Author Topic: Finnish learning thread!  (Read 67568 times)

Ann Marie

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Finnish learning thread!
« on: February 24, 2015, 01:23:13 AM »
Come on, I know there's at least one more of you out there.  Want to celebrate/commiserate?
native:  :usa:
learning:  :finland: :germany:
dabbling, exactly like a duck:  :sweden:

taking the long road to comic comprehension

starfallz

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Re: Finnish learning thread!
« Reply #1 on: February 24, 2015, 09:14:28 AM »
AAAAAA ALL THE VOWELS.

Ahem. I have problems differentiating U, Ö, and Y.

I'm sloooowly working through a Teach Yourself Finnish book that Flik gave me, but find it hard to listen to the CDs. I've been poking at Memrise, but it is just vocabulary memorization. So, all I can do so far is say my name, my nationality, and what languages I speak.
Fluent: :usa: Rusty: :japan: Uh, what? :sweden:
Chapter Break Survivor: :artd: : :chap5: :book2: :book3: :book4: :A2chap01: :A2chap02: :A2chap03: :A2chap04: :A2chap05:

Ann Marie

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Re: Finnish learning thread!
« Reply #2 on: February 24, 2015, 10:01:15 AM »
Yay!  I'm not (completely) alone!  I go to memrise a few times a week, but it's so hard to learn words without context.  Especially all the ones with lots of ys and äs, I cannot keep those apart.

I have a phone app, "Finnish in a month" that seems more helpful, but there's not a whole lot to it.  Haven't found any books locally, so I'm going to have to order one online.  What is the book you have? 

Y is hard!  Especially before another vowel.  Double consonants make me cry.  :-(  And double vowels at the end of a word.
native:  :usa:
learning:  :finland: :germany:
dabbling, exactly like a duck:  :sweden:

taking the long road to comic comprehension

Synthpopalooza

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Re: Finnish learning thread!
« Reply #3 on: February 24, 2015, 04:55:17 PM »
Plus I think it is the only language that I have seen so far that uses a double ää umlaut.  As in "Hyvää syntymäpäivää!", what you wish someone on their birthday.
Native language:  :usa:
Hablo un poquito:  :mexico:
Jag försöker lära: :sweden:
Chce, sie, nauczyc': :poland:

JoB

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Re: Finnish learning thread!
« Reply #4 on: February 24, 2015, 05:35:51 PM »
Plus I think it is the only language that I have seen so far that uses a double ää umlaut.
Well, Germans use the onomatopoie of "määh" for the sounds sheep make ...

... wait, that's not going to turn out to be a particularly well-hidden racist slur, is it? :o
native: :de: secondary: :us: :fr:
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Kata Kissa

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Re: Finnish learning thread!
« Reply #5 on: February 24, 2015, 08:06:23 PM »
I'm trying to, or trying to find a place to try to.  The downside is I don't know where to even start
Native: :usa:
Attempting to learn: :norway:
Wanting to learn: :finland:

Ann Marie

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Re: Finnish learning thread!
« Reply #6 on: February 24, 2015, 10:39:43 PM »
I need a pronunciation guide I can actually load and listen to.  I don't think ää is so bad?  Not like yy. 

Job, I find German umlauts harder!  I think määh would sound like a sheep.  Don't see how it would be racist, though.  If you were going to make inappropriate implications about Finns and livestock, wouldn't they involve reindeer rather than sheep?  In fact I once found an old illustration... oh. Never mind.

Hei Kata Kissa!  Hauska tutustua!  Is that Lalli under the ferry table in your icon?  Where did you get that?

native:  :usa:
learning:  :finland: :germany:
dabbling, exactly like a duck:  :sweden:

taking the long road to comic comprehension

Kata Kissa

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Re: Finnish learning thread!
« Reply #7 on: February 25, 2015, 12:31:00 AM »
Hei Kata Kissa!  Hauska tutustua!  Is that Lalli under the ferry table in your icon?  Where did you get that?

Hauska tutustua! And that is Lalli under the ferry table, I made it myself. :3  I roleplay on Dreamwidth a bit and I have a friend who was looking for Tuuri icons.  I ended up making a bunch of Lalli and Emil as well. 
Native: :usa:
Attempting to learn: :norway:
Wanting to learn: :finland:

JoB

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Re: Finnish learning thread!
« Reply #8 on: February 25, 2015, 06:44:06 AM »
I think määh would sound like a sheep.  Don't see how it would be racist, though.
Well, by implying that the language having more of those double-Ä's sounds like animals bleating ... ::)

If you were going to make inappropriate implications about Finns and livestock, wouldn't they involve reindeer rather than sheep?  In fact I once found an old illustration... oh. Never mind.
Then it'ld be a slur that fails to exist at all, as Germany has virtually no reindeer. (Matter of fact, I wouldn't have the slightest what sounds reindeer make, short of shaking silver bells while pulling Santa's sleigh ...)

