Small First: A better way to learn Finnish vocabulary?

[Phil]

So I was thinking about a more effective way to learn Finnish vocabulary.

When I try to learn 20 vocabulary words of the same category (like fruits, verbs, opposites etc...), I'll easily learn most of the words but have alot of trouble with the longer Finnish words. These longer Finnish words really hinder the learning process....but of course, it's essential that they are learned.

So I was thinking about learning only small Finnish words first. First I'll learn 0-5 character long words, then learn 6 charatcter words, then 7,8, etc...

For all you Finnish speakers...what do you think of this idea? Of course there are long-sized 'basic' words that you MUST learn immediately, but beyond that I think that this method could really help me. I could even easily implement it to the FinnishSchool online app.

Thoughts? Comments?

[Tom and Jerry]

It's useful to learn the most frequent words. The first 1000 or so. Any good course in Finnish will give these first 1000 most used words.


Taking small words in finnish may surprise you. The five and six letter words for instance are full of the old-finnish words. So you will get a bunch of old-Finnish words that were used in Karelie 100 years ago.

Do you want to know how to plough and sow by hand? (äestää, kyntää)

[dpieber]

It's useful to learn the most frequent words. The first 1000 or so. Any good course in Finnish will give these first 1000 most used words.

Okay, I'll bite. What are the first 1000 most used words?

[Hank W.]

v!%#, perkele, saatana... 997 left

[FinWilli]

Okay, I'll bite. What are the first 1000 most used words?

Here they are:
http://www.verbix.com/documents/wordfrequency_fi.htm

[iloveteemu8]

Okay, I'll bite. What are the first 1000 most used words?

Here they are:
http://www.verbix.com/documents/wordfrequency_fi.htm

Wow, that's a lot of words. A bit overwhelming to see them all just one after another like that.

And on the original subject, I haven't had trouble with the long words mixed in. I think you have them categorized very well, it makes it easy to remember. But learning the most used words would be most helpful.

[Tom and Jerry]

The verbix site is near to useless. Who made that? The mormones?
Anyhow Jeruzalem, David, Hebrew, Egypt, Mozes, Filistines, olive tree are among the first 1000 most common words in Finnish according to their list. That is only possible if they have analyzed the bible by computer and based on these bible tekst made the frequency list.

So, it has no relation with Finnish whatsoever.

There is a much simpler way. Just take the course Finnish for foreigners, or suomea suomeksi or any other well sold course and take the word list from that one.

[Tom and Jerry]

In the libraries you find the suomen taajuussanasto. It has 12 000 words (good for a Saturday afternoon or so). This is a bit old-fashioned, no words like PC, but here comes the first 500. Can you get them all?
.


ja on ei että hän mutta oli se minä niin kuin kun sen ole hänen he jos joka ovat kaikki mitä jotka sitten sinä tai nyt sanoi olen sitä ne en minun sinun heidän te voi myös vain näin silloin olisi tämä siitä sillä eivät vaan olivat teidän tulee tämän vastaan vielä eikä jonka jo koko olla mitään saa olet tuli siis hänet ollut koska vaikka kanssa itse hänelle pois minua miten kyllä häntä me minulle sanoo siellä maan miksi poika aina paljon siihen mukaan mikä sekä heidät enää heille niitä joku eli tuo mies minut tässä sinua taas teille meidän nämä ettei sinulle siinä kukaan luo niiden kuitenkin kuinka päivänä et heitä kaiken onko kirjoitti juuri antaa aivan edes pitää jälkeen aika ihan hyvin vai ennen ihmiset maahan tehdä kuka teitä vastasi antoi siksi sinut kansa jossa tehnyt hyvä kuten olette oikein enemmän sinne tätä viestissä missä miehet jota toinen voisi muuten kaksi jotta ihminen kansan tähden tästä lähti pitäisi tullut yksi antanut jotain teki kaikkien ainakin pojan tähän ihmisen anna ehkä kerran ette olemme sanoivat vuotta muut ihmisten tekee jokainen teidät meni maa eri takaisin olevan esim. suuri yhtä annan joita oman tee edessä ilman joten meille minusta täällä suomen samoin mistä saakka vuoksi lisäksi koskaan elää saanut jumalaa ottaa miehen tuon meitä minkä sai kaupungin otti miestä asia vähän kai tänne nuo muuta ihmisiä tiedä varten noin sana sanoa esimerkiksi maassa jolla aikaan ajan samalla sille asti toisen totta eteen hyvää käy osa lähetti maailman kautta niistä kysyi yli saada mielestäni eikö tosin vuoden tule todella sieltä tietää eivätkä saavat tavoin suomessa tällä teen nainen seitsemän usko silti pojat minulla yhdessä älä henki kaikkia meidät isä mieltä lähtivät kansat heti kansojen tulivat olleet kuitenkaan sama aikaa jopa josta muita luokseen kaikkea enkä ota päivä pidä päällä taivaan aikana olemassa kovin täysin kaikille kuuluu poikansa oma isänsä käyttää sano maata emme voidaan asukkaat varmaan yleensä parempi heistä tulla kauan nähdä mene oleva näitä jälleen kolme maasta pahaa jää tarvitse tavalla yhä samaa näki takia tulevat heimon tuota yhden jne. sellaista sanonut edelleen ketään sinulla näet varmasti joskus päälle anteeksi mm muiden hänellä tietoa monet kiinni joiden mihin ainakaan elämän toki olkoon kohti lisää joilla lain sanon päästä kanssaan mikään muista vei mennä päivää jolloin liian sijaan omaa kyse ulos perusteella mukana nousi kansalle keskustelu mukaisesti kyynärää kohtaan saat sellainen haluaa saatte nähnyt Helsinki eihän tehneet päivän puhui itsensä kymmenen ainoa asiasta löytyy asiaa alla vasta valtion menee alkaa kertaa tapauksessa niille olisivat onkin puolesta jotakin suuren miehiä meillä hänestä valtaan hengen osaa usein vettä sanat kaupunkiin tahansa vaikkapa kansaa kansani teistä älkää takaa muu jonkun jonkin syödä katso itselleen halua esiin tiedän tänään kätensä tulisi toisaalta yhtään voit sanan onhan ilmeisesti vie puhua rahaa kaupunki ainoastaan uskoa olin näiden naiset tuossa hieman alkoi varsin toi suurin alas sinusta tekivät asioita ensin täynnä jokaisen kuule lähde käski viisi saivat kirjoitettu kunnes täytyy yksin väärin saattaa jokin

