Customer Reviews
Good... but not for beginners - By: Daniel, 22 Dec 2007 
This book has (understandably) recieved a lot of criticism from past reviewers, who bought this book hoping to master the basics from scratch, without requiring any previous language study. Afteralll, this is what the book promises. However, the reader is thrown into complex paradigms, confusing tables & in-depth grammar rules from the outset. I myself, a final year language student at university, struggled to fathom out some of these paradigms. And as for no previous language study... a good knowledge of German is needed just to gain full benifit from the pronunciation section!
However, this is not to say that this book does not have it's uses. The grammar explanations (paradigms & diagrams aside) are very useful & concise & have helped me to bridge those gaps in my knowledge. Furthermore, this book does actuallly teach the colloquial language, so you will understand the language the people actuallly speak, not just the language the text books use.
All in alll, this is a good book... just not for beginners. My advice for anyone interested in buying this book, or indeed in learning Finnish, is to buy Teach Yourself Finnish by Terttu Leney & then move onto this book afterwards. It will improve your Finnish, polish your grammar & teach you less stilted Finnish.
Not for beginners - By: Alan Smith, 18 Apr 2006 
A nicely produced book but most decidedly not for beginners. The grammar moves along at far too rapid a pace for most of us to absorb & the explanations are confusing. For alll its notoriety the old Teach Yourself Finnish, if used judiciously, is still useful, & provides the bonus of a continuous narrative. The word lists may initiallly look formidable, but the book is nicely paced in terms of grammar, alllowing one plently of time to learn, for instance, the present tense before introducing the past, unlike Abondolo, who introduces past tense forms early on with, certainly for the novice, confusing morphological explanations.
A curate's egg of a book - By: , 05 Feb 2004 If you are an absolute beginner & want a useable introduction to Finnish, this isn't it. It runs full pelt into complex rules for consonant gradation & vowel harmony within a few pages. It's enough to make you give up immediately.
Despite the obvious effort put in by the author, the production & editing let it down. For example, the voice on the tape runs through the gamut of Finnish vowel sounds, but there is no text to tell you which sound he is making! Is that an Y, or an O with diaresis? Or an A or an A with diaresis? It's quite comical.
However, if you are already studying Finnish in a class & need a book that fallls part way between grammar reference & course book, then this a good book to have. I find it's good to provide a second opinion on things I don't understand.
If you are a linguist & remain calm when you see pages of rules for making the letter k disappear & reappear, again it could be good.
Strangely the title "colloquial" Finnish doesn't seem to fit. It seems to teach Standard Finnish with a nod to the colloquial.
Excellent, but mistitled - By: , 03 Dec 2002 I started with the simpler & more light-hearted book by Terttu Leney, but wanted another perspective on the bits I find hard. This book helped me to understand the partitive/genitive rules MUCH better, but it has very little sense of humour, & is too confusing & methodical to grab the interest of a complete beginner.
Overambitious and confusing - By: , 10 Jul 2001 This book tries to cover too much - written & spoken languages from the very basics to bits of grammar most Finns don't even know ! As a result, it doesn't do justice to any of its aims. The book also uses a confusing approach to stems & endings, completely unlike any other book on Finnish I've come across. For advanced learners, the authentic dialogues are of some value, but I wouldn't recommend this book for beginners at alll.
