This finnish language, why is it no one can master it???????

[Rosilla]

One reason why it's hard to learn IMHO is that Finnish people never let you speak it... At least that's been my Helsinki experience for several years... After 3 sentences in Finnish they finally accept to reply in Finnish. It takes a lot of self-esteem to insist that long...

for me it was quite the opposite, I find people wanted me to speak Finnish once I told them I could speak a little and all I wanted to do was speak English because I am always worried that my Finnish is not good enough to speak, but they push me to keep trying against my wishes... I am more comfortable speaking it after I have been there for a few weeks, but the week and a half I was there recently was not long enough for me to find that comfort zone... one lady on the bus who I was speaking with did tell me my Finnish was very good though, so I guess I was doing ok, for sure understanding it for me was much easier then speaking it so my answers were very short and to the point:P

[Pursuivant]

so my answers were very short and to the point

Which is why your "Finnish is very good". Foreigners usually try to speak before they learned the silent parts.

[MC Deli]

I agree about the idea of trying to do intensive courses as soon as you can.
I did the non-intensive Helsinki University Finnish for Foreigners courses and it didn't work for me at all. I found the lack of base language really frustrating - plus I just couldn't focus once I was working a lot.
After years of speaking English with colleagues and friends I am determined to make the change. I now find myself speaking pigeon Finnish while the two Finnish friends I'm with with speak English as they are so used to it with me.
My solution has been to pack in the English language job and I will go to university to study in Finnish, probably with no other foreigners around, from next month.
I have been preparing and I can recommend Leila White's Finnish book http://www.bookplus.fi/kirjat/white,_le ... sh-4337530 - it has English as a base language and logically guides through essential conversational stuff including slang.

[nn1212]

Mastering Finnish might be difficult for two reasons:

1. Finnish people don't speak so much to strangers, and as a foreigner you might be a stranger in most situations. Therefore, you won't get to practice a lot at the beginning.

2. People just can't get over with the "this is so difficult" part. I've studied Finnish for a while now and of course it is difficult but not impossible. I think most foreigners just don't try. I don't know a single person who's not able to speak it after trying and studying seriously. This is not a language that you can learn just by seating on the classroom. If you want to learn it, you will, but it will take lots of energy and practice.

[Elea]

Well, here I can only say that it works the other way round too..
Finnish is my prior language so learning anything else is absolutely difficult well, english i can somehow manage and i understand some italian and swedish but don't speak any and when given enough time and total consentration i manage to understand some basic japanese, but still..
I find it hard to speak other languages than my own (yes also english) cause the pronounciation is so much softer than in finnish and I end up with the feeling that my tongue is too stiff to speak.

And with speaking finnish with foreigners, most of you really look like you don't even want to speak finnish so to be polite I automatically switch to english. If you want to have conversation in finnish, just dare to ask for it. We just tend to try be too polite.

And yes we are weird, but let us keep our oddities, after all there is only 5 million of us.

[rachael-jayne]

hello, im totally new...

my finnish is getting better, not perfrect but getting there, considering im an english girl i dont think im doing that badly...

[Nikolay]

My grandma when I lived with her spoke no English, so I had to learn Finnish pretty quickly - but it was broken Finnish where I would say like - Mina Rooka or Mina Noykumarn, and she would always scream at me in the kitchen - Mitta sina hiet? I loved her very much, but I thought it was a little ignorant of her to come to Australia and not learn English, she used to go crazy because I would be doing something wrong and I couldn't understand her...much like it would be ignorant for me, as an English speaker to live in Finland and expect everyone to reciporcate...

My dad who spoke Finnish as a first language and English as his second converses in English much better than me, my father has told me "forget Finnish, you would have a better chance at learning Russian" I took that wager and so I'm at the moment learning Russian, which I think is much easier than Finnish so far....I can already read some of the Russian pravda, get a few words and draw my own conclusions on what it is about.

I guess at the end of the day the questions raised when you learn a new language is

1. Why am I learning this language and what is its purpose?
2. Realistic time allocated to learn it - 2 or 3 hours a week with no distruptions, and a native tutor of that language maybe an hour a week (if you can afford this)
3. Realistic duration of learning the language (1 year for basic, 2 years for lower intermediate, 3 years to have intermediate fluency, 5 years for advanced, 8 years for near native tongue) - This is pending you study every week.
4. Immersing yourself into that culture, you may live in England, Canada or US and A - but you need to know the traditions of that Country's language you are studying...e.g. Jewish people don't work on the Sabbath and celebrate Honoka instead of Christmas.

You are probably wondering how immersing yourself into a culture helps you learn the language, the short answer is, no it doesn't help... but it may help in the longterm and help you understand why, this word is that word and the history of it, and not only this but it gives you some class and worldy knowledge...

Hope this helps.

[Dancing.Universe]

I have been studying finnish for like 3 years on the whole. First year I was trying on my own. I got books, dictionaries, self-teaching courses and all the progress I had was I learned words and the "things around me"
Later on I found a course. I'm from Bulgaria most of you probably dont know much about it but people here dont know much about Finland aswell. So it was so hard to find a teacher. I found her and in the course it was only me. No other people so it was more like "private lessons". The teacher wasnt very good though and I found myself trying to study alone again since she didnt provide much help.
Later on I dropped the course. And last yeah I met a german woman who offered to teach me finnish. She started giving me pages of study books for little kids in Finland. And it didnt seem so hard anymore.
So for one year I had this majour progress. I could have a small conversation
So basically now my finnish isnt SO good but I feel I have a base. But I totally agree the teacher should not be native finn because it just doesnt work. I have big trouble with grammar but I have quite a nice vocabulary range so I have faith
Im not giving up and again I'm searching for a course here because I need people who also study it. Practise is very important if u have no one to speak it with its a waste of time you end up spinning in a circle of remembering and forgetting things.
If there are any beginners in finnish here feel free to send me a message : ): )

[CarmenfromTexas]

I think it's difficult to learn because it's evil and was made to suck the life out of any foreigners that stumble into the land. Others may tell you differently but I'm giving it to you straight.
Just remain stubborn. If you are hard headed enough and put in the time, you'll get it.

[tizlit]

In some language courses (beginners) they teach you words like parsakaali and sulkapallo, lentopallo, and jalkapallo. Instead concentrating on the basic everyday language needed. Of course there is a great choice of books to choose, but still ...
I do find it strange.