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Starting to take Finnish seriously | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Jordan152 Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5827 days ago 39 posts - 35 votes Studies: English, Finnish | Message 1 of 12 17 December 2008 at 5:32pm | IP Logged |
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I have studied Finnish on and off for 6 months and now I want to get serious about my language studies. My question is how big should my vocabulary be before I start reading? At the moment I can not get through a short paragraph without looking at the dictionary every 10 seconds. Regards
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| honkanen Newbie Canada Joined 5828 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes | Message 2 of 12 17 December 2008 at 5:56pm | IP Logged |
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I'm not even sure how you're able to read the paragraph with a dictionary anyway. lol With all of those different casae endings and consonent gradation, most of the words I see in a sentense cannot be found in the dictionary. I've just completed a beginner finnish course at a local university last night. It was about 40hrs of instruction in total and now I'm considering if I should continue or move to an easier language.
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 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6915 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 12 17 December 2008 at 6:49pm | IP Logged |
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Jordan, how big is your vocabulary now? Have you studied any of the cases or just "words"?
Although Russian (which I'm studying) is totally unrelated to Finnish, they're similar in the aspect that both have a lot of cases and endings which you simply have to get familiar with, one way or another. Since words take other forms all the time, start with easy sentences for each case in order to get a feel for how they are put together. Compare each sentence to how it's said in your language (English?) and see how they "work". Good luck. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Jordan152 Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5827 days ago 39 posts - 35 votes Studies: English, Finnish | Message 4 of 12 17 December 2008 at 7:26pm | IP Logged |
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Hello Jeff, my vocab is not the biggest at the moment maybe around 300/400 words phrases. Do you believe it is better to learn words or phrases? I do a mixture of both at the moment. I thought it would maybe be better to learn words then learn the different case endings depending on the context I am speaking in? Are flascards the best for this? I am finding the grammar really difficult to get to grips with at present but I'm lucky to have a Finnish fiancee who is willing to help me. BTW your so lucky to be from Sweden I have had the pleasure of visiting many times and it is one of the most beautiful countries ive been too!
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 Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6900 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 12 17 December 2008 at 8:19pm | IP Logged |
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I don't think anyone can put an exact number on the vocabulary you should master before tackling reading. I would like to do at least some reading from day one with a new language, but it would have to be the right kind of reading for my level.
There is a delicate balance between challenging and too difficult. If you need the dictionary every ten seconds it sounds to me like you are diving in too deep. Too difficult and an ineffective way of using your time. Finding material closer to your current level is better. You should be able to experiment and decide by feel approximately when you are at the right level. I am not sure how much there is on offer in the way of easy-reading material for Finnish, but failing that, children's books might be an alternative to consider. Edited by Hencke on 17 December 2008 at 8:20pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6603 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 6 of 12 17 December 2008 at 8:42pm | IP Logged |
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These texts are rather good :) they all have glossaries, audio recordings and multiple choice questions.
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| Jordan152 Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5827 days ago 39 posts - 35 votes Studies: English, Finnish | Message 7 of 12 17 December 2008 at 8:57pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for all your feedback. Serpent you are a star for providing that link! Thanks a million!
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| TheElvenLord Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6086 days ago 915 posts - 927 votes 1 sounds Speaks: Cornish, English* Studies: Spanish, French, German Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 8 of 12 18 December 2008 at 2:48am | IP Logged |
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Hi Jordan152
I think that an easy way to master the grammar is to, as said above, compare it to the English. After that, IMHO, you should memorize it. You will be able to draw upon the cases and there uses as good as a native, well, that's what I find in other languages I do this in. Good luck. TEL 1 person has voted this message useful |
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