How long does it take to learn the Finnish language?

[Hank W.]

If Finnish gets too easy, try this:

Poliisa dutkiid njunnožat fertejit ovdal bearjadaga buktit ovdan nana duođaštusaid dan 35-jahkásaš albmá vuostá, gii dál lea giddagasas ja gean poliisat navdet gottii Anna Lindh. Jos dan eai daga, de fertejit luoitit albmá luovus.

Ruoŧa justisministtar Thomas Bodstrøm lohpida dál, ahte Ruoŧa ráđđehus mearrida, man ollu mákset sutnje, gii muitala dieđuid, mat dagahit ahte Anna Lindh goddi gávnnahallá.

Go Olof Palme goddui 17 jagi áigi, de lohpidedje dallege 50 miljon ruvnnu cavgilanmávssu. Vaikko vel bohtege ollu dieđut, de eai leat vel dán rádjái gávnnan Palme goddi.

Ruoŧa justislávdegotti jođiheaddji Johan Pehrson áigu dán vahku mielde ovddidit ášši lávdegottis.
Pehrson lohká, ahte dakkár máksu lea govttolaš, muhto dieđuid árvvu fertejit poliisat árvvoštallat.

Muhto Stockholmma poliisat eai leat nu mielas dákkáraš máksui, ii ain jo ovdalgo poliisat leat iskkan buot eará vejolašvuođaid.

[Sankalp]

It was kinda demoralising to read that learning finnish will require sooo much effort. Arno, after 8 summer courses, almost 4(3) hours of class four days a week for 8 months. That is a big effort. How many credits ?Caroline, about five years. I started on my own by studying from internet in my spare time some months ago. I thaught it is gonna be a piece of cake. But It looks I overestimated my abilities Arno, I would be interested to hear how is it going for you?

[Sankalp]

It would be great to wake up one morning and then realise, Oh I understand all sta, lla, lle, ja, nyt May be some day

[Guest]

I thaught it is gonna be a piece of cake. But It looks I overestimated my abilities Arno, I would be interested to hear how is it going for you?

Did you know that you have an approbatur in the Finnish language if you did all the 8 courses at Kesä yliopisto?
It's a 16 credit (2 credits per) course.

So... I've done all the 8 courses in a row, and now I have an approbatur in Finnish language.
Isn't it a bit wretched that I can't decently communicate yet?

Ofcourse, it helped. I learned all about the grammar, and know (theoretically) which form to use where. And I do recognize more and more words. But I have still a looooong way to go.

I majorly underestimate the language too. I thought I'd do it within a year.
When I met Anna, and it was clear that we would move to Finland, I said that I would be at least communicative in Finnish by the time we'd move to Finland (I had about 2 years to do so). But that didn't function. Self study is very hard, and speaking Finnish at home didn't work. Anna got so annoyed when I asked her with every sentence 20 times to repeat what she said and asked her twice per sentence to speak slower because I couldn't follow, that we quickly switched back to Dutch.
I feel that you NEED the grammar in order to learn (to speak) Finnish. And so when we moved here last year in August and I got to the Finnish course, I thought Mwah, around Christmas I will be pretty communicative with this course . But that was also way too positive.
Now I've finished the 8th course and I know I have progressed a lot since last year, but it really isn't that easy.

And then I had this big discussion with Anna, because she said that she had to go through the same thing when she came to Holland, learning the Dutch language. And I just couldn't make her see that learning Finnish with no basis for the language (since it's not a German language) is a totally different thing that learning Dutch when you're fluent in English and Swedish and know some German. I got to a communicative level in Swedish within the year because I'm fluent in Dutch and German and English. That was no problem. But the Finnish.... Pffffff...

[BAT]

I am level 4 now, but still feel frustrated at times. On the whole though, it does feel good to understand more when I read Helsingin Sanomat or watch Finnish TV shows.

The way I think about it is that it is exciting learning a language as an adult because you are consciously aware of the learning process. When will you ever get the same feeling again when you learn how to use a certain grammatical structure correctly in Finnish. It is a once in a lifetime feeling Eventually Finnish will be second-nature if you use it enough and one day it will seem so strange that you found it difficult...

Maybe I'm just dreaming

[Guest]

Eventually Finnish will be second-nature if you use it enough and one day it will seem so strange that you found it difficult...

Theoretically speaking...

But you're probably right... At least, I hope so...

[PeterF]

It would be great to wake up one morning and then realise, Oh I understand all sta, lla, lle, ja, nyt May be some day

You will it ..I promise ..it just feels right even tricky one like ....Olen Vantalla not Vantassa on Vantaa not in Vantaa..
Couple of other tip.
One is try to make a habbit of trying to understand advertising hordings posters etc..they are often easy to remember phrases.they stick in the brain.often everyday spoken Finnish not formal Finnish..work at trying to under stand them your self ..then ask help if you are not sure ..then try to find occasion to use them.
Also a leading professor of linguistics works on the theory that the brain remember better music plus words rather than just words.
Babies learn from nursery rhymes....
Try to pick up some popular Finnish song that you like the sound of, ask the tittles and work out what they mean, then..listen with a Finnish friend and try to learn a few lines and what they mean.
................................ Not always a lot of sense inthe meanings but you will remember the words.

