[Course Forum] "A Finnish course in pictures" by alanh

[widle (idle)]

I tried to pick images for the phrases/sentences that would be distinct and memorable, and positioned the red box(es) to focus attention on the key element(s).

This mostly works. But as I said, how do I know whether the person in the picture (if there’s just one person) is meant to be me, you or he/she? “Hän katsoo paljon televisiota” could be just as well “Minä katson paljon televisiota”. “Minä luen kirjaa” could be “Hän lukee…” And so on. I don’t have a solution for this and I will hopefully remember them later, but if you come up with something, it could help.

Can I ask if you learn/review with the “more” button switched on or off? Does having it switched on while you become familiar with the phrase help, so that you make a stronger connection between the image and the phrase?

I think I tend to have it on, but probably not all the time. Sometimes it helps to make sure I’m on the same page, but in these particular sentences, the message is quite clear, it just can be approached from more sides.

[alanh]

Hi again @widle ,

This mostly works. But as I said, how do I know whether the person in the picture (if there’s just one person) is meant to be me, you or he/she? “Hän katsoo paljon televisiota” could be just as well “Minä katson paljon televisiota”.

Have a look at this one now using ‘preview’. Would that fix the problem?

[widle (idle)]

That looks good! Thanks, I think this would work.

[alanh]

OK. Looks like I’ve got some work to do in the coming days.

[alanh]

@widle,

I have made some annotations. If you have any suggestions for others, I’ll happily take them.

[widle (idle)]

Level 63:
http://www.memrise.com/course/500840/a-finnish-course-in-pictures/63/
The last two sentences are in the past tense. Is there a reason for it? I can’t see any indication in the pictures, therefore I’m pretty sure I will get them wrong.

[alanh]

Hi @widle,

No, there is no particular reason. Level 63 is a set of examples of the ‘partitive plural’ where exceptions apply. You’ll find them explained in this page of the excellent “Uusi Kielemme”: http://www.uusikielemme.fi/partitiveplural.html. Those last two phrases just happen to be in the past tense.

I have added “Past tense” in the attributes column for those two items. It will show whether or not you have the ‘more’ button switched on. I hope that helps.

[widle (idle)]

Kiitos paljon.

[widle (idle)]

Hello @alanh, I have another piece of feedback.

Level 74, “ihmiset istuvat lattialle”. If I understand this correctly, it should mean that the people are (in the process of) sitting down on the floor, not sitting already, which is suggested by both the picture and the hint sentence. I believe it should be “lattialla” if they were already sitting.

[alanh]

Hi @widle,

Thanks. You are right! As an example of the allative case ending, this phrase means that the people are in the process of sitting down on the floor. So the image I chose can be a bit misleading.

Unfortunately, “lattialla” won’t work as an example of allative case and I haven’t found a better image (which depicts the actual movement of people in the process of sitting) to replace the current one yet, so I have amended the hint sentence.

If it is still too misleading, please let me know and I’ll either keep looking for a more suitable image or replace that phrase.

It’s actually in Level 75 - the final level of the course - so it looks like you have completed it. Congratulations!

Edit: Would it help if I add “Allative case” in the Part of Speech attributes column? If so, I can do something similar for the other case endings, too.

[widle (idle)]

Hi @alanh,

Yes, I mixed up the level numbers, but you found the sentence.

Thanks for changing the hint, that should help a bit. Hopefully it’ll be enough. I still don’t remember the case names properly so it probably won’t help me but it might help someone else.

[Linneann]

Hi, I suggest some corrections. Some of these are more important than the others. And sorry if my English is not perfect

Level 15:
kulta mitali -> kultamitali, kultainen mitali or even kullanvärinen mitali

Level 17:
ruisleipä does not look like Finnish rye bread, which is darker. Tumma leipä should also be darker, at least for us Finns

Level 25:
safrani -> sahrami

Level 27:
vodkaa, rommia -> should there be the basic forms? (vodka, rommi)

Level 28:
koksi -> kokis

Level 31:
ranskanleipä -> in the picture there is ‘patonki ‘ (ranskanleipä is thicker https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranskanleipä)

Level 38:
nahka hame -> nahkahame

Level 44:
kaista -> metsätie? (with a little different picture also puistotie or puukuja)
-> OK, I checked Uusi kielemme: lane (road with trees) = kuja

I think these definitions of alley fit to ‘kuja’: A narrow street or passageway, especially one through the middle of a block giving access to the rear of lots or buildings. A walk or passage in a garden or park, bordered by rows of trees or bushes.

