Learning the Finnish Language

Vocabulary Builder Finnish

IF your child's face lights up when they see a brightly colored picture, cuddly toy animal or a game, then this is for them. Vocabulary Builder Finnish is designed for kids who like to be entertained. It has lots of brightly colored pictures and fun games to get your child hooked on learning. Adults love this program too!

Will it work for my child?

Vocabulary Builder Finnish is designed for children aged 4-12. It's a simple piece of educational software that they'll find easy to use. It's fun, engaging and encouraging - even for children who are easily distracted.

No reading required. Vocabulary Builder is all based on spoken language and pictures, so children don't have to be able to read in order to use it.

What will my child learn?

Vocabulary Builder covers some basic words and phrases. These have been chosen to be fun as well as useful. There are around 100 words in the program - just enough to get your child started without overloading them.

The topics include colors, numbers, actions, professions and simple sentences with some prepositions.

How does it work?

There are three different sections:

Learn what the words mean with pictures accompanied by the spoken word.

Three exciting memory games that get progressively harder. It's this section where they really learn to recognise and remember words.

Record your own story. Browse through the pictures and record the words you want to appear. You can compare your recording with a native speaker if you want. You can also string your story together with any words you want to put in, then watch your story played back on cinema screen followed by a big round of applause.

This really gets them talking in a foreign language and you'll be amazed how quickly they pick up the accent.

Notes for parents:

Biologically, the earlier a child is exposed to a second language the better - studies have proven that a young mind is more receptive than an older one. Learning Finnish will also improve your child's ability in other languages.

System Requirements

Windows 2000 or later
Mac OS X 10.2 or above
CD ROM Drive (+ computer microphone)

For more information visit Vocabulary Builder Finnish Software.

Talk Now Finnish

IF you're new to Finnish, there are some basics you will have to learn, whether you're eight years old or 80, on business abroad or a tourist on holiday. Talk Now! Finnish offers a simple-to-use method for you to start learning the language, whoever you are.

Will it work for me?

Lots of people have difficulty learning languages. Why? Most have been put off at school, don't have time to learn, or think they are too lazy to do it.

Talk Now! Finnish answers these problems:

It lifts the language off the page. There are no dull exercises; just encouraging games that award you points for progress.

It fits easily into short ten-minute sessions. But if you want to push yourself you can learn the basics in a weekend.

if you think you're lazy, think again! You'll be amazed how motivated you can be when you enjoy the experience of learning!

What will I learn?

To speak and understand enough to "get by".

You're just starting, so we won't drop you in at the deep end. There are some things you'll want to say in any language: you'll want to say 'hello', order a drink, ask for directions and so on.

This beginners program gets straight to the point. It covers food, colors, shopping, parts of the body, numbers, telling the time, countries, greetings and essential phrases.

How does it work?

Talk Now! Finnish gives you easy-to-achieve goals. Learning a new language is far too big a task to tackle all at once, so we have broken it down into a series of rewarding challenges.

Play interactive language games. Talk Now! feeds you new words, along with pictures to reinforce your memory. It then tests your knowledge with fun quizzes. As soon as you start playing you start learning.

Earn points for every game you play. High scorers can go on to win bronze, silver and gold awards, which you can print out as a record of achievement.

You will hear Finnish all of the time and, using the recording games, you can start speaking straight away, then compare your voice to a native speaker.

You can learn on the move. Carry on learning in the airport lounge or the ferry without a computer. Just print out the phrasebook sheets included in the program and take them with you, or upload the program's sound files onto an iPod.

System Requirements

Windows 2000 or later
Mac OS X 10.3.9 or above
CD ROM Drive (+ computer microphone)
You can also upload words onto your iPod

For more information visit Talk Now Finnish Beginner Software.

Talk More Finnish

THIS program teaches basic conversational phrases with structures that can be adapted to fit different situations. It also tackles one of the main challenges in learning a foreign language: building the confidence to speak it. Talk More's recording function allows you to compare your accent with that of a native speaker. Perfect for building a learner's spoken confidence.

Will it work for me?

If you know some basic Finnish, but you don't think you could handle a full conversation, Talk More will get you talking. Because it's aimed at recent beginners, everything you hear will be clearly spoken at a speed that you can easily keep up with.

What will I learn?

In this program you'll start putting together complete sentences, as opposed to learning individual bits of vocabulary. We've selected a range of phrases you commonly need abroad, including many that you might find essential: for example, "I'd like to pay by credit card", "My camera has been stolen", and "Where is the pharmacy?"

Topics cover greetings, shops and restaurants, getting around, hotels, phone calls, emergencies, leisure and the basic vocabulary of business and technology.

How does it work?

Watch and learn! See and hear how to speak Finnish by watching video footage of native speakers.

