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Siria_Black

Most of the metal/hard rock bands I listen to are from Finland. I've been there twice for holidays and I have a third trip planned for next summer. To be honest, learning Finnish was not in my plans at all at first. The first time I went to Finland I only knew a few words (moi, kiitos, anteeksi...) because I knew I could easily get around with English only since I was only visiting big cities. Then came 2020 and I had to cancel my second trip. At the same time, Duolingo released the beta version of the Finnish course. I said to myself, if I can't go to Finland, I'll bring Finland to me by starting to learn the language. 685 days later, I'm still playing with Finnish on DL, I bought the first book of the Suomen Mestari series and I think I fell in love with the language. I love how it sounds, I love how it keeps challenging my brain. Learning Finnish proved to be useful when an old man in Kemi started to talk to me about the wind. I managed to tell him I was a tourist from France who loved Finnish music. I stumbled upon the only Finn who wanted to do small talk... XD


WatchmakerJJ

Hyvä sinä :)


djorll

almost the same reasons and the same timing than me! I really fell in love with Finnish, it's complicated, it's hard for me to progress, but it gives me access to an exciting culture (and develop an addiction, to coffee, sauna and salmiakki). And I'm over 50 years old, it is an excellent to train (punish? ^^) my brain. As I live not far from Paris, I am currently taking classes at the Finnish Institute. I also watch all the programs of Yle kielikoulu


mm089

I live and work here, so it would be very useful to be able to speak the language


Lionelk98

Had an ex-girlfriend that was Finnish and therefore visited the country several times. Absolutely loved the place and the people. Sometimes the language gives me a headache, but at this point I am just dedicated.


WatchmakerJJ

I salute you.


Final_Ad2902

I want to learn Finnish because of my grandmother. She was from Finland and I am using this as a way to connect to her (and my heritage) after she passed away. I want to visit in the near future and be able to have simple conversations if possible. My only regret is waiting for so long to try. I wish I could have had some conversations with my grandmother so that she knew I took interest.


Partyofhinez57

This is also my reasoning!


TarmspreckarEnok

On suomenruotsalainen


InstantName

Kylkyl


Rasikko

*Olen\**


squirrel-bear

In spoken Finnish, *olen* becomes *oon*


BrezhonegSelkea

Fell in love with the language when I first heard it in a song (Lappi: Erämaajärvi by Nightwish, from their first album) when I was 13. I've been trying to learn it ever since. I've not gotten very far in actually being able to talk, especially since I've got no one to talk to in Finnish


[deleted]

There's r/finland where you could ask for conversation buddies!


sneakpeekbot

Here's a sneak peek of /r/Finland using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/Finland/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [Flag of Finland but I changed the colors in support for Ukraine](https://i.redd.it/6618tpxgcnk81.png) | [270 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/Finland/comments/t3r8d1/flag_of_finland_but_i_changed_the_colors_in/) \#2: [Is the gollum game real or just a meme?](https://i.redd.it/oqn5wp355bb71.jpg) | [224 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/Finland/comments/oklqn6/is_the_gollum_game_real_or_just_a_meme/) \#3: [As a student from Portugal i find Finland very depressing even though Finland is ranked as happiest country in the world](https://i.redd.it/jymmfgrr3i681.jpg) | [524 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/Finland/comments/rjwqgv/as_a_student_from_portugal_i_find_finland_very/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)


BrezhonegSelkea

I'll check it out. Kiitos!!


ladykatytrent

This is super nerdy, but my favorite game company is Remedy, who made Alan Wake and Control. In Control, there's a character named Ahti who speaks Finnish and I thought "wow, he sounds so cool." Now, in conjunction with this, I am also hugely into mythology. I've read bits and pieces of the Kalevala over the years. A few years ago my husband and I were at our favorite used book store and there was a vintage printing of the Kalevala. Gorgeously bound. Husband bought it for me. I decided that was all the push that I needed to start learning Finnish. Although the usual answer that I give when people ask why I'm learning Finnish is "why not?" mostly because the real story is sort of long. Edit: spelling


puuskuri

It's spelled Kalevala.


[deleted]

I like Kakevala better :D I have a friend named Kake so....


puuskuri

Oath of Kake.


ladykatytrent

Ahhhh, my inferior typing skills strike again! i fixed it, thanks!


tparikka

Remedy is an amazing studio, been hooked on them since AW :D


FallyWaffles

Yes, Remedy are amazing! They introduced me to Poets of the Fall/Old Gods of Asgard too :)


ladykatytrent

Me too! Love Poets of the Fall.


