Beginner's Finnish (Hippocrene Beginner's)(w/2 CD's) Pap/Com Bl Edition

Before I purchased this book, I had been using Teach Yourself Finnish. But that book left me frustrated and feeling as if I was getting nowhere toward truly understanding how Finnish works. While Finnish language materials are not common in the US, I thought that surely there must be something else out there. I saw that this book included audio CDs, so I decided to give it a try. What a great decision I had made!First of all, if you're going to learn Finnish, I highly advise that if you don't have access to a native speaker who can help you, that you make sure to get a textbook with an audio CD to help you with pronunciation, as well as to help you understand Finnish spoken at a faster speed than the speed with which you will be able to speak. This will help ease the transition for when you go to Finland. Upon first hearing the audio CDs, I was somewhat startled by the speakers. They initially sounded a bit harsh/serious, but after seeing what this book has to offer, I do not mind if the speakers sound harsh.Each chapter in this book begins with a dialogue in Finnish (with a corresponding audio track), with the English translation on the opposite page. The audio CDs also have a second track for each dialogue in which the speakers pause after every word or two to give the student time to repeat the phrase. Next, vocabulary words from the dialogue are listed in the book (again, with a corresponding audio track) along with their English translations, as well as the same for useful phrases. Then there is a grammar section. This is the truly amazing part of the book, to me. The author does a -fantastic- job of explaining grammar rules and nuances of the Finnish language. Concepts are explained in simple terms, and in a format that makes sense. I was so happy when I realized that it felt like I was in Spanish class in high school again, instead of trying to learn Finnish from a phrasebook (such as I felt from the Teach Yourself book). Finally, each chapter ends with the opportunity to fill out a few exercises based on what you've learned from the book up through the current chapter (I've rated the item 4 stars because the chapters seem a bit random [albeit useful] and the answers to the exercises commonly include mistakes. This book needs to be edited.) The book also includes a glossary and appendices for nouns/adjectives and verbs.Overall, I am thrilled that this book exists. It's extremely affordable and an excellent deal for the clarity and information it provides. I also bought Finnish: An Essential Grammar to supplement my learning. Finally, if you already have the Teach Yourself book, you might wish to hang onto it. You can use it as a review once you've worked through this book.

The first reaction I had to this book was excitement at being able to understand a dialogue right off the bat. Some language textbooks take a long time to build up to a real text (starting instead with conversations such as: "Hi, how are you?" "I'm well. You?" "I'm well. Goodbye." "Goodbye."). This process can be tedious, and one feels for a long time as if they really know nothing. After the first lesson of Beginner's Finnish, though, you'll be able to read a two-and-a-half page dialogue and make sense of all the grammar. For me, this was a big confidence booster, and I got that "I can read Finnish!" feeling right away.The format is solid and effective: a dialogue accompanied by a vocabulary list, a list of common expressions, and an explanation of new grammar points used. The grammar explanations are essential to making sense of Finnish, whose plentiful suffixes and consonant gradation make certain words almost unrecognizable ("to read" is "lukea" but "we read" is "me luemme"). There are also three pages of exercises in each lesson, which are doable but sometimes challenge you to bring together the grammar minutiae you've accumulated. At the end of the book is a Finnish-English and English-Finnish glossary for all words used in the dialogues, as well as two essential appendices. In my opinion, an auditory component is vital in the beginning stages of learning a language, so make sure to get a copy with the two audio CDs.As might be expected, the dialogues use a few grammar points before they are explained (you can't explain the whole grammar at once), so you might find yourself wondering why there's an extra "a" on "ravintolaa" or what "siitä" means. Patience is key with this language. Most of these things will be explained in later lessons.Overall, this book brings together vocabulary, grammar, and idiom smoothly for a strong start in Finnish. Because of the complex grammar, books that try to teach you by flashcard or common phrases alone will leave you frustrated and incompetent. This book both teaches and explains why things are. If you don't speak Finnish and want to, pick this book up first.

This book starts with very simple dialogue. The dialogue is written on the left sides and translated to English on the right. It's beginner level vocabulary to say hello, get directions, buy a ticket, discuss food and other similar topics. What's nice is that you learn a bit about Helsinki - so when I went to Helsinki I remembered the dialogue descriptions of the famous places. The chapters discuss grammar and have exercises, but the primary work is in the dialogue. There are two audio recordings, a regular speed and a slow for repetition. The vocabulary also builds slowly, but I think there's a bit too much new vocabulary per dialogue. I'm not sure if it's 10 or 25% new, but it's more than 5% -which would be ideal. I'm glad I picked this up to study.I have also tried the Foreign Service Institute materials, Teach Yourself Finnish, Puhutaan Suomea, Colloquial Finnish, Hyvin Menee, and Eila ja Ossi. They are quite different in approach, but I find this text to be the most accessible.

This is not a gentle, hand-holding book. In Lesson 1, it jumps immediately into a real-life conversation and the exercises at the end of the chapter require that you go back to the conversation and copy the language for your answers. The vocabulary and "Useful Expressions" are pretty significant right off the bat. The hallmark of the entire book, though, is the explanation of Finnish grammar with a substantive review of verb conjugations and cases, which are complex and extensive. In Lesson 2, you learn how to form the possessive, but do not touch on plurals until Lesson 4. It packs in quite a bit in twelve lessons. The major negative: no index. The positives: the best for me is I can not only listen to the dialogue but read it side-by-side in English and Finnish. Very helpful. I hope I'm ready for my trip in June!

I wish there were more exercises.. as a beginners tool, I would expect it to make students practice more.Dialogues are ok, even though they are a bit random in contents, and honestly you can find good free sources online too (again, this goes back to how exercises are key in a good beginners book, those are not that easy to find)Overall it is ok, grammar is well explained and even people starting from scratch can sense the main uses and rules, and put them to good use quickly, given they put the obvious effort and time in it of course.Not too bad, but not that good either, I suppose in pairs this works best, dialogues are long and full of vocabulary, and could be used as exercises / practice method, they look great for speaking training: asking questions, making summaries etc.