Learning Finnish is like immersing yourself in another world. It has different rules and laws, original logic. Many people are afraid of its grammatical structure. The notorious 15 cases, postpositions, non-standard verb controls, alternations of consonants can discourage the desire to even begin to study it. However, not only difficulties, but also pleasant surprises await the person who dared to conquer this language. Finnish contains a huge amount of borrowings from Russian. The word tavara, for example, means a product, and viesti means a message or message. Words are read as they are written. Emphasis is always placed on the first syllable. Finnish has few exceptions and no articles. And all the difficulties can be brought to naught with the help of the correct approach to its study.
Suitable textbooks and tutorials are the first step to success
It’s worth starting with choosing a textbook suitable for independent work on the language. A lot of them are represented on the Internet and bookstores. But which one to give preference?
One of the best is the manual Chertka M. “Finnish. Basic course ”from the Berlitz series. Each lesson contains lexical and grammatical material, as well as voiced dialogues on topics typical of everyday life: shopping, receiving guests, going to the movies. To consolidate this, the author gives exercises with keys for self-control.
A good tutorial is Finnish Short Course Koivisto D. It perfectly explains the basics of grammar, gives diverse exercises with answers and reading texts.
Beginners will benefit from the “Finnish Language Textbook” by V. Chernyavskaya. With its help, one can master the lexical and grammatical minimum necessary for the basic level. The material in it is presented somewhat scattered, so it is recommended to use it as an addition to the main course. With these tutorials, you will learn Finnish from scratch on your own at a basic level. But what to do next?
The next step is study guides published in Finland.
Having mastered the basics, you can proceed to more serious publications. These are textbooks created by native speakers and published in Finnish.
Suomen Mestari is rightfully considered the best. It clearly and concisely presents the grammar, many tasks for listening. The manual will help to develop speaking skills and improve pronunciation. The author writes in simple language, therefore, problems with understanding the rules should not arise.
The Hyvin Menee textbook will allow you to gain a good vocabulary and significantly strengthen grammar training. It is divided into two parts. The first is devoted to the literary language, and the second to colloquial. At the end of the course, you will reach level B1.
But what about those who have already mastered the language well? Finnish textbook Suomea paremmin is suitable for an advanced level. With it, you can pass the language test for citizenship.
Objective necessity: reference books and dictionaries
Textbooks alone for serious language learning are not enough. You need to have a good grammar guide at hand. Self-help often can not give comprehensive answers to all questions. For beginners, the book Bratchikova N. S. “Finnish language. Grammar Reference. ” It is divided into sections, each of which is devoted to a certain part of speech and has its own color. For example, green is for adjectives, and blue for verbs. This design makes it easier to find the right topic. The grammatical material is collected in tables and provided with comments.
Questions may also cause unfamiliar words in foreign language textbooks or reference books. To solve this problem, dictionaries are used. They are necessary for people who have seriously taken up the Finnish language. For beginners, electronic versions and specialized Internet resources are suitable. However, solid paper publications, such as the Great Finnish-Russian Dictionary by Vokhros I. and Scherbakova A., will be the best option. It contains about 250 thousand lexical units on various topics and will help in almost any situation.
Video and audio courses to help Finnish learners
For people studying the Finnish language on their own, special video and audio courses are created. Studying them, you will increase the passive and active vocabulary, develop the ability to perceive foreign speech by ear, consolidate the grammar.
Check out the Supisuomea video course, developed with the participation of the Finnish television and radio company Uleisradio. When creating it, the authors paid attention to both the official and the spoken language. The video course covers topics such as home and family, food, gifts. It highlights the basic grammar.
Specially for motorists created an audio course "Finnish driving." It will help you learn to understand foreign speech and speak correctly on simple topics. After listening to it, you will learn the most common expressions in colloquial speech. However, do not expect that with the help of audio and video courses you can easily and quickly learn a language. Finnish will remain a mystery to you if you trust only this source of information.
Online resources - a storehouse of useful information
In addition to the above tutorials, there are many useful online resources for learning Finnish. Noteworthy is the project of Alexander Demyanov “Finland: language, culture and history”. On the site you can find diverse information. There are Finnish language lessons for beginners, grammar materials, exercises of varying degrees of difficulty with attached answers for self-monitoring, video and audio courses, reading texts that will definitely not be boring. Among them there are fairy tales by Timo Parvelo, written simply and with a sense of humor. The author also posts articles on culture, cinema, music, literature and history of Finland. The site is suitable for different levels of language proficiency.
Of interest is also the project of Natalia Savela "Site about the Finnish language, Finland and ...". It will be useful for beginners. There are lessons in Finnish language with exercises in grammar and vocabulary. The words on the site are voiced and accompanied by illustrations. The author offers visitors attention materials about Finland, in particular about holidays and obtaining a visa.
Talking with native speakers is best practice.
An important component of learning a foreign language is its practical application. Communication will be more beneficial than hundreds of phonetics exercises . It is good if native speakers become your interlocutors. If you do not have friends from Finland, use specialized resources. One of them is the Italki site. In the “Language Exchange” section, find a Finnish interlocutor who wants to learn Russian. Finnish can also be practiced on the Suomi24 Internet resource, in the thematic groups of social networks VKontakte and Facebook. You can find both native speakers and people learning it. Use Skype to talk live.
Fascinating Finnish: educational application 50 languages
What other resources are suitable for people who decide to learn Finnish? For beginners, an application for Android 50 languages will be useful. Download it from the Play Market, activate your account and get started. Here you can learn the alphabet, numerals, words on various topics. Each section is voiced and equipped with test tasks, for example, you need to understand the inscription or recognize the word by ear. The application has many lexical games, and there is also a voiced dictionary with pictures.
Maximum immersion in the tongue will provide a quick result.
The more foreign language you have in your life, the faster it is acquired. Listen to Finnish radio on the Internet. Watch TV shows and movies in the language you are learning. Read adapted or original books, online magazines, newspapers. Change the language from Russian to Finnish on the tablet and phone.
Engage in writing, reading, listening and speaking equally, and then you will achieve your goal: learn a foreign language. Finnish is not so difficult to learn, the main thing is desire and regular classes.