Finnish language

Useful advice relating to undergraduate and postgraduate studying. Find information on admission, study permits, universities, polytechnics, courses and student life in Finland
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atex
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 3:07 pm

Finnish language

Post by atex » Wed Sep 11, 2019 5:23 pm

Good evening guys, I'm a non-EU citizen. I have seen that courses in finnish are free but in english I have to pay, I wonder if there is a university or institution that teaches finnish language. maybe learning finnish in the first year and next year i apply for university. Any advise or suggestion? thank you



Finnish language

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vla
Posts: 262
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2018 12:23 am

Re: Finnish language

Post by vla » Thu Sep 12, 2019 8:49 am

atex wrote:
Wed Sep 11, 2019 5:23 pm
Good evening guys, I'm a non-EU citizen. I have seen that courses in finnish are free but in english I have to pay, I wonder if there is a university or institution that teaches finnish language. maybe learning finnish in the first year and next year i apply for university. Any advise or suggestion? thank you
There is a lot of universities and institutions that teach finnish language. As you can guess, this is the country where people come to learn finnish.

You can look for finnish courses, for example, here: http://www.finnishcourses.fi

I would reconsidere your plan anyway. First of all, I don't believe one year is enough to learn finnish to a level in which you can study an university degree. Maybe it would be OK for everyday life. Here I am saying maybe, I am not saying you are not able to learn finnish in a good level if you try really hard. On the average an adult needs three years to learn finnish in a proper way. Of course, not everyone learns at the same pace, this is just an average.

On the second place, what would be the reason for your residence permit application? If you plan to come first to learn finnish, then you would need a reason to apply that it won't be studies (learning is not the same as studying). It can be work, for example, in which case you should have a job before applying for the residence permit.

necadam
Posts: 72
Joined: Mon Dec 02, 2013 9:57 am

Re: Finnish language

Post by necadam » Thu Sep 12, 2019 1:51 pm

vla wrote:
Thu Sep 12, 2019 8:49 am
On the average an adult needs three years to learn finnish in a proper way. Of course, not everyone learns at the same pace, this is just an average.
[citation needed]

BTW the language requirements for university admission vary. For example Helsingin yliopisto usually requires YKI level 5, but Aalto requires only level 4 in all parts of YKI exam, which is quite doable in one year (IIRC my wife, not very talented when it comes to languages, had YKI result 4, 3, 4, 3 after half year in Finland). The difference between levels 4 and 5 is quite large. So if you want to study law after one year, that might be a great challenge; but if you want to study some engineering field, I think that it is completely realistic if you have enough motivation.

But of course that is my narrow Slavic perspective. If your mother tongue is something weird, e.g. English or Mandarin, that might make learning harder.


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