Customer Reviews

Colloquial Finnish: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial Series)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although interesting, I find Panu's review way out of line. Saying that the language in this book is that of Helsinki Skinheads is absurd altogether. The Finnish in this book is simply the Finnish used in Helsinki (and most major cities), I can't see how on earth this has anything to do with skinheads.. This is the language used by youngsters in Disco's, clubs, on the streests, in the schools and universities etc. One could only hope that the visitor to this site will take Panu's comments for what they're worth.

For the book itself, it is quite good even if the way of describing Finnish grammar is highly un-orthodox. The vocabulary is quite comprehensive and most dialouges are well wuited for the learner.When completing this course, the reader will be able to converse with nativr Finnish speakers and take part in normal life.

This book is EXCELLENT for learning colloquial aspects of Finnish (contracted forms of pronouns, shortened verb forms, and other familiar forms). However, if this had been my first book on Finnish, I think I would have given it up as far too difficult. The grammatical explanations seem either overly complicated or overly vague for the beginner. However, for the intermediate or advanced student, this is an excellent way to improve your comprehension of colloquial Finnish and to make your own speech and writing more "authentic".

I own a few other Finnish language books. Actually, all of the books that the local bookstore I visit had, which was like 5 or 6. Routledge's language courses are the best you can buy, I know because I've bought an array of books for an array of languages. But this one takes the cake; Author Daniel Abondolo delicately blends the professionalism or language books with the speech or normal people to create a very conducive environment for learning, especially with such a diffucult language. Abondolo teaches you the essentials of the language, as no single volume book could teach you an entire language. By the end of the book, you will be speaking the language seemingly as if you've known the language all your life, without the accent though. The authors credentials are confirmed by his other books, namely the Uralic Languages(editor+author), a highly technical book dealing with the language group with which Finnish is part of. The tapes provide a very useful tool, that is, hearing the spoken language through native speakers.

This book falls between several stools. It tries to teach absolutely everything about both written and spoken Finnish in too small a space. It also uses a non-standard approach to Finnish grammar which is confusing and unclear even to some native speakers I have asked ! For learners who are already at a reasonable standard, the dialogues are good examples of authentic spoken language, but I do not recommend this book for beginners at all.

Is Finnish the most difficult language in Europe? Quite possibly, yes. Is it one of the most interesting? Definitely!

Unlike almost every other language in Europe (English, French, Russian, Welsh, Swedish etc etc) Finnish is not an Indo-European language. This means that it is unrelated to most other European languages except Estonian and Hungarian. Thus it is not surprising to find that the language is very different indeed, what about 14 cases for nouns?! The vocabulary is also very different from most other European languages. Given this, trying to learn Finnish is a real challenge.

So why do it? One reason is that Europe's largest collection of folk-tales is in Finnish since old stories lived on here for a very long time. The national epic of Finland, Kalevala, has rightly been considered equal to the Celtic and Greek Epics. Finnish is also a very beautiful languages, and the linguist J.R.R Tolkien (author of The Lord of the Rings) based his alven-speech upon Finnish, considering Finnish to be the most beautiful language in the world. Then there is also the joy of visiting Finland - one of the richest, cleanest and most developed countries in Europe Most people under 40 speak as good as fluent English but you don't get to know the culture in the same way without some knowledge of Finnish.

Colloquial Finnish is definitely your best guide to natural, spoken Finnish. It presents the grammar in a somewhat unconventional way, but it does manage to give a very thorough guide to all aspects of the Finnish grammar. The lessons are not too long, and are packed with conversations to help you learn the spoken language. In all, the book is a very good mix of grammar explanations, exercises, dialouges and miscs. Learning to pronounce Finnish is not too hard, but the audio-version is very helpful.

As can be seen from my review, I have fallen in love with both the country and the language, and this book has done more than any other to help me learn Finnish.

The "Colloquial Series" is uneven in quality, but this is one of its better examples. Its only faults are those built into the series itself: too few exersises, too little reading, too little material recorded on the cassettes. It does a creditable job of explaining Finnish grammar and the language's most exasperating aspect, the many sound changes that bedevil non-Finnish students. It is a well-written book, and if removed from the constraints of this series it could be made into an outstanding learning tool.

The best course available is that by Meri Lehtinen published by Indiana University. It gives ample explanations and exercises for fluency and pronunciation. I got the book and recordings from the University and I believe that it is still available from that source. Also good is the Foreign Service Institute course, book and recordings available from the Department Of Commerce NTIS series (contact the Dept. of Commerce). "Finnish for Foreigners," published in Finland, provides good explanations of grammar and sound changes, but would be better if it gave more exercises for practice.

Take the title of this book seriously: it really _only_ teaches colloquial Finnish, and the colloquial Finnish of only one region at that!

While this might be of use to someone interested in learning to converse ONLY, it is of no help to anyone who actually wants to learn to write and read Finnish. The problem is that the written form of Finnish is not spoken in any particular part of Finland. The usual approach is to learn to speak this written form (which everyone does understand, even though no native speaker uses it in daily life) while learning grammar rules. Once a student has done that he/she goes on to learn the colloquial Finnish of a specific area. A student who uses this book is going backwards...and will be hurt by that approach. Not only does the book contain almost no clear explanations of some of the most complex grammatical systems in the world, it also offers no introduction to standard written forms of some very common words.

A student who completes this book will be able to chat in a Helsinki bar (maybe?), but won't be able to read a newspaper or understand a radio DJ...nor will he or she have the basis to continue on to other books, which presuppose an understanding of Finnish grammar. The books recommended by other reviewers are better choices, as is Suomen Kielen Alkeisoppikirja by Anna-Liisa Lepasmaa and Leena Silfverberg.

Very frustrating to use. The book doesn't allow the reader to become comfortable with Finnish slowly and build a decent bedrock of vocabulary and grammar. Instead, even in the very beginning it mentions all sort of pedantic asides and exceptions to the rules, making the whole thing appear very daunting right from the start. Its layout is unclear and it doesn't have enough examples. You'll probably find yourself having to read the same sentence several times to absorb the rule the author is trying to lay down: a book on a difficult language that's written in poor English is the kiss of death for the beginner.

I own a couple other books on Finnish and so far this one seems to be the most practical. It's great to learn the proper way to speak, as well as the colloquialisms of the language -- this is the only book of mine which covers this aspect. Had I had this book when I lived in Finland for a year, I'd probably have picked up a lot more of what around me was being said!

My Husband is Finnish so this looks to be a great start in the lessons
of the language and country for me. RITA