Monday, July 17, 2017

Novels in easy Finnish

Here's a post about novels in easy / simplified Finnish. I asked my friend and old student to share her favourite five easy Finnish books. Kiitos, Jenna! :)

1. Ensimmäinen murhani by Leena Lehtolainen, simplified by Leena Kaivosoja-Ukkola, ("...ja kaikki muut Maria Kallio -kirjat - ...and all the other books about Maria Kallio.")

Ensimmäinen murhani - My First Murder

2. Aarresaari by Robert L.Stevenson, simplified by Pertti Rajala ("En ollut lukenut tätä englanniksikaan, ja oli hauska lukea kirja lyhyesti ja selkeästi suomeksi. Seuraavaksi aion lukea Robinson Crusoen ja Maailman ympäri 80 päivässä. - I hadn't read this in English either, and it was fun to read it in short and simple Finnish. Next, I'm going to read Robinson Crusoe and Around the World in 80 Days." )


Aarresaari - Treasure Island

3. Papin perhe by Minna Canth, simplified by Saraleena Aarnitaival ("Tämän jälkeen haluan lukea enemmän suomalaisia klassikoita. - After this, I want to read more Finnish classics.")


Minna Canth

4. Tatu, Iiris ja pääkallomies by Marja-Leena Tiainen ("Tämä oli helpompi lukea sen jälkeen kun olin lukenut Maria Kallio -kirjat, koska olin jo oppinut paljon sanastoa. - This was easier to read after I had read the Maria Kallio books, because I had already learned a lot of vocabulary.)

Tatu, Iiris ja Pääkallomies - Tatu, Iiris and a Skull Man

5. Sairaalan kellot by Georges Simenon, simplified by Marja-Leena Avela ("Tämä oli hyvä, koska opiskelen sairaanhoitajaksi. Kirja on vanha, mutta siinä oli hyvää sairaalasanastoa. - This was good, because I study to become a nurse. The book is old, but it had good hospital vocabulary.")


Sairaalan kellot - The Bells of Bisetre (sairaala = a hospital)

If you cannot find the books you want in bookstores or libraries, you can reserve them on your local library's website. If you don't know how to do that, you can use these phrases:


The easy Finnish novels are often scattered around in different library sections, so the easiest way to find all of them at once is to write selkokirja in the search box of your library's webpage. I was positively surprised that my library has 336 books in easy Finnish! They even have the books that I haven't sent to my editor yet.:)

Related posts:



About the author of Random Finnish Lesson: 


My name is Hanna Männikkölahti. I am a professional Finnish teacher who gives private online lessons and simplifies books into easy Finnish. Please read more in www.linktr.ee/hannamannikkolahti and follow this blog, if your want to be the first one to know when I post something new.  

9 comments:

Unknown said...

I just booked "Papin Perhe" from the library. Is this Finnish costumbrism?

Nathalie said...

Kiitos! I didn't even know there were books in easy finnish! There is at least one in the closest library and it will be an excellent and pleasant exercise. By the way I don't usually comment but thank you so much for your blog! I have found many lessons very useful to me, and when I'm in a period where I don't have the time or will to study a bit more Finnish, one of your posts pops up on my facebook feed and it reminds me I should work on it again :)

Random Finnish Lesson / Hanna Männikkölahti said...

Onpa hauska kuulla! That is so nice to hear! You can write a review of the book here once you finish it.:)

Random Finnish Lesson / Hanna Männikkölahti said...

I would say so. https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papin_perhe
You can write something about your reading experience here when you have read the book. :)

idle said...

Hello, thank you for these suggestions. Do you know if any of these books (or any other selkokirjat) are available as e-books? I prefer reading on my reader (the dictionary is easier to use) and I don't live in Finland, so libraries are out of question too.

Random Finnish Lesson / Hanna Männikkölahti said...

Hei Idle,

at least I don't know of any easy Finnish e-books, but I also hope that one of the publishers would start publishing them. I will definitely suggest that to the publisher that I'm working with as soon as people are back from their summer vacations.:) I personally prefer to read books on paper or listen to audio books, and that's why I'm not so familiar with what's available online. Here's one article about free e-books online: http://www.is.fi/digitoday/art-2000001846291.html

idle said...

Thank you, I'll check it out. I'm a bit wary of free classics, because I suspect older language might be a bit tricky for us learners, but maybe something will catch my eye there.

Random Finnish Lesson / Hanna Männikkölahti said...

Oh, then there's this, if you like to read children's stories: http://iltasatu.org/

Iltasatu = A bedtime story

idle said...

Thank you, this is a good resource.