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Mastering Finnish
Imaginative textbook in Finnish for individual as well as classroom use that combines practical exercises and step-by-step grammar. Covers everyday situations and local customs. Is best used with audio CDs Mastering Finnish ISBN 0968905498.
1 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 23, 2025
This was the text that is used in Lakehead University's Finnish (language) courses (4 one-semester courses, or 4*36 credit hours) when I took it (admittedly some years ago now). The freshman-level semesters covered 10 chapters out of the book (it has something like 16 chapters in total), but also covered additional material prepared by the professor. I offer the following review from the point of view of a mature (early 30s) student with no previous knowledge of Finnish.
The good points: it is arranged conversationally. That is, each chapter introduces some new grammatical structure, but chapters are mostly divided by subject content - e.g. "A Visit to the Doctor", "Travel by Train and Bus", etc. This was incredibly useful when we visited Finland after the conclusion of the courses. Another chapter was about food and ordering in restaurants; as a class, we went to the local Finnish restaurant as a "Field Trip", and the Finnish-speaking waitress easily made herself understood to us, and we to her. I'm sure our grammar was simplistic, but the point of an introductory course is conveyance of information, not composition of epic poetry. Another important point - the book avoids colloquial "Finnglish", which is apparently creeping into the language, especially in young people in the large cities (who are exposed to American/British TV, films, and music). The vocabulary is strictly "real" Finnish.
Unfortunately, there are also some bad points. First and foremost is the lack of a universal glossary/word list - extremely frustrating! Readers/students will require a Finnish-English dictionary. Secondly, the author uses grammatical terms that are not commonly known, at least to those that haven't taken a university-level course in English grammar or Latin. He throws around terms like "nominative", "genative", etc., without really defining what these terms are.
As a textbook, I think this is a fairly good one. As a stand-alone, teach yourself type book, I would be seriously hesitant about recommending it. Make sure you brush up on (or learn!) your grammatical terms beforehand, and get an English-Finnish dictionary, too.
The good points: it is arranged conversationally. That is, each chapter introduces some new grammatical structure, but chapters are mostly divided by subject content - e.g. "A Visit to the Doctor", "Travel by Train and Bus", etc. This was incredibly useful when we visited Finland after the conclusion of the courses. Another chapter was about food and ordering in restaurants; as a class, we went to the local Finnish restaurant as a "Field Trip", and the Finnish-speaking waitress easily made herself understood to us, and we to her. I'm sure our grammar was simplistic, but the point of an introductory course is conveyance of information, not composition of epic poetry. Another important point - the book avoids colloquial "Finnglish", which is apparently creeping into the language, especially in young people in the large cities (who are exposed to American/British TV, films, and music). The vocabulary is strictly "real" Finnish.
Unfortunately, there are also some bad points. First and foremost is the lack of a universal glossary/word list - extremely frustrating! Readers/students will require a Finnish-English dictionary. Secondly, the author uses grammatical terms that are not commonly known, at least to those that haven't taken a university-level course in English grammar or Latin. He throws around terms like "nominative", "genative", etc., without really defining what these terms are.
As a textbook, I think this is a fairly good one. As a stand-alone, teach yourself type book, I would be seriously hesitant about recommending it. Make sure you brush up on (or learn!) your grammatical terms beforehand, and get an English-Finnish dictionary, too.
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December 31, 2020Informative.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews