Best beginner's textbook

[flickers1]

Colloquial vs. Hippocrene vs. Teach Yourself vs. Start to Finnish

[Gavril]

Hi Flickers,

Colloquial vs. Hippocrene vs. Teach Yourself vs. Start to Finnish

Teach Yourself is the only one I have read from cover to cover (I think I used the 2004 edition). It gives you the basics of vocabulary, noun cases and verb conjugation, and some example dialogues. It wasn't too bad from what I remember, but I don't have much to compare it with.

I read a few portions of Start to Finnish when I first started studying the language. I don't remember much about it, except that the edition I used gave the currency amounts in Finnish marks (this was just before Finland started using the Euro). It has probably been updated since then.

[chung]

Of those in your list, I'd pick "From Start to Finnish" by just a bit over "Teach Yourself Finnish".

If you do get the book for "From Start...", the authors have made the audio available for free downloading here.

The problem though with all of the books that you've mentioned is that they don't have a lot of exercises for you to practice what you've learned in a structured or organized way.

Are you looking into other beginners' courses?

[flickers1]

Are you looking into other beginners' courses?

Not thoroughly, no. I'm currently reading Karlsson's grammar to get a basic feel for how the language works. I think I'll go with Start to Finnish when I get around to it.

Are there any other good beginner's books that you know of?

[chung]

Are you looking into other beginners' courses?

Not thoroughly, no. I'm currently reading Karlsson's grammar to get a basic feel for how the language works. I think I'll go with Start to Finnish when I get around to it.

Are there any other good beginner's books that you know of?

- Kuulostaa hyvältä (textbook in Finnish + reference manual with answer key in English). There is a DVD with video clips of the dialogues, but this may be difficult to find. The videos can be seen on YouTube though under "Kuulostaa hyvältä".
- Suomen mestari

There's also "Finnish for Foreigners" (Vols. 1 & 2) which is a set of 2 textbooks, 2 exercise books, 1 book of speaking drills and CDs by Maija-Hellikki Aaltio from 1987. It's very hard to find in its entirety nowadays since the publisher seems to have let it be superseded by newer courses. They just don't make courses like this one anymore, and it not only introduces a lot over the 60 chapters (from both volumes), but it backs up everything with lots of exercises.

Kuulostaa hyvältää and Suomen mestari are easy to find in Finland but are expensive . If you want to them shipped outside Finland, they could get more expensive