In this post, I share the 3 missing links at the root of the vast majority of why people struggle to learn Finnish (or other languages). I’ve built my entire career around helping educate people and support them in integrating these 3 missing pieces into their approaches to learning Finnish. This is the 1st time I talk about these in this way, so I’d love to hear your insights, questions and reactions in the comments below!

The more fun and joy we bring to learning Finnish – at any level – the better we learn and adapt to the language. Welcome to my world where Finnish is an unfolding adventure that’s filled with awe, joy and ease.

As language learners, we also tell ourselves and each other stories that that build up our perceptions, and thus our reality. So what happens when our stories are actually keeping us from learning? Can we change the narrative and shift our results right along with it?

Yesterday I found myself feeling deeply grateful for hardship and pain, especially that which I’ve felt in the past 6 months or so. This was, quite frankly, a new feeling…

I have yet to meet a single person who hasn’t felt frustration when it comes to learning… anything, but this is especially relevant for those learning languages with big reputations… like Finnish.

So today I made you a little video to help move you forward when you get stuck in a big puddle of frustration. Because ultimately, if you don’t learn to recognize and deal with frustration… you’ll stay there. So here ya go!

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.

When moving abroad, you quickly notice some differences in how people interact from strangers to family. In my case, I noticed that I was the only person smiling at strangers on the street in Tampere, Finland, whereas I’d never even questioned why everyone smiled at each other in Canada. I made a decision in 2010 to change my ways and adapt, but a couple weeks ago, I decided to revisit that decision from a new perspective.

When asking people what their language-related goals are, you might get replies such as the following:
“I want to understand what’s going on around me. I want to be fluent. I want to use the language at work.
I want to be able to speak the language with my children and in-laws.”

My perspective on the exercise is the following: if you spend time thinking about what you want, great. But understanding what it takes to get there is a little different. This makes up the difference between “it would be nice to…” and “I’m willing to do [blank] to get [blank]” …