Easy Finnish Society

Easy Finnish pages again - information about Finland and the world, society, nature and other stuff in plain language. Not very plain for me, but I try!

I especially appreciate the short listening and reading exercises.

Papunet made easy.

Hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää!

Tänään on Suomen Itsenäisyyspäivä!
Today is Finland's Independence Day!

Seriously Finnish

I've enrolled in a Finnish Language Course, this time for real. It will start in February, and I hope it will help me reach higher level, namely B1 of the classification sent by Tuija.

Listening: I can understand the main points of clear standard speech on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. I can understand the main point of many radio or TV programmes on current affairs or topics of personal or professional interest when the delivery is relatively slow and clear.

Reading: I can understand texts that consist mainly of high frequency everyday or job-related language. I can understand the description of events, feelings and wishes in personal letters.

Spoken Interaction: I can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken. I can enter unprepared into conversation on topics that are familiar, of personal interest or pertinent to everyday life (e.g. family, hobbies, work, travel and current events).

Spoken production: I can connect phrases in a simple way in order to describe experiences and events, my dreams, hopes and ambitions. I can briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans. I can narrate a story or relate the plot of a book or film and describe my reactions.

Writing: I can write simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest. I can write personal letters describing experiences and impressions.

I realize I need a lot of practice to reach this goal. For now my blogger interface is in Finnish and I have learned a lot of useful phrases, like: Luo, Tallenna nyt, Muokkaa etc. Every day I should spend some time doing something related to Finnish. Listening to Finnish rock does not count!

Höpöhöpö

I've just found the blog Höpöhöpö whose main purpose is to encourage foreign learners of Finnish to read and write in Finnish, and communicate with others. I guess I qualify as complete newbie:)

I did some exercises from a textbook and found that my vocabulary lags behind my grammar.
I still love Finnish though, and will work to reach Higher Intermediate level, if not advanced.

Some day I will write in Finnish forums. Suomeksi!

Uusi Levy

Kyllä minä tykkään. Onhan se vähän enemmän pop (tavallaan) kuin edelliset levyt, mutta erittäin hyvä silti. En ole vielä kuunnellut kauheasti, mutta muutaman kerran lävitse kuitenkin ja hyvältä se levy vaikuttaa. Uusi laulaja on tuonut paljon mukanaan ja se on hyvä asia :)

sama englanniksi:

Yes I like. It´s more (kinda) pop than the older stuff/albums, but it´s still really good. I haven´t listen the new album so much yet, couple of times though and it seems good. New singer have brought much with him and thats good thing to be :)

This is a message from a Finnish guy on last.fm, in reply to my question what he thought of a new album. Kuintenkin (anyway) I had an error in the question, but hey, he understood me!

I don't have time to study:/ I listen to more and more Finnish music, though. My newest Finnish artist is Apulanta.

Ymmärrä!

Which means understand.
With Finnish I was reminded of the eternal piece of wisdom that you need to make an effort just to remain on the same level in ANY pursuit.

So, let me see what I remember after exactly one month without studying.


Te käytte kaupassa. You go to the shop.
Kuka asua keskusstassa? Who lives in the center?
Sinä tiedat paljon? You know a lot.
Me menemme yhdessä. We go together.
He tavaavat Mannerheimitiellä. They meet at Mennerheimiti?
Ketkä haluavat puhua englantiaa? Who wants to speak English?
Me tarvitsemme suolaa. We need salt.
Minä ostan leipää. I take bread.
Ketkä ymmärtävät hyvin suomea? Who understands Finnish well?
Hän puhuu myös ruotsia. He speaks also Swedish.

Ok, I seem to remember bits and pieces, but I used to be a linguistic genius:) I only used this site twice.
Seriously, I couldn't figure out the the infinitive of Katoan (a great Viikate song).

Edit October 2007: the infinitive is kadota - to disappear:)