Leif Rantala

Leif Rantala
Born	(1947-12-26)26 December 1947 Liljendal, Finland
Died	8 January 2015(2015-01-08) (aged 67) Rovaniemi, Finland
Nationality	Finnish
Occupation	Linguist

Leif Rantala (26 December 1947, Liljendal – 8 January 2015, Rovaniemi) was a Finnish-Swedish linguist, and a specialist of Sami languages, cultures of history, especially of the Kola Peninsula.

Valentina Sovkina characterized Rantala in Facebook with the following words: “He left a large, radiant footprint in the lives of the Sami people, with his interest in and knowledge of the Skolt Sami and the Sami of the Kola Peninsula.”

Activities in science and society

Rantala graduated from Helsinki University with a MA degree in Finno-Ugric languages in 1975. His thesis dealt with the Saami place names in Polmak. He worked at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, mainly as a teacher of the Northern Saami language. He was an expert of the Saami peoples and cultures of Pechenga and the Kola Peninsula. He collected a sizable collection of ethnographic materials from the Saami of Russia.

Rantala often had to work as a translator, when the civil servants in Finnish Lapland did not know Saami. “I have sometimes had to translate texts, when people have complained about the non-existent command of Saami of e.g. the police. How many Finnish civil servants have taken the trouble to learn Saami? I don’t think there are too many of them.” According to Rantala, society should use various perks to motivate civil servants to learn Saami.

Works

Source:

• Sámi bibliografiia: čállosat Suomas 1986/Saamelaisbibliografia: Suomessa julkaistun saamelaisaineiston vuosiluettelo 1986 [Bibliography of Saami literature in Finland in 1986]. Rovaniemi: Rovaniemi public library and Lapland Provincial library. 1988. p. [6], 10, [6].
• Rantala, Leif (1988). Sámegiel báikenammalogahallan/Samisk ortnamnsförteckning/Samisk stedsnavnsfortegnelse/Saamenkielinen paikannimiluettelo/Ukazatel' saamskih toponimov [An index of Saami place names]. Roavvenjárga. p. 40, [2]. ISBN 952-90-0133-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Dokument om de ryska samerna och Kolahalvön [Documents on the Russian Saami and on the Kola Peninsula]. Rovaniemi: University of Lapland. 2006. p. 156. ISBN 952-484-022-7. Ed. Leif Rantala. University of Lapland, reports on pedagogy, 1457-9553; 15.
• Kuolan niemimaalla käyneiden suomalaisten tiedemiesten matkakertomuksia [Travel accounts of Finns who had been to the Kola Peninsula] (PDF). Rovaniemi: Lapin tutkimusseura. 2008. p. 116. ISBN 978-951-9327-50-1. Collected and translated by Leif Rantala.
• Leif Rantala & Aleftina Sergina (2009). Áhkkila sápmelaččat: oanehis muitalus sámejoavkku birra, man maŋimuš sámegielalaš olmmoš jámii 29.12.2003. Rovaniemi. p. 79. ISBN 978-952-484-328-7. University of Lapland, reports on pedagogy, 1796-3877; 8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Kuolaan: Venäjän vallan aikana Kuolan niemimaalla käyneet suomalaiset tiedemiehet ja heidän kirjoituksensa/Suopmelaš dieðaolbmot geat gallededje Guoládatnjárgga n.g. ruošša áigge ja sin čállosat j.n.a./Articles and books concerning the Finnish scientific fieldwork on the Kola Peninsula from 1820 until 1917/Finska vetenskapsmän som besökt Kolahalvön under den s.k. ryska tiden i Finland och deras artiklar, böcker m.m./Finskie učenye, poseŝavšie Kol'skij poluostrov v period velikogo knâžestva finlândskogo (1809–1917) i ih publikacii [To Kola]. Rovaniemi. 1. painos 2008, 2 painos 2010: University of Lapland. 2008. ISBN 978-952-484-181-8. Introduction and presentation also in Saami, Swedish, English and Russian.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)

Translations

Source:

• Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Helsinki Final Act (1975)./Europa dorvvolaśvuoda ja oktasaśbarggu konfereansa: loahppaáśśigirji. Helsset/Helsinki: Davviriikkaid sámiráddi (Nordic Saami Council). 1979. p. 76. ISBN 951-95329-8-6. Saami translation: Leif Rantala, Pekka Sammallahti.
• Etu-Lapin suomalaisasutus [Finnish settlement of Lower Lapland. A Nordic travelling exhibition. Produced by the Lapland Provincial Museum, Rovaniemi]. Rovaniemi: Lapland Provincial Museum. 1986. p. [2], 23. ISBN 951-99773-0-9. Swedish translations by Markku Ekholm, Saami translations by Leif Rantala.
• Jukka Peltonen (1988). Sámi jietna: sámi čáppagirjjálašvuohta: bibliografiia/Saamen ääni: saamelainen kaunokirjallisuus ja sen tutkimus: bibliografia [The Voice of the Saami: Saami literature and research on it: a bibliography]. Rovaniemi: Rovaniemi public library and Lapland Provincial library. p. 58. Translations by Leif Rantala.
• Ludger Müller-Wille (1996). Sápmelaččat Ohcejogas Sámis: eallinmállet 1960-logu loahpageahčen/Sámi in Ohcejohka, Sápmi: modes of life in the late 1960's/Saamelaiset Utsjoella Saamenmaassa: 1960-luvun lopun elämää. Rovaniemi: Arktinen keskus/Arctic centre. ISBN 951-634-482-8. Translation into Sámi: Leif Rantala; translation into Finnish: Lilja Seppälä, Kaisa Uitto and Leena Tornberg.
• Sünne Burmeister, Nils-Aslak Valkeapää (1997). Between the times: portrait of a Sámi reindeer herder/Áiggiid gaskkas:sápmelaš badjeolbmá govva/Aikain välillä: saamelaisen poromiehen muotokuva. Rovaniemi: Arktinen keskus/Arctic centre, University of Lapland. p. 75. ISBN 951-634-537-9. Exhibit catalogue and text/Čájáhuskataloga ja deaksta/näyttelyluettelo ja teksti: Sünne Burmeister; all poems: Nils-Aslak Valkeapää; translation into Sámi: Leif Rantala; translation into Finnish Hanna Ahoniemi, Pirita Oksanen; translation of N-A. Valkeapää’s poems: Jyri Tynkkynen.
• P. W. Aurén (2012). Matkani Lapinmaassa 1867: Inari, Utsjoki, Sodankylä, Jäämeren ranta [My travels in Lapland in 1867]. Tuusula: Hipputeos. p. 176. ISBN 978-952-5617-21-4. Translated by Leif Rantala.
• Pigga Keskitalo (2011). Sámi pedagogihka iešvuođat/Saamelaispedagogiikan perusteet/The basics of Sámi pedagogy/Grunderna i samisk pedagogik/Osnovy saamskoj pedagogiki. Rovaniemi: University of Lapland. ISBN 978-952-484-503-8. Swedish translation: Leif Rantala. Based on Pigga Keskitalo’s dissertation at the University of Lapland (2010): Saamelaiskoulun kulttuurisensitiivisyyttä etsimässä kasvatusantropologian keinoin ja hänen jälkeenpäin yhdessä Kaarina Määtän kanssa pedagogisille malleille.

Work edited

Source:

• Cherniakov, Z. E. (1998). Očerki ètnografii saamov / Essays on Saami ethnography. Rovaniemi: University of Lapland. p. 110, [14]. ISBN 951-634-601-4. Pod redakciej Lejfa Rantala; edited by Leif Rantala. English summary.