On May 12th, 2015 I gave a talk titled “Can you learn the hardest language in the world?” about the challenges of learning Finnish, and how they affect Finns & foreigners alike.
This might sounds like an odd question but have you ever wondered, who is the expert on Finnish? I don’t actually mean a person employed as a Finnish expert but rather, in the context of your life, who do you consider to be the expert on the Finnish? And when it comes to learning Finnish, is it an expert you should be turning to?
One of the questions I often get asked after ‘how long have you lived in Finland?’ is the hard-to-answer-question: how did you learn Finnish?
It’s ironic because every time this question is asked, I know the person asking it is expecting some kind of magical answer:
“I had this amazing book – you have to read it!”
A funny thing happened to me at work the other day. I walked over to a coworker’s desk and straight into a 4-person conversation that was going on in Finnish. I watched the conversation switch from Finnish to English to accommodate my arrival, and guess what I did next?
Next Sunday, August 9th at 12pm, I’ll be doing my very first webinar! In it, I’ll walk you through the 3 most likely reasons you probably won’t learn Finnish in the way you’d expect.
We’ll then talk about the seldom-mentioned solution to those reasons so you’ll know what to do next!
In this video, I’ll share:
Awhile back, I was talking with one of my students from the Finnish Language Group Program about how English in Finland gets to be so comfortable, that it’s easy to get stuck just speaking English.
This morning, I woke up with a plan: I was going to get up, get dressed and head out for a walk first thing. It was snowing – the kind of snow that tends to get us a little wet and only sprinkle the ground with white. The air was so fresh though, it felt like coming alive first thing in the morning.
I don’t remember when kaunis became beautiful; all I know is that it didn’t start out that way.
“How do you say beautiful in Finnish?”
“Kaunis”
“Cow-ou-nis? Seriously? It sounds like cow.”
And there it was. My first reaction to the word beautiful in Finnish: it sounds like cow.
A doctor, a grandfather and language coach walk into an acupuncture clinic…
Just kidding – well kind of. This is the beginning of the awe-inspiring story I am super excited to share with you today.
I’m a multibelonger to Finland, Canada and Romania, without ONE language or culture to call my own – I have several. My intention is to be present where I am and find inner peace and harmony where ever life takes me. I’m embracing the gems of the ongoing cultural and linguistic transition which is my life and hope to inspire others interested in doing the same. Click here to find out more!