Build confidence on a computer. Before testing your new speaking skills in the real world, record yourself, then play back to compare your pronunciation with that of a native speaker. (Note that we don't use electronic voice analysis: the human ear is usually much more accurate.)

Play interactive games. The comprehension quiz prompts you to react to real life situations, while a challenging recording quiz tests your knowledge and pronunciation.

You earn points for every game you play. High scorers can go on to win bronze, silver and gold awards, which you can print out as a record of achievement.

You can learn on the move. Carry on learning in the airport lounge or on the ferry. Just print out the phrasebook sheets included in the program and take them with you.

System Requirements

Windows 2000 or later
Mac OS X 10.3.9 or above
CD ROM Drive (+ computer microphone)
QuickTime 6 or higher

For more information visit Talk More Finnish Conversational Software .

Talk The Talk Finnish

TALK The Talk is designed with teenagers' social lives in mind. It concentrates on the words and phrases young people need for social conversation, including plenty of useful, up-to-date vocabulary. It then builds their spoken confidence, allowing them to compare their accent to that of a native speaker.

Will it work for me?

This program is best suited for teenagers who are beginning to get to grips with Finnish. It's best if you know some basic vocabulary before you start.

Because it's aimed at recent beginners, everything you hear will be clearly spoken at a speed that you can easily keep up with.

What will I learn?

To talk about the things that are relevant to you. We won't bother you with lots of information you won't need or don't find interesting.

Talk The Talk teaches phrases like "I'll send you a text message later" and "we won the game on penalties". Topics include family, school, hobbies, travelling, home, technology, work and sport.

How does it work?

Watch and learn! See and hear how to speak Finnish by watching video footage of native speakers.

Build confidence on a computer. Before testing your new speaking skills in the real world, record yourself, then play back to compare your pronunciation with a native speaker. (Note that we don't use electronic voice analysis: the human ear is usually much more accurate.)

Play interactive games. The comprehension quiz prompts you to react to real life situations, while a challenging recording quiz tests your knowledge and pronunciation.

You earn points for every game you play. High scorers can go on to win bronze, silver and gold awards, which you can print out as a record of achievement.

You can learn on the move. Carry on learning in the airport lounge or on the ferry. Just print out the phrasebook sheets included in the program and take them with you.

System Requirements

Windows 2000 or later
Mac OS X 10.3.9 or above
CD ROM Drive (+ computer microphone)
QuickTime 6 or higher

For more information visit Talk the Talk Finnish Beginner Software.

World Talk Finnish

IT'S easy to be fazed when you start a conversation in Finnish and the person you're talking to replies using lots of words that you haven't learned yet. World Talk prepares you for these real-life situations with addictive listening games. It will teach you to recognise key words in everyday situations and broaden your vocabulary.

Will it work for me?

If your Finnish is good enough to follow basic conversations, but you still need to practice, World Talk is for you.

Everything you'll hear in the program is in Finnish, but you don't need to know every word before you start. Listen for key words that you already know, then pick up new words in the same way you would when talking to a native speaker.

What will I learn?

To keep on listening. When a word comes up that we don't recognise, we often stop listening because we're focusing on that one word and nothing else. This program lets you grasp the gist of what someone's saying without getting hung up on the words you don't understand.

You will develop your practical knowledge of Finnish. There are 10 different games covering numbers, conversations, descriptions, sentence building, directions and dictation practice. These activities cover a wide range of subjects and give you important practical skills that you can use immediately.

How does it work?

Play interactive language games and earn points for every game you play. High scorers can go on to win bronze, silver and gold awards, which you can print out as a record of achievement.

Speak and write in Finnish. Record yourself and compare your pronunciation with a native speaker, then test your written Finnish with four dictation exercises.

You'll start to think in Finnish! World Talk is an 'immersive' experience: in this program you will only hear Finnish. You'll learn to associate the language with memorable images - not just the equivalent words in your own language. This means you'll start thinking in Finnish, which will make you quicker at understanding and recalling words.

Record yourself and compare your pronunciation with a native speaker, then test your written Finnish with four dictation exercises.

You'll start to think in Finnish! World Talk is an 'immersive' experience: in this program you will only hear Finnish. You'll learn to associate the language with memorable images - not just the equivalent words in your own language. This means you'll start thinking in Finnish, which will make you quicker at understanding and recalling words.

System Requirements

Windows 2000 or later
Mac OS X 10.3.9 or above
CD ROM Drive (+ computer microphone)

For more information visit World Talk Finnish Intermediate Software.

Talk Business Finnish

PICTURE yourself doing business with someone who doesn't speak your language. The chances are you'll need more than "holiday level" conversation to get by. That's why Talk Business was developed. It teaches you basic business vocabulary so that you can concentrate on the important stuff and not waste time searching for the right words.

Will it work for me?

Talk Business is aimed at people who already have some experience of the language. You must feel confident enough to start up a conversation and keep it going.

