Leif Rantala

{{Infobox person

| name = Leif Rantala

| image =

| image_size =300px

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1947|12|26|df=y}}

| birth_place = Liljendal, Finland

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|01|08|1947|12|26|df=y}}

| death_place = Rovaniemi, Finland

| nationality = Finnish

| other_names =

| occupation = Linguist

| years_active =

| known_for =

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}}

Leif Rantala (26 December 1947, Liljendal – 8 January 2015, Rovaniemi){{ cite web | url =http://yle.fi/uutiset/kuolan_niemimaan_tutkija_leif_rantala_on_kuollut/7727329 | title =Kuolan niemimaan tutkija Leif Rantala on kuollut | trans-title = Leif Rantala, scholar of the Kola Peninsula, has died | last =Johanna Sarjas| date=2015-01-09| publisher =Yle Lappi | access-date =2015-01-09 | language = fi}} 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.”{{ cite web | url =https://www.facebook.com/valentina.sovkina | title =Facebook wall | last = Valentina Sovkina| id =Translation Pekka Sammallahti/Panu Hallamaa | work =Facebook| date =2015-01-09| access-date =2015-01-09 | language = ru}}

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.{{cite book | last = Leif Rantala | title=De samiska ortnamnen i Polmak | translator = | year =1975 | page= | location = | publisher = MA thesis in Finno-Ugric languages, Helsinki University | isbn = | url=| language = sv}} 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.{{ cite web

| url =http://yle.fi/uutiset/rantala_virkamiehet_saamenkielen_oppiin/5343483 | title =Rantala: Virkamiehet saamenkielen oppiin | trans-title = Civil servants should learn Saami | last =| date =2011-04-15 | location = | publisher =Yle Lappi | access-date =2015-01-09| language = fi}}

Works

Source:{{cite web | url = https://fennica.linneanet.fi/| title = Fennica catalogue| last = National Library of Finland| access-date =2015-01-09}}

{{cite book

| last =

| title=Sámi bibliografiia: čállosat Suomas 1986/Saamelaisbibliografia: Suomessa julkaistun saamelaisaineiston vuosiluettelo 1986

| trans-title = Bibliography of Saami literature in Finland in 1986

| year =1988

| page =[6], 10, [6]

|isbn =

| location =Rovaniemi

| publisher = Rovaniemi public library and Lapland Provincial library

| language =

}}

{{cite book

| title= Sámegiel báikenammalogahallan/Samisk ortnamnsförteckning/Samisk stedsnavnsfortegnelse/Saamenkielinen paikannimiluettelo/Ukazatel' saamskih toponimov

| trans-title = An index of Saami place names

| year = 1988

| page= 40, [2]

| location = Roavvenjárga

| isbn = 952-90-0133-9

| url=

| last1= Rantala

| first1= Leif

}}

{{cite book

| last =

| title= Dokument om de ryska samerna och Kolahalvön

| trans-title = Documents on the Russian Saami and on the Kola Peninsula

| year = 2006

| page= 156

| id = Ed. Leif Rantala. University of Lapland, reports on pedagogy, 1457-9553; 15

| location = Rovaniemi

| publisher =University of Lapland

| isbn = 952-484-022-7

| url=

}}

{{cite book

| last =

| title= Kuolan niemimaalla käyneiden suomalaisten tiedemiesten matkakertomuksia

| trans-title = Travel accounts of Finns who had been to the Kola Peninsula

| translator =

| year = 2008

| page= 116

| id =Collected and translated by Leif Rantala

| location = Rovaniemi

| publisher =Lapin tutkimusseura

| isbn = 978-951-9327-50-1

| url= http://www.lapintutkimusseura.fi/files/Acta%20Lapponica%20Fenniae%2020.pdf

}}

{{cite book

| last =Leif Rantala & Aleftina Sergina

| title=Áhkkila sápmelaččat: oanehis muitalus sámejoavkku birra, man maŋimuš sámegielalaš olmmoš jámii 29.12.2003

| translator =

| year = 2009

| page =79

| id = University of Lapland, reports on pedagogy, 1796-3877; 8

| location =Rovaniemi

| publisher =

| isbn =978-952-484-328-7

| url=

}}

{{cite book

| last =

| title=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

| trans-title = To Kola

| translator =

| year =2008

| id =Introduction and presentation also in Saami, Swedish, English and Russian

| location =Rovaniemi. 1. painos 2008, 2 painos 2010

| publisher =University of Lapland

| isbn =978-952-484-181-8

}}

Translations

Source:

{{cite book

| last =

| title=Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Helsinki Final Act (1975)./Europa dorvvolaśvuoda ja oktasaśbarggu konfereansa: loahppaáśśigirji

| year =1979

| page=76

| id =Saami translation: Leif Rantala, Pekka Sammallahti

| location =Helsset/Helsinki

| publisher =Davviriikkaid sámiráddi (Nordic Saami Council)

| isbn =951-95329-8-6

}}

{{cite book

| last =

| title=Etu-Lapin suomalaisasutus

| trans-title = Finnish settlement of Lower Lapland. A Nordic travelling exhibition. Produced by the Lapland Provincial Museum, Rovaniemi

| year =1986

| page=[2], 23

| id = Swedish translations by Markku Ekholm, Saami translations by Leif Rantala

| location =Rovaniemi

| publisher = Lapland Provincial Museum

| isbn =951-99773-0-9

}}

{{cite book

| last =Jukka Peltonen

| title=Sámi jietna: sámi čáppagirjjálašvuohta: bibliografiia/Saamen ääni: saamelainen kaunokirjallisuus ja sen tutkimus: bibliografia

| trans-title = The Voice of the Saami: Saami literature and research on it: a bibliography

| year =1988

| page =58

| id =Translations by Leif Rantala

| location =Rovaniemi

| publisher = Rovaniemi public library and Lapland Provincial library

| isbn =

}}

{{cite book

| last =Ludger Müller-Wille

| title=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

| translator =

| year =1996

| id =Translation into Sámi: Leif Rantala; translation into Finnish: Lilja Seppälä, Kaisa Uitto and Leena Tornberg

| location =Rovaniemi

| publisher =Arktinen keskus/Arctic centre

| isbn =951-634-482-8

}}

{{cite book

| last = Sünne Burmeister, Nils-Aslak Valkeapää

| title=Between the times: portrait of a Sámi reindeer herder/Áiggiid gaskkas:sápmelaš badjeolbmá govva/Aikain välillä: saamelaisen poromiehen muotokuva

| translator =

| year = 1997

| page= 75

| id = 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

| location = Rovaniemi

| publisher = Arktinen keskus/Arctic centre, University of Lapland

| isbn = 951-634-537-9

}}

{{cite book

| last =P. W. Aurén

| title=Matkani Lapinmaassa 1867: Inari, Utsjoki, Sodankylä, Jäämeren ranta

| trans-title = My travels in Lapland in 1867

| id =Translated by Leif Rantala

| year =2012

| page=176

| location =Tuusula

| publisher =Hipputeos

| isbn =978-952-5617-21-4

| url=

}}

{{cite book

| last =Pigga Keskitalo

| title=Sámi pedagogihka iešvuođat/Saamelaispedagogiikan perusteet/The basics of Sámi pedagogy/Grunderna i samisk pedagogik/Osnovy saamskoj pedagogiki

| year = 2011

| id =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

| location =Rovaniemi

| publisher =University of Lapland

| isbn =978-952-484-503-8

}}