BSNS G ce a - FOREIGNERS |TO THE READER ‘The present textbook is a continuation of the author's Finnish ‘for Foreigners 1 which, first published in 1963 and revised in 1973, has in thirteen editions served students of the Finnish language all over the world. The book, which now appears in two parts, a Textbook including the grammar, and a separate Exercise book, has undergone a thorough revision. A few old chapters have been replaced by new ones; a number of less fre- quent words have been left out; the order of the structural features presented has frequently been changed. On the basis of the author’s experience and the students’ wishes, special at- tention and considerably more space than before have been devoted to two points of central importance in learning Fin- nish; the use of the different noun and verb types, and the par- titive case, ‘The purpose of Finnish for Foreigners 1 is, above all, to teach the learner spoken Finnish. Most topics have been selected with special regard to practical situations facing every foreigner in Finland; the basic structure and vocabulary are taught in gradual installments; and throughout there are also hints about colloquial usage in the Helsinki area. (These hints, useful to foreigners already in Finland, can easily be skipped by students learning Finnish in their own countries.) At the same time, of course, students will learn to master the fundamentals of written Finnish; structural points typical of written Janguage alone will be introduced in Finnish for Foreigners 2. ‘The chapters of this book are divided into three parts: 1) dialogue or narrative, 2) structural notes, and 3) vocabulary. 1) Due to the spoken-language approach of this book, most lessons are based on a dialogue, which is by far the most important part of the lesson. As it contains vocabulary and phrases typical of the situation and includes useful structural patterns, memorizing as many of the dialogues as possible is strongly recommended, especially in the beginning stages. To save time and to forestall errors for those studying Finnish without teacher, all lessons include an idiomatic English (viisiy 5translation, The English is also a useful help in checking how well the Finnish has been memorized and in looking ahead for phrases and words eventually needed; 2) The presentation of the structure of Finnish proceeds from the frequent and/or easier to the rare and/or more dif ficult. The use of grammatical terminology characteristic of Finnish alone has been reduced to a minimum, This book is not meant to be a complete grammar. It is concerned with the essentials rather than with all the details; 3) The vocabulary section shows the inflection of the Finnish words and their English equivalents. It may also include other information, for instance examples illustrating the use of the new words. All the dialogues and other texts, as well as the pronunc! ation exercises following the first few lessons, are available on two cassettes which also include the listening comprehension exercises in the Exercise book for each chapter. 1am grateful to my colleagues Hannele Jénsson-Korhola ‘and Eile Hamalainen for reading the manuscript and offering valuable suggestions. My thanks are due to Mark Shackleton, Lecturer in English at Helsinki University, for correcting my English; for any remaining errors I am solely responsible. I ‘would also like to thank Tiina Saaristo and Tapani Aaltio, two representatives of the present student generation, for their comments on the dialogues, particularly those with a colloquial flavor. And finally, | am very much indebted to many of my students at Helsinki University who through their criticism and suggestions have greatly helped me in my work. Thope that the new version of Finnish for Foreigners 1 will prove a useful basic textbook to many English-speaking students of Finnish throughout the world Kauniainen, Finland, September 1984, Maija-Hellikki Aaltio 6 (kuusi)