The specialist phrases in Talk Business Finnish are clearly spoken at a speed that you can easily keep up with and copy.

What will I learn?

Talk Business Finnish gives you essential vocabulary for the workplace. It covers basics such as "what is your website address?" and "my computer crashed and I lost all my files" as well as more advanced discussion of exchange rates, product guarantees and marketing budgets.

Topics covered are: - Trading, buying and selling - Marketing, advertising and PR - IT, Internet, e-commerce and communications - Banking, finance, stock exchange and accounting - Business meetings - Business travel - Careers - Negotiations - On the phone - General business vocabulary

How does it work?

Watch and learn! See and hear how to speak Finnish by watching video footage of native speakers.

Build confidence on a computer. Before testing your new speaking skills in the real world, record yourself, then play back to compare your pronunciation with a native speaker. (Note that we don't use electronic voice analysis: the human ear is usually more accurate.)

Play interactive games. The comprehension quiz prompts you to react to real life situations, while a challenging recording quiz tests your knowledge and pronunciation.

You earn points for every game you play. High scorers can go on to win bronze, silver and gold awards, which you can print out as a record of achievement.

You can learn on the move. Carry on learning in the airport lounge or on the ferry. Just print out the phrasebook sheets included in the program and take them with you.

System Requirements

Windows 2000 or later
Mac OS X 10.3.9 or above
CD ROM Drive (+ computer microphone)
QuickTime 6 or higher

For more information visit Talk Business Finnish Intermediate Software.

The Foreign Service Institute has developed a series of language-learning courses for use by the state department and other government agencies. These courses have been developed, tested by use, and improved over a period of many years. Working with the Departments of Defense, Education, other government agencies, and various universities, the Foreign Service Institute has created the largest body of complete courses for languages of the world available anywhere.

This course produced by the Foreign Service Institute as part of its Basic Course series, provides introductory through intermediate level material. The goal of Foreign Service Institute courses is to provide the English Speaking student's from any occupational background with practical knowledge and proficiency in their language of interest.

The first level of this courses is sufficient for a working knowledge of the grammar and pronunciation, and will serve the needs of travelers and business people. All of these courses present the subject language in a way that allows students to master the material quickly and thoroughly, while moving at their own pace through lessons and reviews. This basic course in Finnish, emphasizies the spoken language with pronunciation drills and a large glossary.

For more information visit Foreign Service Institute Conversational Finnish Course.

Learn Finnish Fast and Easy With These Tips and Tricks

By John Mox

There's nothing more fulfilling than being able to have a decent conversation with the locals of any country, especially if you travel a lot or if you meet new people from various cultural backgrounds and walks of life on a regular basis. In the case of the Finnish people, there are just over 5 million speakers worldwide, spoken in Finland of course, and also in a few neighboring countries like Sweden, Russia, Estonia, Norway, and in some communities in the USA and Canada.

Finns are often quick to point out that Finnish has a reputation for being very difficult. However, as soon as you penetrate the once obscure-looking vocabulary and learn Finnish by coming to terms with what seems an odd way of building words and sentences, it's rather an easy language with very few irregularities.

Finnish is a sub-group of the Ural-Altaic family of languages which were first spoken in the Ural Mountains. Although it's not thought of as one of the most predominant languages in the world like Spanish or English, there are a considerable number of people who speak Finnish. This fact makes it worthwhile to study and learn Finnish. Finnish speakers are quite distributed as well, so if you are heading to any of the above mentioned countries in the US or Europe, you could easily get along with people if you learn Finnish expressions. That's why it's important to learn this language during your free time.

However, the real challenge lies in the fact that you need the right resources and tools to learn Finnish since it is not that easy to take in and become versed with. Finnish is actually a candidate among one of the most difficult languages to learn, together with Arabic, Japanese, Russian, Hungarian, Navajo and many others. There are many factors that contribute to making a language easy or hard to learn, but it will all depend on what you were accustomed to speaking since this has the greatest impact on how you learn new languages. Of course getting to know a new writing system as well as new rules and tones all contribute to the difficulty of this endeavor.

To learn Finnish the easy way, it would be best to have conversations with someone who speaks both Finnish and English fluently. There are many Finns in the United States, about 200,000, and you might not know it but your next door neighbor may have some Finnish heritage in him or her. If you couldn't find someone in your place to help you learn Finnish, there are many online tutors who would be willing to coach you. This is actually a good option for both cost and convenience reasons.

If you think you can't learn a new language, you better think again. As unlikely as it may seem and contrary to popular belief, truth is our brains maintain the capacity to learn and get the hang of new knowledge of all types even as we get older. No matter what your background or past learning experience, you CAN learn Finnish using some proven effective and time-tested techniques.

