The Truth About Learning Finnish: 7 Lessons Nobody Shares

After moving to Finland in 2020 I joined the integration program through Turku’s region integration program. From there I have been learning Finnish intensively for 3 years. And took a break in 2024 because your girl was tired.

Of course there are a lot of benefits to learning Finnish, especially if you want to build a life in Finland and better integrate to Finnish society. At the same time there are some hard truths about learning Finnish that no one talks about.

And I don’t mean the usual stance language learners here about Finnish being an impossible language to learn. Because it can be done,it just takes a long time.

Depending on your language background it can take anywhere between 1 to 3 years; or even more than that depending on individual circumstance. But we will talk more about that later.

In this blog post we’re going to talk about the things I have experienced, and notice from my classmates during my time in the language school. Of course every situation is unique, I just wanted to share what learning Finnish as felt like to me as an American living in Turku, Finland.

If you are interested in joining an intensive language program for Finnish, then I strongly encourage you to check out your local municipality to see what they offer.

Alternatively, you can always search for courses through Finnishcourses.fi

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Learning Finnish Actually Takes a Lifetime

Well, it takes up to 3 years to become proficient at using the language, and that’s if you study a lot and learn the grammar rules.

But to actually speak Finnish fluently with ease takes years.

Well for me it feels like it takes years, sometimes when I see others foreigners speak Finnish I’m like how are you so good 😭

Even then, there are so many different dialects or murre used in different areas. Turku has it’s own dialect, which it’s different from Rauma murre, and Stadi-slangi (Helsinki murre).

While learning Finnish you’ll slowly see the difference but you first need to know kirjakieli, the written language, in order to even understand the puhekieli, everyday language.

It’s the same with American-English and I am sure the same can be said for every language out there in the world.

What’s important to note is that you have to study the basics, even if someone says “but no one says it like that” who cares, you need to learn the kirjakieli first.

You know the whole saying you have to crawl before you walk? Well that’s especially applied here.

You’ll Never Feel Like You Are Ready

Okay this might be a little dramatic, the level I am currently at I definitely don’t feel like my Finnish is good enough (I would say I’m somewhere in between B1-B2).

Of course to someone just starting out I might look like I know a lot, but trust me when I say there is still a lot I don’t know.

It’s such a shame too, this “never feeling like you are ready” is such a self-limiting mindset. No one is really truly ever ready.

Instead of feeling like you are never ready, it is better to adopt the “always learning” mindset. Even for my foreigns friends whot have lived here longer than me, that can speak better Finnish than me still get caught up on some words and cultural moments when talking to Tuomas in Finnish,

So be sure to stay curious, not only about the language and the world around you, but also Finnish pop and folk culture.

If you approach learning Finnish with the curious and always learning mindset, it’ll help you to embrace the imperfections and difficulties you may face while studying.

Verbiretkio is King

In the beginning I didn’t pay much attention to the verb rules, don’t be like me, and please pay attention to the verb rules. From my perspective, the Finnish language is built around verbs.

Each verb has a direction it goes in depending on how you use it. So take your time in the beginning and really understand the verb types and how they change with KPT. Those are the most important grammar rules you should be learning in the beginning.

Once you feel really good with that, you should check out Verbirektio.

For me, Finnish really began to click once I learned verbrektio. After learning verbirektio, I felt that it was easier for me to build sentences and it helped me to speak without stopping to think about what comes next in the sentence.

Additionally, verbirektio is how you know when to use partitiivi, and the 14 other cases.
Verbirektio and it’s rules are something you should learn at the B1-B2 level, and it’s also a great way to prep for the YKI test!

The language school I went to in Turku (Paasi-kivi Opisto) launched their verbiretki course through Finnlectura, you can find their course here.

You Um.. Actually Have to Speak in Finnish

There was one guy at my language school that refused to speak Finnish to others, and his Finnish was so good too. Like it was crazy to see how fast he picked up on the language.

I was blown away by the fact he “refused” to speak Finnish, but he didn’t feel comfortable speaking with others in Finnish. He was shy and unsure and wanted to be perfect because he was always praised in class for being so smart.

Not to mentioned bullied by others who were jealous of him if he made a mistake. Yes it happens in the language school even as adults unfortunately.

It always seemed like a shame that he put so much pressure on himself to be perfect, and then I realized I also was doing it too!! So, I started speaking Finnish caring a little but not as much about my mistakes.