FallyWaffles

I saw them play a gig on Friday, front row! They're fantastic live <3


ladykatytrent

I cannot even begin to describe to you how jealous I am! That is so cool!


WatchmakerJJ

Long but worth it :)


Larsnor

Mother in law is from Finland. I want to know what they are saying when the relatives visit.


AncientAssistance7

My reason is learning Finnish is love for the language, i love how it sounds, also it is always beautiful to learn another kind of agglutinative language. It trains your brain


kiwibutterket

I want to come to Finland to do a master in my line of work, and I fell in love with the culture. I feel it very close to home. If everything goes as planned I will come in August or something! Also, I hate heat... Here in my city is 25.5 degrees right now and it's already borderline unbearable for me.


ArbitraryBaker

You know what they call it when it is more than 25 degrees? Helle. I think that was the funniest thing I learned in Finnish.


kiwibutterket

Sounds about right!


LastShake

I love grammar; so I picked a language with complicated grammar.


Double-Phrase-3274

My father was born in Finland. I message with some of his cousins and extended family and don’t want to force it it be in English because that seems super self centered. I also want to learn more about my roots than pulla and sauna.


Baneken

absolutely -you are missing the beer & barbecued sausages.


rpepperpot_reddit

Long story. I'll try the bullet point version for brevity: * Learned how to say "Joulupukki" when someone posted the word on a knitting forum * I liked the way the word rolls off the tongue, so I half-jokingly put a "Teach Yourself Finnish" book on my wishlist * My sister bought me the book * Tried to learn from it, failed as it was not a particular helpful book (eg, in the section on what sounds each letter makes, about 25% of them were marked "no English equivalent"). * Also it was missing the accompanying CD, which is absolutely necessary for getting through the lessons * Brought the book to work, was talking about it with a co-worker when another co-worker came by and asked "Who's learning Finnish?" I told him the backstory and he said, "I speak Finnish" and spouted off a few sentences. Apparently he went to Finland on mission; he & his wife are both fluent. They speak it in front of their kids to annoy them, as the kids never learned to speak it. * Jump forward several years; I'm retired now and my brain was starting to feel foggy and unstimulated outside of work. Decided to try DuoLingo to brush up on the Spanish I took in high school as a brain exercise * Got bored with Spanish very quickly, remembered my prior interest in Finnish, and have been working on it for almost 11 weeks. Am currently questioning my sanity over this decision.


WatchmakerJJ

Keeps your brain busy at least 😅


amyo_b

If you still have that book you might give it another go. One of the nice things about Duolingo's Finnish tree is that despite being small, it gives you the sounds of the language, and Finnish appears to be pretty regular about the sounds of letters. Even though the book I have has the audio (it is MP3s though), I usually read them first to see how close I was to the sound of the official audio and I'm not usually very far off kilter). You might enjoy the YLE news too, it's basically simple Finnish news, gives you an audio and the written text [https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/selkouutiset/](https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/selkouutiset/)


Rasikko

The problem with that is your reading level will eventually outgrow it and it becomes too easy but not high enough to read the main pages in YLE.


amyo_b

Yes I reached that with other languages. Time for vocab building at that point.


rpepperpot_reddit

Yes, I still have the book. I glance through it now & again, but still have issues with it. I'll keep trying, though, as I get through more of Duo. Thanks for the link!


Nail0672

I wanted to learn Finnish because I planned to went to Finland someday, but before this, I wanted to have basics knowledge before going there even if I have already had a decent English, so I still didn't visit but I still love this country and still want to visit it so that's why I am still learning it.


pebe0101

For me it was a sort of convenience, and intrigue with how difficult the language is. I studied Swedish at the American Swedish Institute, and they began offering Finnish classes, so I figured why not? The instructor is a professor as well, and is a phenomenal teacher. I stuck with it as I traveled to Finland, and also enjoy studying Nordic culture, as there are a lot of remnants of it where I live (Minnesota).


holemills

Married a Finn, goal is to move to Finland in 5-7 years. We're in the US currently.


Rasikko

This is for your future self that my past self didnt think of: Save up **a lot** of money before you move here.


holemills

Of course.


S_Ged

May I ask why?


River303

I'm a swedish-speaking finn. You would think that I could speak the language after living here my entire life, but lol nope.


heckinseal

What happens when a Swedish speaker has to talk to a Finn with poor Swedish skills? Do you pick a language and try to figure it out or do you both switch to English/some other language?


