In episode 2 of Finnish Explained, we uncover a few nuggets of wisdom from a sign that graces many construction sites.

I love breaking down and demystifying Finnish so I’ve used that as inspiration for this first season. In each video, I’ll take a short sign written in Finnish and explain, not only what it means, but also the grammar behind it. Sometimes there are nuances, subtleties and other fun stuff. Overall, Finnish has always been a wonder… and learning the language has left me with a lasting impression of awe about how we express ourselves, communicate and what language shows us about our perception of the world.

I’m very happy to announce the start of a new YouTube series I’ve been working on called: Finnish Explained!

Compassion allows us to take things lightly. It leaves room for play and allowing our natural abilities to bubble up to the surface effortlessly. We are wired for language, after all! Once you recognize the importance of compassion (hey, awareness is half the battle) then it’s a matter of actually putting it to use when you need it. But how? What can we do when we recognize we need more self-compassion in the moment? I’ve boiled it down to 3 ingredients:

Some words are more important than others: Finnish pronouns are very important. Since pronouns are used in virtually every sentence, the way you use them is going to immediately signal how well you speak to your listener. But don’t worry, it’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it!

I learned the partitive by trying to study it, and when that didn’t really help me grasp it, I TOOK TO THE STREETS. No, really. I read all the ads on the street and I hunted down the partitive. This is one of my favourite ways to learn. In today’s video, I give you an in-depth example of how I do this using a Subway ad.

Today I’m excited to present you with a collection of 7 Finnish sounds! These sounds are carefully curated from real life and can be used at your leisure. Just insert them into different situations and watch what happens! 😉

It’s been quiet over here… a little too quiet sometimes. Silence can mean different things to different people: in Finland, silence is almost sacred. In Canada, we tend to say that silence is golden, but we run from its intimacy when it does grace us. Online, it can mean anything, but mostly it’s interpreted as abandon. A silence blog or website is an abandoned and neglected one. If I can choose, I’d interpret the silence on these pages as…

This week I did an interview with Oliver from learnwitholiver.com where I answered 10 questions about language learning and living abroad, among other topics. Of the 10 questions, my favourite was: What is your single best non-obvious tip for language learning? This was such a great question (thank you Oliver for asking it!) that I decided to write a whole post about it.

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?