You have decided to learn Finnish to get good at it, but where are all the good resources? Don’t worry because today, I will show you 10 pretty kick-ass resources you can use during your Finnish studies.
1. Suomi sujuu
Suomi Sujuu is an online community that strives to make learning Finnish fun and easy. What they do is they organize a face to face meetings for Finnish learners for beginners and also for a bit advanced speakers. Due to the current corona crisis, all the meetings have been taken, online and they actually have Facebook live and do meetings at the moment. The website also has some pretty good information about the Finnish language and also some good resources. The best part of this it’s all free anyone can attend the meetings go practice speak Finnish. This is run by this cool dude called Zaki. I have met him in person, and I think he a very cool dude. Make sure to check out the Facebook group the Instagram, and if you have to follow and make sure to say hi from Aleksi.
2. Random Finnish Lesson
Random Finnish lesson is a blog about the Finnish language and specifically about grammar. You haven’t found good explanations for it. Hanna, who is a professional Finnish teacher, runs the site. She has made tons of useful blog posts about different pieces of Finnish grammar, so if you want to know about some detailed grammar specifically, you’re learning. Hanna has probably made a post about it, and I’ve also used it myself.
Sometimes if I need to check something quickly, I always see if Hanna has made a blog about it because most likely she has. She also made books in the simple Finnish, which is a kind of a little bit simplified version of the regular Finnish that’s a pretty good one for Finnish learners as well make sure to check out Random Finnish Lesson.
Check out Random Finnish Lesson here.
3. My online courses
Besides the free blogs & YouTube videos, I have created several online courses, especially for people who want to learn spoken things. The course introduction to spoken Finnish, so here you can learn some pretty basic phrases and understand how to spoken Finnishworks how it’s different from the standard Finnish. It’s a pretty good resource to get a quick start for the spoken Finnish, and then I have also made a paid course. This is like a premium course that gives
seven better video lessons on spoken Finnish, and here you go from simple words and phrases to creating actually spoken Finnish conversations. For example, learn how to use basic verbs, ask about opinions, time expressions, making suggestions and plans, and more. These all in the spoken Finnish, and there are 30 plus video lessons with detailed lesson notes and vocabulary lists. Check out the link below for details and also testimonials. There are lots of my students who have taken the course and who loved it. They’ve taken their speaking Finnish skills to the next level.
Check out my online courses here.
4. Finnished
I have to say this YouTube channel’s name is genius: Finnished. This is like a YouTube channel which this Finnish lady runs. I don’t know her name because she hasn’t really revealed it anywhere. She makes videos about the Finnish language, and since she speaks Finnish in all her videos, she puts subtitles in Finnish and English. In addition, she speaks a little bit slower than the regular speed. This is perfect for people who want to learn Finnish and to improve their listening skills. The topics range from doing grocery shopping dating in Finland and dating in Finland (one of my favorite topics). She also a Facebook page, so make sure to checkout Finnished if you want to learn some good Finnish.
5. KatChats
Katja, who runs KatChats, is half Finnish half American as far as I know. She’s been on YouTube actually quite a while. She has made some quite good videos about Finnish culture and the language as well. She actually has two channels KatChats & KatChats Finnish. The other is about the culture and others about the language. On her language changes, she makes some pretty good grammar-related videos. She explains the grammar with some good examples in an easily understandable way. The topics range from counting from one to ten to pronouncing hockey Finnish hockey players’ names right. I have met Katja personally, so if you decide to follow her, say hello to me.
6. Italki *
Many people always send me messages, “Hey Aleksi, how can I find a practice partner because I don’t live in Finland?” The answer is Italki. It’s a platform where language learners can meet. First of all, you can look for language exchange partners. If you’re learning Finnish and someone is learning German, you can teach each other the language and learn that way. Secondly, you can find very inexpensive one-on-one tutoring lessons either from community tutors or professional teachers.
The idea is that you can go so that you can scroll the teachers you can book a time which is best for you, and then you can take a one-hour speaking session with that person online via skype or hangouts, and this is very good because usually professional teachers charge like 60 euros an hour, but here you can get as cheap as 10 euros an hour someone focuses on focusing on teaching you speed Finnish and speaking Finnish with you, and that an excellent deal if we think about the cost-efficiency
If you hit the link here and buy a lesson, you get another lesson for free. You get $10 in credits which you can use for another lesson, so it’s a great buy-one-get-one. There are very inexpensive trial lessons if you don’t want to commit too much in the beginning. I’ve heard from Finntastics that their Finnish teachers who are on this platform actually quite good. So if you want to get a practice partner if you’re serious about learning Finnish and especially speaking Finnish, Italki a great option. in my opinion, you cannot get good without having a practice partner. Italki provides a very cost-efficient way to get a speaking partner if you don’t have Finnish people in your area.
Check out Italki here (affiliate link)
7. Sinä Osaat! Suomen kieltä kaikille YouTube channel
This YouTube channel is run by Jenni, who is a professional Finnish teacher. Her videos explain Finnish grammar very well, and all her videos also have English subtitles. This an excellent resource if you want to get good grammar-related content. I like her channel because she travels around Helsinki, so you can also get pretty nice views from Helsinki when you are watching her videos.
8. The Finnish Teacher
This is a website run by this British guy named Michael, according to the website. He has made some pretty neat small bit sized posts about the Finnish grammar categorized different difficulty levels. I’ve also used this myself, and I have to check out something because it straightforward to navigate, and everything is well explained here with examples. Hence, so another good resource if you want to learn some useful grammar quickly. Again, this is also completely free.
Check out The Finnish Teacher here.
9. Taste of Finnish
Taste of Finnish and another website, and it’s pretty much a mini online course online, a free one, and I’m not sure who made this, but you can access it for free. They have actually dispute chunks of grammar and this kind like how would I say these conversations where you can listen to them, and there’s like the transcriptions and stuff this.
I also find it very useful, so if you want to find good grammar in contexts, ranging from introducing yourself to hanging out at the university, this one is a pretty good taste of Finnish.
10. Her Finland
Her Finland is a blog about Finnish cultural lifestyle and language basically similar to what I do. Still, it’s a blog run by Varpu, who is actually also a friend of min. We actually got to know each other through our content creation journey. Varpu makes some pretty good content overall in Finland, so you should also subscribe to her blog. She has also created some pretty good posts about the Finnish language, ranging from 15 famous Finnish sayings to Saying I love you in Finnish.
She has also been a guest on my channel. We’ve made two dating-related videos, and those videos are still in my top 10 videos (everyone loves dating videos, lol). She has also made some online courses about the Finnish language & culture, and I strongly recommend checking those out and considering buying them, too. If you decide to call, follow her other channels. Make sure to say Moro from Aleksi.
Bonus: Duolingo
Duolingo is a worldwide famous language learning app, and recently they launched their first version of Finnish. Duolingo offers gamified lessons to learn Finnish words, beginner grammar as well as Finnish culture. I like how they have integrated Finnish culture into the lessons. I have personally used Duoling to learn German and Japanese, so definitely give this one a go.
Watch my Duolingo Review on YouTube:
What are your favorite Finnish resources you like to use? Let me know in the comments!
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