Beginner : Finnish language

[uniq4me]

Hi there,

Really interested to learn the finnish language but I am a total beginner.
I'm not sure where to start. I have noticed from some of the posted messages, I think I would like to start and learn "stadin slangi" the local dialect of Helsinki. I plan to visit there as part of my o'seas trip to Europe. Any suggestions of how to even begin doing this is much appreciated and any further suggestions as to where to visit while I am in Finland is a plus, cheers & merci.

[BlackKimono]

Add me to your MSN, I can teach you !

There aren't any web sites that would teach Finnish for beginners.. perhaps it's time to make one. I've been thinking about it but I thought no one would like to learn Finnish anyway.

If you want to learn "stadin slangi" you should study proper Finnish first .
Stadin slangi is weird and basically just Finnish with some extra words that come from Swedish or English. If you happen to speak this slang to a Finn, don't be surprised if he/she doesn't understand it . Some of the words are never used whereas some are used everywhere in Finland.

But even before thinking about stadin slangi you should be familiar with spoken Finnish which is radically different from written (grammatically correct) Finnish. This is probably the hardest part of the Finnish language; almost every word can be said in, like, 3 ways and people are constantly coming up with new variations (in spoken Finnish people like to shorten the words cuz some of the words are looong). But if you use Finnish you'll learn it.
Think of if this way: in the English language the word "because" can be said like "cuz, 'cause, coz" etc. But in Finnish almost every word can be shortened like that.

To describe Finnish briefly, I'd say it's the liveliest language ever, it has thousands of ways of saying things, sayings, synonyms etc. There aren't too many grammar rules to it, you have to know the proper conjugations by heart. It's a good language to play with and very easy to pronounce (every word is always pronounced in the same way - no exceptions).

[uniq4me]

THANK YOU for the reply &

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE.

[BlackKimono]

Is there anything specific you'd like to know about Finnish or perhaps how something is said in Finnish.. ?

[uniq4me]

Hi there,

Would like to learn the basics, like hello, how are you, beautiful day, hot day, etc etc.

Have added you to my msn, but now need to workout a good time to catchup. Sorry right now is not a good time.

But talk to you soon.

[BlackKimono]

Alright!
I'll post some basics here while you're offline.


Päivää = Hello
Hyvää päivää = Hello (formal, literal meaning: good day)
Moi / Terve = Hi
Tervetuloa = Welcome
Kuinka voit? = How are you?
Heippa / Moikka = Bye
Nähdään = See ya
Kaunis/kuuma/kylmä päivä (tänään) = It's a beautiful/hot/cold day (today)
Anteeksi = both "excuse me" and "sorry"
Olen pahoillani = I'm sorry


(Minä) olen Jarod = I'm Jarod
(Minun) nimeni on Jarod = My name is Jarod
Mikä (sinun) nimesi on? = What's your name?
Paljonko kello on? = What time is it?
Paljonko se/tuo maksaa? = How much does it/that cost?
Anteeksi, (minä) olen eksynyt = Excuse me, I'm lost.

[note: you can usually leave the personal pronouns out, as long as the verb is conjugated]


The personal pronouns:
Minä = I/me................Minun = my/mine
Sinä = you..................Sinun = your/yours
Hän = he/she...............Hänen = his/her/hers
Me = we......................Meidän = our/ours
Te = you (plural)..........Teidän = your/yours
He = they.....................Heidän = their/theirs