Fantastic performance by Lordi last night at the Eurovision Song Contest - congratulations to the Finnish people for sending something different and exciting to Eurovison. Well done - you deserved to win.
Now, as Eurovision will be held in Finland for the first time next year, and I will be in Helsinki for a week or so, I need your advice about which books are the best for learning some Finnish.
I don't want to do an online course. I use a computer a great deal but I find staring at a screen a strain on the eyes, and being tied to my chair by headphone wires is too much. I would like a book and some CDs or tapes, and I have found two or three books, including Teach Yourself Finnish by Terttu Leney, Colloquial Finnish by D. Abondolo and a Dover (American) book.
I was wondering if anyone who has had experiences of these books can recommend or commetn upon them before I start.
Many thanks
Eurovision - Congratulations to Lordi and all Finns!
Err, depends if you can cope with the layout of them. I've considered both of them, and found that they're laid out awfully, with grammar notes straddling multiple pages, making things confusing to learn.
My advice would be to get a Finnish girlfriend, although mine seems reluctant to teach me, but there are some more taught-environment texts. Finn Guild (http://www.finn-guild.org or of 1A Mornington Crescent if you're swinging by london any time soon) will sell you their own text book "Finn Talk" and CDs for a little over £40, and that's an incredibly neatly laid out book, and if you can find a foreign language bookshop, they can sell you Finnish For Foreigners or Leila White's From Start to Finnish, although I've not looked at that. I saw that for sale in a foriegn-language bookshop round the back of Soho with the CDs, and the Finnish version of Harry Potter, but if you want me to tell you where it is, I'd need to go find it again. I stumbled across it by chance.
Edit: The bookshop's called "Grant and Cutler" and is located at http://www.grantandcutler.com/
Also, you ignore the fact that EVERYBODY in Helsinki speaks English. Or at least everyone I spoke to when I was there. In fact, spending a week in Finland, I only came across two people who couldn't.
My advice would be to get a Finnish girlfriend, although mine seems reluctant to teach me, but there are some more taught-environment texts. Finn Guild (http://www.finn-guild.org or of 1A Mornington Crescent if you're swinging by london any time soon) will sell you their own text book "Finn Talk" and CDs for a little over £40, and that's an incredibly neatly laid out book, and if you can find a foreign language bookshop, they can sell you Finnish For Foreigners or Leila White's From Start to Finnish, although I've not looked at that. I saw that for sale in a foriegn-language bookshop round the back of Soho with the CDs, and the Finnish version of Harry Potter, but if you want me to tell you where it is, I'd need to go find it again. I stumbled across it by chance.
Edit: The bookshop's called "Grant and Cutler" and is located at http://www.grantandcutler.com/
Also, you ignore the fact that EVERYBODY in Helsinki speaks English. Or at least everyone I spoke to when I was there. In fact, spending a week in Finland, I only came across two people who couldn't.
Thanks for your replies. The Finnish girlfriend sounds a great idea, but at my age it might be more realistic to see if our library wants to buy the Finn Guild publication. Thanks for the recommendation - that does sound a bit better. I know Grant and Cutler - I'll have a look in there anyway, next time I'm in London.
I know it's probably as easy to speak English, but it's against my religion to speak English when I'm abroad, until I've made a complete hash of at least five simple requests.
I know it's probably as easy to speak English, but it's against my religion to speak English when I'm abroad, until I've made a complete hash of at least five simple requests.
Cliff
Lancaster, UK
Lancaster, UK
LOL! Yes - that sort of thing :)
Although I suppose if you followed "Are you without sex" with "because someone said it was the best way to learn Finnish" you migth get away with it.
Have you just made up the sexless example? It would just be too good if that could really be mistaken for "is this for free"? :)
Although I suppose if you followed "Are you without sex" with "because someone said it was the best way to learn Finnish" you migth get away with it.
Have you just made up the sexless example? It would just be too good if that could really be mistaken for "is this for free"? :)
Cliff
Lancaster, UK
Lancaster, UK
"ilmaiseksi?" = for free?loobyloo wrote:Have you just made up the sexless example? It would just be too good if that could really be mistaken for "is this for free"?
