All the Slow Finnish lessons in one place
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I am making this post so that I can refer to old lessons at the end of new lessons with a single link instead of listing them all there.
You can also practice what you have learned here on Memrise. I am making a course based on Slow Finnish with A_User there.
I would also like to promote Project Finnish. This is one of the most popular posts on Duolingo. Please follow the link and up-vote so that the staff will see how popular Finnish is. Thank you! :)
Here are the lessons:
Chapter 4a - Onko sinulla lemmikkejä?
Chapter 4b - Onko sinulla lemmikkejä?
Chapter 4c - Onko sinulla lemmikkejä?
Chapter 4d - Onko sinulla lemmikkejä?
Chapter 4e - Onko sinulla lemmikkejä?
Chapter 4f - Onko sinulla lemmikkejä?
Chapter 6a - Monelta juna lähtee?
Chapter 6b - Monelta juna lähtee?
Chapter 6c - Monelta juna lähtee?
Chapter 6d - Monelta juna lähtee?
Chapter 6e - Monelta juna lähtee?
Chapter 10a - Saisinko puolukoita?
Chapter 10b - Saisinko puolukoita?
Chapter 10c - Saisinko puolukoita?
Chapter 10d - Saisinko puolukoita?
Chapter 10e - Saisinko puolukoita?
Chapter 10f - Saisinko puolukoita?
Chapter 10g - Saisinko puolukoita?
Chapter 12a - Haluaisin kupin teetä, kiitos
Chapter 12b - Haluaisin kupin teetä, kiitos
Chapter 12c - Haluaisin kupin teetä, kiitos
Chapter 12d - Haluaisin kupin teetä, kiitos
Chapter 12e - Haluaisin kupin teetä, kiitos
Chapter 12f - Haluaisin kupin teetä, kiitos
Chapter 13a - Onko teillä punaisia mekkoja?
Chapter 13b - Onko teillä punaisia mekkoja?
Chapter 13c - Onko teillä punaisia mekkoja?
Chapter 13d - Onko teillä punaisia mekkoja?
Chapter 13e - Onko teillä punaisia mekkoja?
Chapter 13f - Onko teillä punaisia mekkoja?
Chapter 13g - Onko teillä punaisia mekkoja?
Chapter 15a - Kävelkää suoraan eteenpäin
49 Comments
Just a suggestion - it requires more work on your part - but you could put Next and Previous buttons on each page.
Example: [Next](https://www.duolingo.com/comment/10579104) shows as Next
This is so beautiful!!! I am so glad someone is putting Finnish on Duolingo. I just traveled there to see some distant Finnish relatives, but it would have been much better if I knew more of the language!
Because I keep going back to previous lessons for vocabulary and explanations and sometimes it took me a while to find the right lessons, I made myself a table with some notes next to the links.
If anyone finds it useful too, here it is: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hxxHbOEyV7IlJoqTyRjakpcKdo70C-KRwTLjTZ8OxsQ/view
Edit: I've also added the notes to the Wikia page.
Terve! I wanted to make a post on the list of lessons created by users (soon I hope) and I just want to let you know that I will include the link of this lesson page and username there ^^ please reply if you give the permission to do so
While I'm not currently learning Finnish (and will not in the immediate future), I would still like for a moderator to make this post a sticky so that it can quickly be found in the duolingo discussion (we all know that the searching option for discussions is underperforming at best).
What is taught here is kirjakieli, or 'book Finnish', that no one does or has ever naturally spoken. Book Finnish was artificially created to be a standard between some dialects of Finland. It's used on official matters and books and job applications and when writing an essay or a wikipedia article etc. You know, when you need to use formal language you use book Finnish. But no one actually speaks book Finnish on day-to-day conversations, they speak colloquial Finnish.
Book Finnish is close to colloquial Finnish, but often there are some differences. For example, near the capital area people would say:
"Voiksä auttaa mua tän koiran kaa"
but the same sentence in book Finnish is:
"Voitko sinä auttaa minua tämän koiran kanssa" (Can you help me with this dog)
So to actually fully understand what Finns are saying or even Finnish movies and TV shows, people would also have to learn colloquial Finnish. But the problem with that is that colloquial Finnish is different in different parts of Finland... This is the most annoying thing with Finnish, English for example does not really have this problem. This makes creating a Duolingo Finnish course so complicated, because you can teach book Finnish but no one actually speaks that. You can teach book Finnish and in addition colloquial Finnish, but which dialect will you teach? Even if you decide to teach book Finnish and in addition the capital area dialect (which is the most popular dialect), it's still going to be annoying having to learn two versions of the same language.
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It is true that kirjakieli is spoken by only a few, but it is understood by everyone, regardless of what dialect you speak. Helsinki dialect may be the most spoken of the dialects, but it is still spoken by less than the fifth of the nation. This is why, I really had no other option except to teach kirjakieli. However, should it make you happy, I am willing to give a lesson in Savonian dialect just for you:
"Voesitteko työ mitenkään aattoo tämän koeran kutaleen kanssa" (Can you help me with this dog) :D
:3
Hämälä dialect:
Voitko sää nääs auttaa minua totanoinni tämän koiran kanssa.
Turku dialect:
Voitko sää kui vaa auttaa munt tämän koiran kans.