[Caroline]

I agree with T&J. In my opinion it's best to first learn the words that you need the most, rather than try to organize them by difficulty or length. The logic is that the more you use the word, the faster you'll remember it, and if you learn both short and longer words at the same time, you'll get used to the variety so you won't feel overwhelmed when you get into the next skill level.

Also, it's quite common to forget the earlier words you learned as you progress, even if you use them frequently.

[Mai]

One trick is to memorize or write down things you say and do (and hear) during the day and then to start with those words and expressions. You don't have to keep writing/memorizing all day long but do it in small step's, for example first learning breakfast talk's etc. This way slowly you learn 1000 words most usefull to YOU in your daily communicating. I used it in Netherlands to learn basic language survivor skills and alltough many of my first 1000 words related with different reason's for train being late it helped me a lot in my daily life.

[seanrobertclark]

Phil, I just wanted to say your Finnish school website is really great. I'm alittle ahead of most of it, but it was great review and I also ran into words that I hadn't learned before. I use the helsinki kieli book you mentioned you got the vocab from too. Are you planning on adding some sort of grammar section to it or expanding on the website? The only thing I would recommend is to make it so when you do the practice option, it doesn't randomly pick the words. I end up getting the same words so many times and often go a long time without getting a new word. I think it would be better if it just went straight down a list and touched on every word, but that is just my opinion. Just wanted to let you know I think the website is great and it is really nice of you to make something like that so that others can practice.

[El_Chris]

I wouldn't go by that list. I've noticed before, and just checked again to confirm, the second to last on that list of 10,000 is juosta. Don't you think that's kinda important?

[PeterF]

I have found one small help when building my Finnish vocabulary..
When I come across a new word I search for other words with similar/same ending in the singular case..no not because of any poetic intent ..but because there is a good chance that these words will conjugate in the same way..
This weeks seasonal example.."loska = slush.."..and.. "roska = rubbish/trash!"

[DAL]

I have found one small help when building my Finnish vocabulary..
When I come across a new word I search for other words with similar/same ending in the singular case..no not because of any poetic intent ..but because there is a good chance that these words will conjugate in the same way..
This weeks seasonal example.."loska = slush.."..and.. "roska = rubbish/trash!"

This is the method we use at the school I attend. Word lists based on the nominative case endings are more useful for two reasons. The first being that if you actually go through the singular and plural case endings of the word you have a greater amount of pure repetition of the word, and you develop a more innate sense of the case endings. The additional benefit is that with almost every word you will find a case ending that is theoretically possible but is impossible to imagine in common speech. This will make it more memorable and therefore relatively easier to recall. Remember, your brain is designed to recall things that do not fit neatly into their proper place, so using this to your advantage will help you immensely in your quest to learn Finnish. Otherwise, word lists are no different than trying to memorize the phone book

[Tom and Jerry]

Remember, your brain is designed to recall things that do not fit neatly into their proper place, so using this to your advantage will help you immensely in your quest to learn Finnish. Otherwise, word lists are no different than trying to memorize the phone book

No, I don't remember. Are the brains in Seattle designed differently?

There are all kind of techniques to remember words. Small notes, listening or seeing, all may help.

Those who learn language and Finnish quite fast use long word lists and tables. Usually these people are from Russia or Germany. Again, English people are really handicapped, because they don't have good examples how to learn languages. So, for the average guy from Seattle, it takes a bit more time.