kuja -> kaista (on the level 45 ”vaihtaa kaistaa” is right)

Level: 46
harju -> in the picture there is (vuoren)harjanne
Harju is more like this http://gallery.norssi.fi/album65/pitkitt_isharju

Level 60:
nainen ihailee hänen poikaystävää -> nainen ihailee poikaystäväänsä

Level 63:
hiukset ovat pitkät -> lyhyet

Levels 66,69:
keritsimet are usually for sheep
66 could be pensassakset (or puutarhasakset), 69 I’m not sure, but not keritsimet

[alanh]

Hi @Linneann,

Thanks very much for your suggestions. I am always happy to correct errors and make other improvements. It seems that there are some bugs in Uusi kielemme.

I have now made these changes;

L1 - corrected to kultamitali (I have also corrected hopea mitali to hopeamitali).

L17 - images for ruisleipä and tumma leipä replaced.

L25 - corrected to sahrami.

L27 - corrected to vodka and rommi (I have also added votka as an alt because it is given in my dictionary).

L28 - corrected to kokis.

L31 - image for ranskanleipä replaced (and translation changed from baguette to French bread for better clarity).

L38 - corrected to nahkahame.

L44 - corrected the entries for kaista and kuja. I have also changed the translation for kuja to “country lane (road with trees)”. I considered katu as an alternative but an avenue is a bigger road than a country lane and metsätie seemed to be more of a track than a road. If kuja is still wrong, can you suggest something else?

L46 - corrected to harjanne.

L60 - corrected to your suggestion. The original was given in Uusi kielemme: http://www.uusikielemme.fi/partitiiviverbit.html

L63 - corrected to hiukset ovat lyhyet. I should have spotted the mistake in Uusi kielemme: http://www.uusikielemme.fi/partitiveplural.html

L66 - corrected to pensassakset, with better image and clearer translation.

L69 - I have removed the keritsimet entry from this level. It was intended to be shears for cutting metal sheets, like these: http://www.conrad.com/ce/en/product/823865/Leverage-sheet-metal-shears-NWS-066R-15-250-Suitable-for-Plates but I can’t find the correct Finnish word. I’ll replace it, if you can let me know the correct name.

Thanks again for taking the time to do this!

[Linneann]

Hi @alanh!

At first I checked if the pictures match the Finnish words. That’s why I have metsätie and those other suggestions. Only after that I read the English definitions.

I’m not sure if kuja is the best translation. How about maalaistie? But there are not necessarily trees…
This is not too easy

You could also introduce kuja as a narrow city street, alley, because you meet that meaning more often.

I think the level 69 shears could be metallisakset.

[alanh]

Hi @Linneann,

L44 - I’ve gone with “maalaistie” with a definition of “country lane” (and dropped the reference to trees).

L44 - entry added for “kuja” with a definition of “alley, narrow city street”.

L69 - re-instated the entry for metal shears as “metallisakset”.

Thanks again for taking the time to help improve this course.

Have a great weekend !

[widle (idle)]

You have switched the course to strict typing recently, haven’t you? I’m getting a lot of errors on punctuation now (ellipses and such).

[alanh]

Yes, I did. Sorry. I meant to post a ‘warning’ here but then forgot.

There was a discussion in another thread about the benefits of requiring the correct letters, accents etc when learning. I’ll try to check out the items with elipses etc next week to see if would be better to change any of them.

Feel free to flag any up to me that you think are a particular problem.

Sorry if it messed up your accuracy stats or anything!

[alanh]

“STRICT TYPING” REQUIRED

I have turned on the ‘strict typing’ feature so that you will need to learn when to use the characters “ä” and “ö” instead of “a” and “o”, which have different uses and sounds.

A ‘side-effect’ of this is that you will now need to take extra care when typing answers that include punctuation marks. You will find a detailed explanation of how punctuation marks are treated in typing tests here.

You will not meet any punctuation marks before learning Level 8, then:

• Question marks (?) appear in Levels 8,16, 32, 34, 42, 48, 60, 61 and 75.
• Hyphens (-) appear in Levels 16, 41, 42, 45 and 70.
• Elipses (…) appear in Level 16.

If any individual items cause you particular problems, let me know (giving the Level they appear in) and I will review them.

[widle (idle)]

Thanks. I’ll see how it works for me. Question marks are not a problem, it’s clear where they’re supposed to be. The rest might be less clear, but hopefully I’ll memorize them.