Oulu dialect:
Voikko nää auttaa minua tämän koiran voi mahoton kansa.
:D
From what I've heard, the Finnish situation is comparable to that of Norwegian (Bokmål) and Arabic (MSA), though maybe less extreme. Thus I see no reason why Duo should teach spoken Finnish (except in a bonus lesson perhaps), because like Zzzzz said, kirjakieli is understood by everyone and everyone is able to speak it, if need be.
Not long ago I spoke with a friend who has learned Finnish as a second language and knows many others. She says that it's better to teach kirjakieli first, that it gives a good base for learning the spoken language (any variation).
It does indeed, because puhukieli is basically kirjakieli where most commonly used words are shortened and some endings dropped. In practice it is quite easy to switch to puhukieli after learning kirjakieli.
I love your translation for 'kirjakieli', Book Finnish. Book Finnish means written standard language, which exists precisely as written form. Then there's spoken standard language, 'yleiskieli', which is kinda identical, but spoken. Sounds silly, but the distinction is defined for normative reasons, that is to say to standardize the language.
Yes, I'm a language nerd. Thank you for asking.
I've actually thought about this and wonder if it's so much harder than learning a language where the spelling is wery different from pronounciation. The differences between written and spoken Finnish aren't just about phonemes, but in the end, there are certain rules to it. The history of written Finnish is relatively short and there has for a long time been a goal towards one sound=one letter. This has kept the written and spoken languages relatively close together. But spoken language changes faster than written language, and Finnish has reached a point where this is noticeable. So maybe teaching Finnish isn't that different from teaching English or French where spelling isn't phonemic. I don't see a reason why the two (spoken and written) couldn't be taught side by side. The truth is: one needs to know both.
I haven't come across this idea in a Finnish textbook yet. I know most of them focus on written Finnish and this leaves the students wondering what on earth people are actually saying. Some say you can't teach two things at the same time, that you need to start with one and teach the other later on, but opinions differe whether spoken or written should come first.
Just some random thoughts inspired by your comment :)
The textbook I have at home (it's a Czech textbook for Finnish learners) actually introduces spoken Finnish right in the first lesson – when they list the basic conjugation for olla, they give us both the written and spoken versions. Whether it's a good idea (to place it in the first lesson) is up to discussion, most students will probably be happy when they manage to memorize one set of forms. On the other hand it's good to know about the existence of the spoken form and how much it differs.
I haven't seen more than a few lessons, so I can't tell how much they teach about it later.
Which version should come first will probably differ for different people and how they want to use the language. For those who live in Finland (or plan to move there or spend a longer holiday there), the spoken form might be better, but students will probably need the written form. And for people like me, who are too shy to talk to strangers and prefer books to TV shows, the choice is pretty straightforward. :)
Oh wow, there's a Czech textbook! I was talking about the all Finnish ones they use here in Finland. I don't know about other ones.
You are like me in preferring the written form. I don't really intend to talk with anyone, I just love learning languages :D
Majority of tourists and immigrants are concentrated in Helsinki, so I would say it does make sense to teach Helsinki variant of puhukieli.
I didn't know you had all of this until just now! Thank you much, much more that my last thanks!
Hi there!
Firstly "thank you", for the lessons.
But I wanted to ask, if you could maybe fix the link/page "Chapter 10d" [https://www.duolingo.com/comment/12822408], please? All the other ones seem to work.
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I'd just like to thank you for your incredible work. I'm using these lessons paired with the Memrise course and I'm loving them. I've been loving finnish for a while now, so thank you for providing these amazing lessons!
So glad I found this! I've been searching like crazy for some 1981 Finnish textbook that I know is somewhere in my apartment but I have had no luck so far. Now I can start from here instead :) Thanks!!!
moi, I'm glad to see this kind of post. i have an idea that could help. if you want... check it out https://www.duolingo.com/comment/13976743
I gave you over 50 Lingots because I admire your dedication towards something you enjoy. Keep it up! :) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
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Thank you! Unfortunately, I do not know how to lingot bomb people. Otherwise I would give a hundred red, lovely things. :D
Hei Mari, Miten käy sinun suomen kielen opettava verkkosivusi? Odotan innolla sitä!
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I am sorry to report that it has been delayed due to a family crisis. You must have noticed that I have not posted any new lessons on DL either. Things are very difficult right now but I will try to start working on my site in early summer.
Hello, I am doing this on Memrise and it is wonderful. I am just wondering if feedback is desired. Some of the translations are not what I would expect and I am curious on the word order of some. But I don't want to bother anyone if that is not the purpose of this comments section. Thanks
I think I found my own answer, they go here, sorry to cross post https://community.memrise.com/t/course-forum-slow-finnish-duolingo-user-created-lessons-by-a-user-and-zzzzz/3203
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Hello. I should warn you that I have been inactive for a while. I just returned to Duolingo and I have not returned to Memrise yet. All feedback is more than welcome though. I intend to make the course into a website. I started to work on the site less than two years ago, but the development is currently on hold due to my personal life. :)
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OK. I need help. Whenever I try to login to the Memrise forum, the app opens up. Anyone know what is going on? [Edit: I deleted the app. Problem solved. :) ]
Well this is going to be REALLY helpful for a project that I have to do on finland
probably the only thing that would be keeping me back is that its just hard for me to pronounce it
