LL-L "Resources" 2003.01.27 (11) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: Ben J. Bloomgren <godsquad at cox.net>
Subject: Please bear with me on this.

I realize that we do not deal with the Finno-Ugric languages on this list,
but they exert a phenomenal influence on the Germanic languages. Does anyone
know where I can at least begin to understand all the clitics and where they
go in the Finno-Ugric languages, Especially Finnish?

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Resources

Ben,

I suggest you decide on one of the languages and start learning it from
scratch and systematically, if not taking an in-class course then using a
teach-yourself course with good morphology descriptions (with plenty of
examples) and with good audio material (since differences between long and
short vowels *and* consonants irrespective of stress takes some getting used
to).

In the Finnic group it is Finnish that has the largest amount of study
material in Western languages (and you seem to be leaning toward Finnish, it
seems).  In the case of Finnish, you maximize resource availability if you
can read Swedish and German.

In the Uralic group it would be Hungarian for which there is also a decent
number of publications.  It helps to be able to read German if you want to
study Hungarian.

You might like to start with the _Colloquial ..._ series to get your toes
wet.  That series includes courses for Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian (and
in the Altaic family for Turkish and [Khalkha] Mongolian).

Once you are somewhat familar with one of these languages, it will get
easier (at least conceptually) to learn other Finno-Ugric and even Altaic
languages (the two families being structually very similar).  The big step
is the one out of Indo-European into "Terra agglutinativa."  You won't be
sorry you took it, if for no other reason then to gain a new way of looking
at your own language and its relatives.  It's an enormous eye opener.

Best wishes!
Reinhard/Ron

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