Perfectionism is a hard habit to break

That’s part of the reason why we started doing our content in with me voicing over in Finnish, and those were some of the videos that really blew up for us on social media.

I used those to practice writing and speaking in Finnish. And to show other this is what a foreign accent in Finnish can sound like, that and it’s okay to be imperfect. It’s okay to mess up, to conjugate wrong, and even make a fool of yourself.

Unlike other big languages like English and Spanish there aren’t that many people in the world that can speak Finnish other than Finns.

So if Finns have a hard time understanding you don’t take it personally, they just really aren’t used to hearing someone else speak Finnish. Get them used to hearing a foreign accent by practicing your Finnish.

You are actually helping other immigrants this way too!

Learning Finnish Intensively Will Give You Brain Fog

I really believe that you should learn Finnish as soon as you move to Finland. If you wait until the perfect moment it’ll be hard to jump into a course to actually learn the language.

This is based on what I have seen from the immigrants living here during my past 4 years in Finland.

That’s why I always recommend the language program, that is through TE Toimisto or the city that you are living in.

hoping this program never get cut by the government 🤞

The courses I went to were very intensive, you study at school for 5 hours and then have about 2 hours of studying every night. This gave me and so many of my classmates brain fog and burnout.

It just felt like it was always finals week, that impending doom of a test that you havent studied enough for, and you spent all your free time studying for.

It was exhausting, as soon as I got home from school I had to take a nap because my brain couldn’t keep up with all the information thrown at me. Honestly, I felt like I was back in college, but without the fun uniforms that the Finnish students wear.

But I would go back and do it again in a heartbeat. It was tough, but I feel so much more connected to other’s because I spent the time and effort to learn language.

You’ll Start to Forget Your Own Language

Remember that guy from the language school I was telling you about before? Well one day after school he asked me if English was my first language because I talk like it’s my second language

💀💀💀💀💀💀

Literally died, I couldn’t believe he said that, but honestly I was starting to forget certain words and the names of things in English, I only knew them in Finnish. I was becoming bye-lingual, the moment when you can’t speak in either language.

Which made me feel good in a way but then depressed in another 🤣

I tell people that “the moment you know you are really getting the hang of learning Finnish, is once you start to forget your own language.”and I truly believe that.

Next level is when you start phrasing things in Finnish, for example if I were to congratulate a friend back home for receiving a baby instead of having a baby.

Luckily(?) I haven’t reach that point yet…

There’s More to Life than Learning Finnish

Honestly, I got to the point where I couldn’t study Finnish anymore. Then once Tuomas grandfather passed away last year I just couldn’t continue, I didn’t even want to speak or practice it. I was done.

I just quit everything teehee

Probably not my best trait, I really need to pay attention to warning signs in my life, but that’s not important for this blog post. What is important, is that this pause gave me time to really figure out what I wanted to do.

Yes I had social media, but I wanted to do something more, I wanted to make more of a connection or an impact.

That’s why I started a business. I wanted my own stability, something I could do that firmly planted my roots in Finland, something that would connect me to others.

Starting a business was always my plan for living in here, but somehow I forgot that along the way of studying Finnish so intensively.

While it’s good to be passionate about learning a language it is also important that you maintain balance of your goals during the process.

Not going to lie, it can be hard when you’re in an environment with people who are constantly talking or planning about the next language school they will go to or what they will study next.

In those times really take a step back to think of what it is you want to do with your life here in Finland.

What are your goals for yourself? Figure it out and stick to those goals!

My Goals for Learning Finnish in the Future

This year, 2025, I am challenging myself to take the YKI test for the Keskitaso (middle level), this is what you need for Finnish citizenship. And after taking a year break from learning the language intensively I finally feel like I am in the right mindset to move forward.

I have signed up for a lukupiiri (reading group) at Turku’s Työväenopisto to work on reading comprehension and hopefully working on talking about what I’ve read in Finnish.

This is the second time I have tried to sign up for this lukupiiri it was cancelled before because there weren’t enough people interested so hopefully it’ll be good to go this time.

Additionally, Tuomas and I will be exploring some of the free resources for the YKI test that is provided by different sources including YLE with Tuomas this year on our social media, (it’s giving water gun challenge vibes). So be sure to follow us on our Instagram and Youtube @jasmin.ja.tuomas for future content about that.

How long have you been studying Finnish? Or are you a native speaker and just curious about what the process is like? Let me know in the comments below!

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