Getting started

Kauniiksi kutsuttiin neitoa. Hänen hiuksensa olivat ruosteenkarvaiset, katsanto viekas ja terävä, suu myös sulava, ehkä melkein liian leveä. Varreltansa oli hän lyhyt, mutta harteva ja palleroinen, ja vahvaksi sanottiin häntä myös. Tämän kaltainen oli veljesten lempilintu Männistön suojassa.

This course is designed for the absolute beginners. You don't need to know anything about Finnish language.

All the material is free (at least this far, maybe in the future I get greedy ;) . Free means you can copy it, send it to your friend, link to it, print it out, what ever you want, as long as a) the purpose is not commercial b) you keep me informed where you use my material (my email is jmkark|a|gmail.com) c) you mention the source (me) when you quote.

Taking lessons

Text lessons give you the very basics of the Finnish language. They teach you everyday vocabulary, such as greetings, numbers, colors, basic questions, and so on.

Grammar part goes deeper into the language. Finnish has a reputation as a language with incomprehensible grammar, but that's absolutely nonsense ;) . The pronunciation is the first thing to start with. Under the title Phonetics you can find the guide of pronunciation with sound files.

Culture part focuses on different topics in Finland, Finns and Finnish language. The texts are both in Finnish and English, so they are good way to practice your language skills.

Taking exercises

After studying the lessons, you can test yourself. In the Exercise part you can find small tests based on the text lessons. To take the exercises, your browser needs to support javascript.

Switching between layouts

You can choose how the site looks like by choosing the layout in the drop-menu. Some of the layouts are just for aestetic purpose, some of them has practical functions.

If you have problems to read small text, select Easy to read. Texts becomes bigger and contrast clearer.

If you want to print out the page, select Printerfriendly. Images and other graphical elemens are omitted, so you don't need to waste ink.

Technical issues

The site is optimized to Firefox 2 browser. Also older browsers will do, but some of them, like Internet explorer 5 and 6 include some bugs, which may hinder using the site. You can download Firefox for free from Mozilla.org.

To test yourself in Exercises-section, your browser must support JavaScript and it must be turned on. (In Firefox: Tools-> Options -> Content ; click "Enable JavaScript")

To listen the audio samples, you need a mediaplayer, such as Winamp.

Bookstore

Venla Bookstore is a reliable way to order printed material, such as professional grammars, dictionaries and studybooks online. By buying your books from Venla bookstore, you also support the free online study material.

The bookstore is provided by the well-known online shopping center Amazon.com. The prices are very reasonable, and the order can be shipped virtually any address in the world. Your local bookstore may not have especially large collection of Finnish study books, but from Venla Bookstore you have wide range of material selected by me.