Pirjo,

This blog is for you, my beloved first-born daughter - and solely for you. It is mainly about the Finnish language - sort of an introduction that should facilitate your learning this strange and difficult language. But it is at the same time much more... A meeting place, a contact point, a meaningful forum for the otherwise ailing father-daughter interaction...

(Why English and not German? I don't actually know why I chose English as the language of this instructive blog. Both of us quite naturally and easily converse in German - your German, of course is infinitely superior to mine, but that is not important. Mayhap I chose English, because you are my daughter and your proficiency regarding the English language is exceptional?)

Back to brass tacks, i.e. the Finnish language. The first thing you should do is to get some preliminary facts about the language here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_language .

I don't know if there is a good textbook for Finnish learners in France. The book that your mother so violently rejected (I think it was by Hueber-Verlag and was entitled "Finnisch für Sie"?) is not bad.

This is a blog that I created for this single purpose: To help my beloved daughter learn Finnish. As the teaching language I chose English. If you'd prefer rather German, no problem.

An integral part of this language course for Pirjo will be the voice recordings. Those I shall forward to you as MP3 recordings via internet or otherwise.

Are you interested? Do you want to learn Finnish?

Papa