"ilman seksiä?" = without sex?
"The whole world cries out, "Peace, Freedom, and a few less fat bastards eating all the pie"."
- Edmund Blackadder
- Edmund Blackadder
I have a related story that you might find funny.
Once last year when writing to a friend in Finland, I said that I was scared to try my poor Finnish while visiting Finland, because I would probably make a big mistake. My English example (because I don't know any in Finnish) was that instead of saying "Finnish is hard" I would accidentally say "Finns make me hard". Then (depending upon who I was speaking to) I would either get punched or thrown in jail (or pinned to the barn wall with a pitchfork, since I'll be out in the "boonies"). I then signed off with "palaillaan", however I completely butchered the spelling of that word. She wrote back laughing, & said that what I wrote was not a real word, but might be translated to mean "toward the land of balls/male testicles". Whoops.
Once last year when writing to a friend in Finland, I said that I was scared to try my poor Finnish while visiting Finland, because I would probably make a big mistake. My English example (because I don't know any in Finnish) was that instead of saying "Finnish is hard" I would accidentally say "Finns make me hard". Then (depending upon who I was speaking to) I would either get punched or thrown in jail (or pinned to the barn wall with a pitchfork, since I'll be out in the "boonies"). I then signed off with "palaillaan", however I completely butchered the spelling of that word. She wrote back laughing, & said that what I wrote was not a real word, but might be translated to mean "toward the land of balls/male testicles". Whoops.
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Hank W.
- The Motorhead
- Posts: 29973
- Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2002 10:00 pm
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And then theres a lot of Finnish homonym/phones...
Etsivät etsivät etsivät etsivät etsivät salosta Salosta Salosta salosta salosta.
Jos piilevissä piilevissä piilee vielä piileviä niin silloin piilevissä piilevissä piilevissä piilevissä piilevät piilevät piilevät.
Etsivät etsivät etsivät etsivät etsivät salosta Salosta Salosta salosta salosta.
Jos piilevissä piilevissä piilee vielä piileviä niin silloin piilevissä piilevissä piilevissä piilevissä piilevät piilevät piilevät.
Last edited by Hank W. on Mon May 22, 2006 9:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.
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Hank W.
- The Motorhead
- Posts: 29973
- Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2002 10:00 pm
- Location: Mushroom Mountain
- Contact:
And for those claiming Finnish grammar is easy for its logic(?)
Jos sorsan metsästystä sanotaan sorsastukseksi niin jäniksen metsästys on jänistämistä ja hain pyynti haistelua.
- Ei, vaan haistamista.
No entäs jos joku hieman vaan sorsastelee? Sit kai on haistelu paikallaan?
Haistaminen vaatii sen verran välineitä ja valmistautumista, että ei sitä kai voi haisteluksi sanoa. Supistelu sen sijaan on yksinkertaisempaa hommaa.
Jos sorsan metsästystä sanotaan sorsastukseksi niin jäniksen metsästys on jänistämistä ja hain pyynti haistelua.
- Ei, vaan haistamista.
No entäs jos joku hieman vaan sorsastelee? Sit kai on haistelu paikallaan?
Haistaminen vaatii sen verran välineitä ja valmistautumista, että ei sitä kai voi haisteluksi sanoa. Supistelu sen sijaan on yksinkertaisempaa hommaa.
Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.
LOL! Well, no-one can accuse you of not trying! Anyway, I would have thought that "Finns make me hard" is a compliment in a way :)
You have to try though. I've had dozens of instances with my French where I've just petered out and started shrugging my shoulders. That feels worse than makoing an honest mistake.
You have to try though. I've had dozens of instances with my French where I've just petered out and started shrugging my shoulders. That feels worse than makoing an honest mistake.
Cliff
Lancaster, UK
Lancaster, UK
Many languages have those sort of theoretical exercises, whilst gramatically correct they are seldom of use in real conversation. One example in English is to punctuate this...Hank W. wrote:And then theres a lot of Finnish homonym/phones...
Etsivät etsivät etsivät etsivät etsivät salosta Salosta Salosta salosta salosta.
John where Pete had had had had had had had had had had had the examiners approval.
Solution.
