational Finnish

Post by Pursuivant » Sat May 09, 2009 11:58 am

it is devised for USmilitary or diplomatic personnel to learn Finnish,
Onko kylässä kommunisteja?
Jos ette ole kiltisti niskaan tulee napalmia.


"By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes."

Re: FSI Conversational Finnish

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Tuonelan Joutsen
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Location: Massachusetts

Re: FSI Conversational Finnish

Post by Tuonelan Joutsen » Sat May 09, 2009 6:35 pm

Best explanation of consonant gradation ever! :lol:
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Bavarian
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Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 10:42 pm
Location: New Yorker of Bavarian descent

Re: FSI Conversational Finnish

Post by Bavarian » Sun May 10, 2009 9:49 pm

Pursuivant wrote:
it is devised for USmilitary or diplomatic personnel to learn Finnish,
Onko kylässä kommunisteja?
Jos ette ole kiltisti niskaan tulee napalmia.
When I studied in what's now St. Petersburg, I picked up a Russian/Finnish phrasebook, since the program involved flying in and out of Helsinki and taking the Helsinki-Pietari train. The book, having been written in Soviet times, includes some wonderful phrases, especially in the "socio-political life" section, such as:

Onko Suomessa esillä kansallisuuskysymys*? or
Mikä merkitys on Paasikiven-Kekkosen linjalla Suomen ulkopolitiikassa?

If you need a dictionary to look up those questions, you sure as hell aren't going to understand the answers! :lol:

*For those who don't know Russian, "kansallisuuskysymys" is the translation of "народный вопрос" or "national question", which in the USSR referred to how to keep the non-Russian minorities a part of the Soviet Union. And try explaining the Paasikivi-Kekkonen line to any Westerner....

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Pursuivant
Posts: 15089
Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2004 11:51 am
Location: Bath & Wells

Re: FSI Conversational Finnish

Post by Pursuivant » Mon May 11, 2009 2:32 am

Oh theres a fun old USSR era 1930's ABC-book making the rounds.

Kolhoosissa on syttynyt tulipalo.
Tuholaiset ovat sen sytyttäneet.
Tulipalo sammutetaan.
Tuholaiset ammutaan.
"By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes."


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