a good Finnish-English dictionary

[chiakijohnson]

Hi-

I need a very good Finnish-English (or Finnish-Japanese is another possibility) dictionary... I need to be able to read food labels for my food sensitivities. I have so many food items I need to avoid including soy, eggs, and milk. I also would like to find more gluten free food including buckwheat, chick-pea flour, millet, etc. Without being able to read the labels at a store just makes it impossible for me to find safe food. Please help!

[tuulen]

Translating dictionaries are published by WSOY, in two editions; 1) Suomi - Englantii Suur - Sanakirja (Finnish to English), and 2) Englantii - Suomi Suur - Sanakirja (English to Finnish). They are each about 1,500 pages.

They are the best available translating dictionaries.

Here is where to find them: https://akateeminen.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... m-akasales

Contact Stockmann Akateeminen Kirjakauppa and tell them what you want. They can get it for you.

[Adrian42]

Hi-

I need a very good Finnish-English (or Finnish-Japanese is another possibility) dictionary... I need to be able to read food labels for my food sensitivities. I have so many food items I need to avoid including soy, eggs, and milk. I also would like to find more gluten free food including buckwheat, chick-pea flour, millet, etc. Without being able to read the labels at a store just makes it impossible for me to find safe food. Please help!

That's pretty specific vocabulary that won't be in a small dictionary, and you don't want to carry a huge dictionary.

A Finn would in a similar situation use his smartphone with an app for Google translate (or another translation service).

[Rosamunda]

I think this is unbeatable for food items:

http://www.dlc.fi/~marianna/gourmet/multi_ve.htm

You would never find all these items listed in a regular dictionary. If you can't find certain foodstuffs, you can email the "Nordic Recipe Archive" and ask them to add the items. It's a project which has grown over the years. When I first came to Finland an American woman handed the photocopied glossary to me on a piece of paper (Excel spreadsheet) and it was just in Finnish and English. Now Swedish and Russian have been added.

Don't waste your money on WSOY or Gummerus dictionaries. There are *free* dictionaries available online that are as good and/or apps for smartphones that cost only a couple of euros. It's a shame that there is not a GOOD Finnish-English dictionary on the market (something like a French Collins-Robert), but I guess the publishers just don't have that kind of money available.

[tuulen]

Don't waste your money on WSOY or Gummerus dictionaries.

In this case you probably are right. But I was addressing the OP's original question, about a very good translating dictionary, and the WSOY dictionary is as good as it gets. However, I also agree with you, that even the WSOY dictionary probably does not include such specialized food information.

So your inclusion of http://www.dlc.fi/~marianna/gourmet/multi_ve.htm appears to be the best alternative.

It's a shame that there is not a GOOD Finnish-English dictionary on the market (something like a French Collins-Robert), but I guess the publishers just don't have that kind of money available.

Yeah, it probably does come down to the economics of publishing. Nykysuomen sanakirja is published in six volumes and is expensive, and that dictionary is more than 50 years old, so it might not include so many modern, technical terms.

[Rosamunda]

Yeah, it probably does come down to the economics of publishing. Nykysuomen sanakirja is published in six volumes and is expensive, and that dictionary is more than 50 years old, so it might not include so many modern, technical terms.

In fact, it might not include ANY modern, technical terms.

[tuulen]

In fact, it might not include ANY modern, technical terms.

OK, we agree. But the original Nykysuomen sanakirja is a historical treasure trove. And so perhaps the editors should now issue some new volume(s) of updated definitions? That seems to be the most efficient solution.

[Jukka Aho]

Yeah, it probably does come down to the economics of publishing. Nykysuomen sanakirja is published in six volumes and is expensive, and that dictionary is more than 50 years old, so it might not include so many modern, technical terms.

In fact, it might not include ANY modern, technical terms.

I have seen someone characterizing the title of Nykysuomen sanakirja (“The Dictionary of Modern Finnish”) as “jocular” and the content as “1930s agrarian Finnish”... which might not be too far from the truth. But it does have some nice descriptions of the older words and their etymology. I’m not quite sure why it was never updated.

The most authoritative and up-to-date monolingual Finnish dictionary is Kielitoimiston sanakirja, available both in print and as a digital edition.

[tuulen]

I have seen someone characterizing the title of Nykysuomen sanakirja (“The Dictionary of Modern Finnish”) as “jocular” and the content as “1930s agrarian Finnish”... which might not be too far from the truth. But it does have some nice descriptions of the older words and their etymology. I’m not quite sure why it was never updated.

But the original Nykysuomen sanakirja is a historical treasure trove.

There is an old Russian saying, that he who does not keep one eye on the past while keeping one eye on the future is a fool. And so, Nykysuomen sanakirja could be ancient, but it reflects Finland's ancient history.