Product Description

Teach Yourself Finnish is the book/CD course for anyone who wants to progress quickly from the basics to understanding, speaking and writing Finnish with confidence. Although aimed at those with no previous knowledge, it is equally suitable for anyone wishing to brush up existing knowledge for a holiday or business trip. Key structures and vocabulary are introduced in 18 thematic units progressing from introducing yourself and dealing with everyday situations to talking about work and driving in Finland. The first five units are a survival package. They give a basic introduction to the kind of language you need when you visit the country. In the later units you will become familiar with many aspects of Finnish life as well as the language. The emphasis is on communication throughout with important language structures introduced through dialogues on the accompanying recording. There are plenty of exercises to practise the language as it is introduced and tips throughout to help with grammar. Cultural information boxes give useful advice and information for anyone planning a trip to Finland.

The new edition has been updated and is now accompanied by a double CD with extra audio material. Popular features of the previous edition have been retained:

- English-Finnish vocabulary

- glossary of grammatical terms

- a 'taking it further' section to direct learners to further sources of real Finnish



The book (ISBN 0340 887494) and CDs (0340 887516) are also available separately.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #134581 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

About the Author
Terttu Leney is an experienced teacher, teacher trainer, translator and broadcaster of Finnish. She has taught Finnish in various firms and language schools, at Chelsea & Westminster Adult Education Institute, the University of Surrey and has been teaching Finnish at the Foreign Office in London for over twenty years. She has taught several generations of UK diplomats to Helsinki. She has also been a freelance broadcaster for the Finnish section of the BBC World Service and Examinations Administrator for Language Testing Associates, London. In 1996 she gained a Postgraduate Diploma in Current Developments in Language Training from the University of Westminster.

Customer Reviews

Tough going, too little grammar at start
Finnish is a very different language for us indo-european speakers. It requires a different approach. Unfortunately, it seems to me that Teach Yourself Finnish is written around the standard "Teach Yourself" language style; this does not work for Finnish, and is probably the fault of the publisher rather than the author. You need in-depth grammar before you can make significant headway and meaningfully learn vocabulary.

Instead of introducing appropriate grammar early on, Teach Yourself Finnish contains in its vocabulary lists many whole phrases - which I am never likely to remember; it gives me the feeling of wasting my time learning them (in the same way that you don't learn a language by reading a phrase book).

I have struggled with this book for nearly a year (I have the CD too), dropping into it when I feel another spurt of motivation. I just started chapter 4.

Compared to other Teach Yourself books which I've read (e.g. the excellent and inspiring Teach Yourself Norwegian, and Teach Yourself Living Welsh - regrettably now out of print), this has been a failure for me.

I am a fairly experienced language learner, and I want to learn Finnish properly, not just to get a taste of it. I am not afraid of grammar; indeed I find it fascinating. So maybe I have different requirements to others.

Gradual yet thorough approach for Finnish learners/revisers
The author's enthusiasm for Finnish comes through in this book, which deals not only with Finnish language but customs and culture too. The grammar of the language is set out in a gradual way and the chapters build well on each other. The subjects covered are useful for travellers and people intending a longer stay in Finland, and the book as a whole provides a constructive, contemporary guide to the Finnish language. It is in an approachable format and includes plenty of examples of 'real' Finnish in use, rather than just passages constructed to reflect grammatical points.

I have found it quite a fun book to use with a deceptively large amount of detail - somehow you absorb a lot of information without really realising it!

It is truly a book you can use to teach yourself, as it does not try to do too much too soon, yet packs in plenty of linguistic information at a rate that can be taken on board by an individual student.

A great book with useful background information
This is one the most enjoyable Teach Yourself language books. The dialogues are interesting and offer a pretty wide range of relevant and invaluable vocabulary. It is very well written and accessible. The background information is also really helpful for any first time visitor to Finland. However, due to the nature of the Teach Yourself series (i.e. a lot of ground covered quickly) there is not much chance to go too much into grammar and to practise. I'd advise going through it once fairly quickly and then start again doing it more slowly and carefully. If you're a serious learner go for something along the lines of M.H. Aaltio's Finnish for Foreigners Book One to get the basics of structure then do Teach Yourself to get the vocabulary you'll actually use in Finland. I would perhaps criticise what I would see as the over-use of vocabulary not included in the vocabulary lists. Firstly, I'm not a fan of gist comprehension and secondly Finnish-English dictionaries are hellishly expensive in the UK. I would like ALL of the dialogues to have been included on the tapes and I wish the company that the publishers employed to do the tapes would use someone who speaks the language as the introducer (all dialogues are of course spoken by native speakers) and cut out the over elaborate and slightly irritating scene setting i.e. you won't be asked to say "thank you" in an exercise but you'll first be told where you are, what you've bought, why you've bought it, what the weather's like, what the children are wearing etc. and then asked to say "thank you". I exaggerate of course but you know what I mean.Nevertheless, I do recommend this book. It is well worth the effort and will prepare you well for a trip to Finland.