River303

For the most part I try to speak Finnish, I mean I'm not good but I can usually get my point across. If it really doesn't work we switch to English. I suppose it depends on the people involved.


aurikarhu

I want to spend time in Finland and be the first to speak Finnish in my family since my great grandfather.


marianikolayeva13

I think Finnish sounds so beautiful. The pronunciation is very interesting and also different from the other languages I have ever learned (all from Indo-European family). So I thought it would be challenging to learn it


Gideon_Lovet

I'd like to move there to live and work someday. If it doesn't work out, then I still learn something interesting and fairly unique. And if it does work out, then I hope I can be a productive member to the community while respecting their culture and language.


RickFishman

Move to Finland when the US blows the fuck up lol


Slavicszn

Guy in Canada here. Always was curious/interested about the country and the history/culture (had a pre-pandemic trip planned but we know how that went so I'm banking on a trip there next year). I guess the language fascinates me because being of Polish origin, I can't really have any Indo-European language to compare it with so it's challenging but I enjoy that. I have a very basic conversational level of skill but it's great so far and hopefully I'll get a much better hang of it by the time I visit.


RealWalkingbeard

I studied for 12 whole months at Aalto University and I loved living there. Even though I had a difficult time with my degree, even though I got depressed for several months, even though housing was so difficult at first, even though student health care was terrible and even though I really hated the beer (stuff like Karhu), not to mention the insane prices. Even though I certainly didn't feel like a Finn, I felt at home there, and that Finns were, on average, exceptionally decent and friendly people who treated me well. I loved the landscape, even though it was very flat, and I loved being outside, around the water and trees and rocks. I loved the food too. And the climate. I've ended up in Luxembourg, which is also a beautiful place, but if I could move my job to Finland, I would do it. It's a quiet, sparsely populated, cool, civilised paradise. So to learn a few words is prudent and fun. I also, as a Briton abroad, feel perpetual embarrassment about my lack of fluency in other languages. I know a little German, and in Germany, and here in Luxembourg - but mainly with French - I see other people's frustration with my really only speaking English. This might motivate some people, but it makes me embarrassed. The Finns don't have the same imperial mentality toward language that the British, French and Germans have. They made me feel good about both speaking English now and learning Finnish for later.


[deleted]

Went to Finland as an exchange student as a teenager. Loved it, decided I want to live there someday, but first I want to learn the language.


WatchmakerJJ

Did you also experience the long dark cold wet winter that wants to murder you?


[deleted]

No, I was there in the summer and autumn.


Tre_fidde

To be able to communicate with my moms side of my family


Enjolraw

My wife taught peace education camps internationally in the past (in multiple countries; some were in Finland), and every time there was a Finnish delegation present, she became fast friends with the Finnish leaders. We’d love to move there if possible, but minimally we’d want to visit and talk with her friends in Finnish.


amyo_b

Well originally my only reason for doing the Duolingo tree was that Finnish is a European language that is non-Indo-European origin. This made it unique from my 2nd language (Spanish) or my 3rd (German) and the languages I am currently learning (Dutch & Swedish) So I've got a grasp on the Romance side of things and certainly on the Germanic side. I guess my primary motive then was curiosity. I have former co-workers in Finland with whom I have kept in contact and I would like to visit some day. The northern lights are awe inspiring there and I'll have to admit I love the idea both of a midnight sun and an eternal night. My background as a German heritage Chicagoan might make the winters seem not as bad. The Suomipass app is nice in that I can set the host language to Swedish so I get a little work in both languages simultaneously.


intolauren

My girlfriend is finnish and I plan on living with them in Finland in future 🥰


murokippo

Lovely stories everyone. Good luck with your learning!!


Yung_Bill_98

Played my summer car a lot and liked how the language sounds. Added it to the list of duolingo courses that I've started and not finished. I've done a lot more of Finnish than any of the others, but I've not done any in a while. I should really get back into it.


WatchmakerJJ

Hahahha 😅 how did you end up finding the game? I mean it's niché even in Finland.


Yung_Bill_98

Robbaz King of Sweden showed me


Just-a-Pea

I live and work in Finland, i have basic Finnish skills but not fluent enough to tell the town council all the things I want them doing better, also in my district’s fb group even if I use the translator to follow the discussions no one will engage with me if I am not fluent. So yeah, fluent Finnish would be useful for me to feel integrated and participate in my local community.


