Finnish language & permit residency permit

[charlesirwin22]

Do I have to know finnish to become a permanent resident in finland? And how long does it take to learn the language as well as how difficult it is to learn as a adult?

[browndude]

Do I have to know finnish to become a permanent resident in finland? And how long does it take to learn the language as well as how difficult it is to learn as a adult?

You do not need to know Finnish to become a permenant resident in Finland. If you want to become a citizen then you do have to know either Finnish or Swedish to a specified level (mid-fluency). For the average monolingual English speaker, it would take maybe 4 years or so. Some people have done it in a year or so with a lot of effort and some degree of natural language acquiring ability. It is difficult to learn as an adult.

[riku2]

How long does it take to learn the language as well as how difficult it is to learn as a adult?

I have lived and worked in Finland for 24 years and this year decided to have some lessons to try and pass the language exam for citizenship (thank you brexit).
The 24 years and still not proficient in speaking the language is partially because I don't need to but also shows how difficult the language is (which the locals themselves confirm because people in Finland don't speak the written form of the language, but a simplified "colloquial" version of the language.. so they themselves think their own language is too difficult !!! ).