There are a multitude of reasons for wanting to speak and learn Finnish or the language of other people in general; for travel, business, education, personal pleasure, even family or friends. Indeed it's a daunting task to say the least to master and learn Finnish or any other language, but the prestige, financial gains, personal satisfaction and envy that can accompany this easily nurtured skill can be most rewarding and makes it worth the time and effort you put in. By incorporating your new language into your everyday life and following the guidelines listed below, you'll develop good communicative skills in a new tongue and learn Finnish.

Enroll in a short course: A number of language courses are immediately available in most areas at a local community college or university. Courses in the continuing education, however, require you to be able to keep their schedule . Finding an online course will allow you to work at your own pace. The internet likewise abounds with foreign language course offerings.

Mimicking: Imitating word - for - word the speech, sounds even actions of the Finnish speaker, be it a newscaster, character on a soap opera, documentary narrator or the voice coming from your tape player or radio is called mimicking. It's highly effective you'll get talking in record time yourself. Just start by trying to get your tongue around the words. With practice, you'll acquire speed and ease. It may feel unnatural and silly at first, but you'll get there sooner than you think if you persevere.

Read: Stop at the library for any kind of reading material ranging from a grammar book, a newspaper, magazines, the bible, brochures, even comics. All of these can help you along. Short articles are a good first option, but either way your personal satisfaction at doing and wading through various sources will be boundless.

Here are a few helpful tips and a survival guide to Finnish on meeting, greeting and being polite and other essentials. These are commonly used phrases with their corresponding Finnish equivalent just to give you a hint of what the language is all about and to help you learn Finnish fast.

- How do I say hello/hi in Finnish: Hei or Moi

- How do I say Good morning/Good afternoon in Finnish: Hyvää päivää

- How do I say Good evening in Finnish: Hyvää iltaa

- How do I say Good night in Finnish: Hyvää yötä

- How do I say how are you in Finnish: Mitä kuuluu?

- How do I say very well thank you, and you? in Finnish: Kiitos hyvä, entäs itsellesi?

- How do I say Goodbye in Finnish: Näkemiin or Hei hei

- How do I say thank you in Finnish: Kiitos

- How do I say many thanks in Finnish: Kiitoksia paljon

- How do I say You're welcome in Finnish: Ole hyvä

- How do I say yes in Finnish: Kyllä

- How do I say no in Finnish: Ei

- How do I say excuse me in Finnish: Anteeksi

- How do I say May I/Do you mind in Finnish: Saanko?

- How do I say Sorry in Finnish: Olen Pahoillani

The internet is an excellent and cheap way to learn Finnish as opposed to attending costly Finnish classes. Some websites offer downloadable files and software where you can learn more about vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. This is how to learn Finnish the easy way - by listening to audio and reading online materials about this language. If you've got a good material, you'll learn decent Finnish in just a few weeks for just an hour a day. Learning Finnish will broaden your horizon and a new, exciting dimension to your life.

The next time to meet or run into a native speaker of your new language, you can now say something instead of just staying there mum. People are generally flattered that you're trying to meet them on their own terms or in their own language and are usually more than happy to chat. It's also great practice for breaking the ice when you finally light out for foreign soil.

These quick tricks to learn Finnish tied up and in conjunction with a short language course will make your language-mastery efforts less painful and much easier while at the same time. If you are serious to improve or learn finnish effectively and quickly, visit this site by Clicking Here Now!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Mox


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Foreign Service Institute Courses

The foreign language courses developed by the Foreign Service Institute have helped thousands of individuals from diverse backgrounds or interests including diplomatic, military, business, travel, and cultural concerns. Many of these programs were originally developed by self instructional programs were originally produced by the National Foreign Affairs Training Center of the U.S. Department of State, the Defense Language Institute, the Center for the Advancement of Language Learning, and the Central Intelligence Agency.
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Course Types Available

Basic Courses generally focus on the all essential grammar of a spoken language. These courses include samples of speech, explanations of basic language structure, and a wide range of practical exercises.

FAST Courses (Familiarization and Short-Term Training) and HeadStart Courses are designed to familiarize the student with everyday situations visitors will encounter and provide the needed language skills to handle common every day situations.

Programmatic Courses offer more extensive grammar and sentence structure while providing extensive reading comprehensive drills, vocabulary training, and pronunciation.

A Printed Book and an Audio MP3 CD is included for each Level.

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Our Pimsleur Rental program has proven so successful that we wanted to follow up with other rental possibilities.

This helps reduce the cost of learning a language and enables more people to complete their language goals. Since FSI courses are typically longer than Pimsleur courses and more extensive including text as well as audio, we have devised the following rental beta plan.

Rent a FSI Course and select the amount of time you need it for. Each course has different rental options available. When you're finished with the course, send it back using a traceable method like Postal Service, UPS, or Fedex Ground.

You may also want to consider visiting Rent a Foreign Service Institute Course