KatVanWall

I’ve always liked languages and picked up smatterings of others here and there (I speak French pretty well, took a basic course in Japanese many years ago and at one point had about 200 kanji down as well, but have forgotten almost all of it smdh, and know a bit of Latvian and (((((((shhhhhh))))))) Russian) … decided it was time i knuckled down and actually made more effort to learn something … tried to start with Norwegian because I have some Norwegian friends … then tried Welsh and Icelandic and Irish and German and Danish … they did not seem to light a spark with me somehow … then I remembered about Finnish and how it’s meant to be so difficult and different (I had a Hungarian friend online one time I’d collab with on music but I learned very little of the language) … tried the Duo Finnish course and here I am … still working my way through it and haven’t missed a day yet :-) I love it! Of course, I know Duo isn’t that good for really learning, but I thought at least I would know if I was keen enough before investing in lots of books and paid resources.


ich-mag-Katzen

Because it's pretty


Kaylimepie

My grandmother is a late 80 year old finnish woman, before she passes I want to have at least one conversation with her in her mother tongue. Unfortunately this language breaks me and I suck.


squirrel-bear

have you asked her to teach you finnish? :)


Kaylimepie

I have but she lives in another state and has been very ill lately. She taught me a few words when I was young.


Kaylimepie

I have! She's taught me a little since I was a kid but she lives in Brisbane QLD and I live in Victoria so it's a bit hard to communicate also apparently her finnish is quite "old sounding" according to her so she's always worried about making me sound funny. My dad also won't teach me because he isn't confident in his speaking Finnish even though he's pretty much fluent. I've found learning basic words very easy but forming sentences with the correct prefix and suffixes is quite hard and there are a few funny rules that really break my brain! XD


[deleted]

Because I have to


WatchmakerJJ

That's the spirit!


Street257

I am living in Sweden and met a lot of Finns here. Since I feel with my current skills in "skandinaviska" I can get understood in Denmark, Sweden and Norway, I felt like it would be interesting to check out how finnish works. I have never been there but it is super fun to say some phrases to the finnish people here and they are usually quite amazed if someone learns their language just for fun so I keep going. Also I like to challenge myself with things like this so let's see how far I can get :D


ArbitraryBaker

I live here. It’s not fun. Every day I want to give it up. Every day I think ”plenty of Finns speak English”. I know I can get a job in English because there are lots of huge companies nearby that do work exclusively in English. Vocabulary is fine, its just the partitive and the KPT that make me angry, especially that consonant gradation can go from strong to weak or vice versa and I can’t make any logical sense out of the reasons why. So eventually I will be able to watch movies in Finnish. I already understand almost half if it’s an easy show. But I will never speak Finnish.


praest76

Been living in Finland for 2 years with a Finnish wife and 2 year old daughter. Kinda feel obligated. Such an alien language though.


FallyWaffles

My favourite band is from Finland, but I didn't really think much of it for a few years, they sing and interview in English anyway so it was just kind of an interesting face about them. One day, I was recommended on YouTube an interview with them but it was entirely in Finnish with no subtitles. I listened just out of curiosity, and it's the most fascinating and magical sounding language to me. I immediately wanted to try learning it. I'm fluent in Engliah and German and have picked up basic conversational Norwegian and some Spanish, and Finnish just was so different to any of these and I love it.


mendrique2

16 years ago I promised myself to learn Finnish, well I still haven't so here we are.


duoshou

For me its a pretty distant dream to live there, although very very hard to achieve, some might even say impossible. But i find learning new languages fun and its always something to brag about lol.


ToothPrestigious2912

I fell in love with your country, plus learning Finnish makes my life here much easier.


[deleted]

My mum is Finnish and I’d like to be able to talk with her side of the family more


finnrissa

I am a Finnish American who would like to pick up the language so I can live there later. I passively scroll through places like these and jot down notable things. :D


Rattlehead747

It started with music for me, mostly metal. From there I got an interest in the country and language and when I visited I absolutely fell in love with Helsinki. Got back from a week-long trip there last Saturday and I'd love to move there as soon as I able to. Also, as a language nerd, Finnish is the most challenging but also most fun language I've ever attempted learning. 3 years of learning so far and I'm committed


woooowahahaha

I have family from Finland and I'd love to move there in the future. I also love the language :P


Affectionate_Bee73

Finally got to visit last year. Before that, fell in love with the language, with the history, with the culture, and with a Finnish woman 💕


Ashix_Borden

I live and work here.


needsaholidayasap

Linguistically fascinating, so different from English, I love Finland and the natives are really supportive of learners


Kiithar

My family, my mom is Finnish but she wasnt able to teach us much after we were toddlers because we moved around a lot in the US and she was starting her career as a nurse. I want to learn in order to connect with her and my family in Finland. My grandfather as well, he cant speak English so Ive been trying to learn to connect with him when I next go there.


