Finnish Language Classes/Lessons

[SavageSi]

Greetings all,

I am new to this forum and fairly new (18months) to this interesting country.

I am living and working in Helsinki and as many ex-pats do I am struggling with the language.
I speak very basic Finnish and can do important things like order a beer or compliment a pretty lady. However less important things like my banking and pretty much everything else is a challenge.

I tried the TE Finnish lessons (which where not free???) but due to work related issues these where not as helpful as hoped. I have bought several books, but sadly these too have not been very helpful due to the fact that conversational/colloquial Finnish is tricky to learn from a book that can't help with pronunciation.

I am searching for a teacher/method to learn this complicated yet beautiful language so that I can more actively take part in general day to day existence here.
Anybody with previous experience in locating a decent learning method please drop a line. Anybody with a good suggestion to help me out please drop a line.
If you are going to suggest that I just listen to people and try my best all the time blah blah blah, please don't drop a line! I have been listening and trying my best for 18months and yes many Finn's say I speak better than some folks who have been here for years, it is still not good enough and I am still really struggling with simple understanding.

Thanks in advance, I hope that with your help i will soon be on the road to proficiency in Finnish.

Savage

[SavageSi]

Thanks for the great reply.

I will definitely be looking for some of these "coffee shop" groups.

I will keep persevering in the hopes that one day I will grasp this challenging language.

(I noticed that had I searched this forum a little better I would have found quite a plethora of info )