[Sankalp]

Learning finnish is a revitalising tonic for the brain . I am feeling challenged. It is completely different learning from what I usually learn, same technical stuff. It is a good feeling when I am able to understand more and more of finnish. There is still big hope
Sankalp

[Hank W.]

....Olen Vantalla not Vantassa on Vantaa not in Vantaa..

Depends if you are 'Vantaalla Vantaassa' you are in the city of Vantaa in(side) Hotel Vantaa

BTW here is a list of how to get the counties right - like why is is Tampereella but Helsingissä:

http://www.kotus.fi/huolto/kielitoimist ... nnat.shtml

[ari]

I'm 27 now....I've been on and off learning it since a child.

For me it an effort thing.....I've now spending loads of time with it and I'm now progressing.

[Aquila]

To some extend Finnish is a scandinavian language. The problems of using the right case forms are often the same as you encounter about using the right prepositions in Swedish and Norwegian. And - there is not any good and logical rule to give.


Only that you will usually will say "on" with small towns and "in" about great towns.

Also many other "Finnish" problems are actually common Scandinavian problems.

[Rob A.]

To some extend Finnish is a scandinavian language. The problems of using the right case forms are often the same as you encounter about using the right prepositions in Swedish and Norwegian. And - there is not any good and logical rule to give.


Only that you will usually will say "on" with small towns and "in" about great towns.

Also many other "Finnish" problems are actually common Scandinavian problems.

Hmmm...not sure what you are trying to say... Now, if the scholars are to be believed Finnish is more like Hungarian than Norwegian... And I guess just about anyone can see the connection with Estonian.

Now languages are human constructions that facilitate the "activity" of living...essentially all languages have similarities..you know, names for things; ways of talking about the past, present, and future; ways of conveying ideas and concepts...and groups of languages tend to go about this in varying ways.

The Scandinavian languages...(Finnish excluded...Finns being Nordics, not Scandinavians) ...are "Germanic" and so are related to German, Dutch, English, Frisian, and "extinct" languages such as Gothic... Then at a deeper level come the connections to the Romance languages (French, Italian, etc), to Greek, the Slavic languages, even the Celtic (Gaelic) languages...and deeper still, languages in northern India... Finnish isn't in this picture...it has a different pedigree...

And I better add that there have certainly been many influences on Finnish from Swedish and other Indo-European languages...Finnish script is, of course, Latin based like most of the rest of the European languages...

[Aquila]

What I try to say is simply that the choise betwen local cases in place names and geographical nouns in Finnish are more or less the same as the choise between prepositions with the same meaning in Scandinavian languages.


Neighbour languages will allways influence each other so that elements are used to some extend in an analogic manner.

In scandinavian we have the preposition "På" which is used more or less as the finnish allative, and the preposition "i" which corresponds to the inessive in most cases.

[flyingyellowpig]

If Finnish gets too easy, try this:

Poliisa dutkiid njunnožat fertejit ovdal bearjadaga buktit ovdan nana duođaštusaid dan 35-jahkásaš albmá vuostá, gii dál lea giddagasas ja gean poliisat navdet gottii Anna Lindh. Jos dan eai daga, de fertejit luoitit albmá luovus.

Ruoŧa justisministtar Thomas Bodstrøm lohpida dál, ahte Ruoŧa ráđđehus mearrida, man ollu mákset sutnje, gii muitala dieđuid, mat dagahit ahte Anna Lindh goddi gávnnahallá.

Go Olof Palme goddui 17 jagi áigi, de lohpidedje dallege 50 miljon ruvnnu cavgilanmávssu. Vaikko vel bohtege ollu dieđut, de eai leat vel dán rádjái gávnnan Palme goddi.

Ruoŧa justislávdegotti jođiheaddji Johan Pehrson áigu dán vahku mielde ovddidit ášši lávdegottis.
Pehrson lohká, ahte dakkár máksu lea govttolaš, muhto dieđuid árvvu fertejit poliisat árvvoštallat.

Muhto Stockholmma poliisat eai leat nu mielas dákkáraš máksui, ii ain jo ovdalgo poliisat leat iskkan buot eará vejolašvuođaid.

It sounds like Saami to me,well i understood a few things,but Saami sounds much easier then Finnish.Correct me if i am wrong

[EP]

you will usually will say "on" with small towns and "in" about great towns.

I tried to think of a foreign town that would take lla
but could not find one. Do they exist? Big town / small town does not really go with Finnish towns either. It is Turussa but Tampereella, Porissa but Raumalla. And so on.