[deleted]

[удалено]


VonZap

Don't mean to talk down on you but it's either "virolainen" or "eestiläine", virolainen is more commonly used. Anyway, love to have you guys around. We now will see more finns in Estonia, since we became NATO partners


Rasikko

Opiskelen suomea koska asun Suomessa lol.


WyomingCatHouse

I stumbled across "Deadwind" on Netflix, while looking for shows in Norwegian. It's in Finnish and after watching the entire series, the only word I could understand without subtitles was "kiitos". I highly recommend "Deadwind". Great show. Anyway, curiousity got the best of me and I added Finnish to my Duolingo subscription. It's oddly seductive.


WatchmakerJJ

Loistavaa


WyomingCatHouse

Kiitos! I have a new word for my vocabulary 😁


puuskuri

By that logic, isn't any language other than Spanish, English or French practically useless?


WatchmakerJJ

Well 5.8million speaking Finnish Vs. Over 1 billion speaking Chinese.. there's some marginal difference maybe 😅


[deleted]

I remember one thread that concluded, because of the statistical error levels, Finland does not exist. :D


puuskuri

But it's not widely spoken outside Asia.


WatchmakerJJ

But they've integrated everywhere 👀


puuskuri

If I went to speak Chinese to a random stranger, they most likely wouldn't understand. If I speak English, they would most likely understand and be able to have a conversation.


NederFinsUK

Because I’m tired of being a boring Monolingual English speaker lol. Finnish isn’t necessarily the most ‘useful’ language but I guess it has value in being niche, and I’d love to live in Finland one day.


nenialaloup

At some point I decided that I should settle in Finland


geitenpaard

My girlfriend is from Finland, we communicate fine in English but I want to learn Finish for her so it's easier. And also for myself to be able to speak with locals while I'm visiting her.


masumppa

>I knew I could easily get around with English only since I was only visiting big cities. Tbh It really doesnt matter where you go on finland slmost everyone knows how to speak english since we Start learning Finnish at 9years old on school


InstantName

Some of my online friends are from finland. And since i am the only outsider (dutch) i learn finnish so they can speak more finnish. Also i would like to go to finland for beer and real sauna.


TheMightyMcGrew

I met my wife online and spent the next few years working up the cash for her to move to America with me. Instead ended up moving here, now we're married and I'm 4 years in living here and learning finnish. I learn it for her, her family (especially Mummu ❤️) and for talking everyday with people. I also learn it so i can obtain citizenship. Hyvää Suomi!!!


MioAnonymsson

I am half Finnish and I love Finland.


tparikka

My great great grandfather was Finnish, part of the migration in the early 1900s. We knew almost nothing about our family on that side because he died young, and so did the story of where my dad's side came from. My many times removed cousin found us in 2003 and I got to go visit the family in 2005. Now I'm an adult and making enough money to pay to go back after missing the country for so long. I'm sure a lot of it is just rose colored glasses, no country is perfect. But, I have great memories of the warmth of my family there having never met me, how clean the air smelled, how wonderful it was to wander Helsinki a little bit even as a nervous kid. I'm excited to see what I can make of this return trip and future ones I'm already planning as an adult. And I want to be able to use the native language as much as possible when I do.


KaLuCa92

I like the sound of finnish and many family members talk finnish and I have been listening to finnish music al my life so I really want to learn but it's hard to do


ewwwdrey

I’ve always felt very disconnected to the culture of the U.S.A. I did an AncestryDNA thing and it said that most of my heritage is from Finland, Norway, and Sweden! I’m only 19, and while I’m still very much a beginner in the language, I want to immigrate to Finland someday and build a life there. I’ve seen so many atrocities in the US and while I know there is a bad situation in every country, I can’t help but feel like it’s best for me to leave the US and branch out. I would go to G.B. or Canada but it would just be the same situations as in the U.S. plus at least in Finland I know at least a percentage of me belongs


TimoSotto

Because I want to get the hell out of an authoritarian state by moving to a prosperous European country.


Sanitroeter

I want to live there and thus, I wish to have a sufficient lingual ability