I have stumbled upon Finnish Easy Reading project a while ago. Last autumn, during book fair, we participated in the contest for EasyFinnish books - and we won! It took me a while to write this review, as my friends have immediately noticed my post and have asked for books.
I have chosen this book for review: simplified version of Minna Canth, Köyhää kansaa.
I was positively surprised by the diversity of vocabulary combined with understandable and easy-to-follow sentence structures. It makes it easy to use the book at language courses or during individual language sessions, or even for self-learning. Unfortunately, I have not read the original, not adapted version of book yet - but now I am really thinking about it.
In addition to adapted text, the books come with:
-references that clarify the meanings of difficult or rare words - very handy, especially when you are reading on bus and have no time (or even energy) to check the dictionary
-exercises
-bookmark to track your reading progress.
Good things to know:
-There are books for different language levels - from beginner to advanced. The book level is marked in description at the website. For example, if you are just starting with Finnish, you may want to choose "Helppo" ("Easy") level.
-You can preview the books to check whether it suits your language level
-You can buy the books in PDF format. However, I would recommend ordering a real book, as it adds up to your motivation to read it, allows you to highlight new words and just tangibly see your reading progress with bookmark. These small details are important!
Questions or ideas about next blog posts? Drop me a message at #startyourFinnish Facebook page.