Also, when inventing a slur, we wouldn't want to imply that Finns are so much taller that they ... moving on. Nothing to see here. :-X
native: :de: secondary: :us: :fr:
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starfallz

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Re: Finnish learning thread!
« Reply #9 on: February 25, 2015, 09:46:39 AM »
Complete Finnish by Terttu Leney: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Finnish-Two-Audio-CDs/dp/0071766189/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1424875186&sr=1-1&keywords=complete+finnish

One problem with pronunciation guide if you don't listen to the CDs is that it is for southern British English. But listening to the samples works well.

Finnish Phrasebook: http://wikitravel.org/en/Finnish_phrasebook (no voice samples)

Here's an online one that Ruth found.: http://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/
I think she said it was from old (1960s) diplomat learning courses.

Venla: http://venla.info/ (somewhat broken)

Tavataan Taas! http://donnerwetter.kielikeskus.helsinki.fi/FinnishForForeigners/parts-index.htm
(the audio clips are a little weird and all load on a page at once, but then you can click one and have it play when you need it to)

For the vowels, I just have to keep remembering a source word to get the sound. With enough practice I should be able to handle it.

löyly is a fun word!
Fluent: :usa: Rusty: :japan: Uh, what? :sweden:
Chapter Break Survivor: :artd: : :chap5: :book2: :book3: :book4: :A2chap01: :A2chap02: :A2chap03: :A2chap04: :A2chap05:

Solovei

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Re: Finnish learning thread!
« Reply #10 on: February 25, 2015, 11:39:26 AM »
I somehow had this in my bookmarks even though I never studied finnish, but I thought it might be useful for some of you!

http://www.uusikielemme.fi/index.html - Finnish for Busy People
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:chap2:
:chap3:
:chap4:
:chap5:
:chap6:
:chap7:
:chap8:

Fluent: :canada: :russia:
Managing to stumble through: :sweden:

Fimbulvarg

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Re: Finnish learning thread!
« Reply #11 on: February 25, 2015, 11:43:56 AM »
I somehow had this in my bookmarks even though I never studied finnish, but I thought it might be useful for some of you!

http://www.uusikielemme.fi/index.html - Finnish for Busy People
I was half expecting a list of ways to tell people things like "make way" or "not now, I'm in a hurry".

Minä kuulen ääniä - I hear voices
... Useful to know.
« Last Edit: February 25, 2015, 11:46:49 AM by Fimbulvarg »

Nimphy

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Re: Finnish learning thread!
« Reply #12 on: February 25, 2015, 12:16:22 PM »

Minä kuulen ääniä - I hear voices
... Useful to know.

XD I will definitely go around telling Finns that. I now know not one, but TWO sentences in Finnish! Granted, both of them would make me look crazy, but that's... good, right?
Fluent: :italy:, :albania:, :usa:

Okay: :spain:

Learning: :germany: :norway: :japan:

Bloody messed-up spoils of a language: :france:

Survivor: :chap0: :chap1: :chap2: :chap3: :chap4: :chap5: :chap6: :chap7: :chap8:

partofacitygiant

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Re: Finnish learning thread!
« Reply #13 on: February 26, 2015, 11:20:20 PM »
Here's a sentence for you to practice some peculiarities of finnish pronounciation :P : "hyökkäävä karskihko roikale karkasi köyhänpuoleisen asuinalueensa kätköihin kaartamalla kulman ympäri huutaen samalla, 'kyttiä!'"

(the attacking somewhat brutish thug escaped to the hide-outs of his poor sort of neighborhood rounding the corner while shouting : 'coppers!') <3

the mail brought the dictionary finnish - karelian I bought in January, so I might join you guys here on occasion to write something on the language closest to eastern finnish dialects. Wishing courage in your endeavour!
almost fluent, :finland: :uk:
barely listenable :sweden:
nearly gets :norway: :estonia:

 :chap5: :chap6: :chap7: :chap8: :chap9:

jayen_aitch

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Re: Finnish learning thread!
« Reply #14 on: February 27, 2015, 02:25:54 AM »
I have been learning little bits of Finnish for a while now, often while on walks or in saunas with my Finnish other half.

It is a lot of fun, especially when I come across stuff that confuses me greatly and try to ask for an explanation.

I can't really do any written Finnish though.
speaking: :uk: • :sweden: • :france: (a bit)
writing: :uk: • :sweden: (practice needed)
comprehension: :uk: • :sweden: • :norway: • :denmark:
working on: :finland: • :sweden: • :portugal: (mostly just some very specific technical terms and some song lyrics)