The fastest way to learn Finnish is to spend most of your study time on Finnish you can mostly understand. That kind of Finnish is called comprehensible input. What you read and listen to should change as you improve, so the plan below shows what to do at each level and how to split an hour of study.
What to Do at Each Level
Find the level that sounds like you. Its bar shows how to spend an hour of study.
- Level 1
I'm just starting out or know only a few words.
Read and listen 35 min. Review 15 min. Speak 10 min.
Finnish writes a long sound with a double letter, so tuli (fire), tuuli (wind) and tulli (customs) are three different words. Listen to short, slow stories while you read them, then say a few lines out loud.
- Level 2
I can handle simple exchanges.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 10 min. Speak 10 min.
Hide the translation and look up only the words that stop you. Read the news in Easy Finnish on Selkosanomat, where you can listen to every article, and start short talks with a tutor or a friend.
- Level 3
I follow conversations on familiar topics.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 5 min. Speak 15 min.
Read and watch Yle's news in Easy Finnish, and listen to Helppoa suomea, a podcast with a free transcript for each episode. Talk about what you heard for longer.
- Level 4
I understand most content but miss some nuance.
Read and watch 45 min. Review 5 min. Speak 10 min.
Watch a Finnish series on Yle Areena with Finnish subtitles, one episode a week. Add Finnish with Eemeli, a podcast for intermediate learners where the host speaks only Finnish.
- Level 5
I read complex topics but rare words slow me down.
Read and watch 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Watch Finnish series and the Yle news without subtitles, and read articles about things you like. Look up only the words that block the story.
- Level 6
I read at near-native level.
Read and watch 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Read Finnish novels and newspapers such as Helsingin Sanomat, and talk about them, for their own sake.
Move up a level when your lessons start to feel easy, and move back down if you lose the thread by the third line.
How Long Does It Take to Learn Finnish?
Finnish takes 1,012 class hours, or about 44 weeks of full-time study, to reach professional fluency, according to the U.S. Foreign Service Institute. That puts Finnish in the third of its four groups for English speakers, with Estonian, Hungarian and Turkish.
| Language | FSI group | Full-time weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish | Category I | 30 |
| German | Category II | 36 |
| Finnish, Estonian | Category III | 44 |
| Japanese | Category IV | 88 |
FSI students have about 23 hours of class and 17 hours of study on their own each week, so 44 weeks comes to 1,012 class hours, or 1,760 hours in all. Here is how long those take at different amounts of study a week:
| Study per week | FSI classes (1,012 hours) | FSI classes and study on their own (1,760 hours) |
|---|---|---|
| 3½ hours | About 5½ years | About 9⅔ years |
| 7 hours | About 2¾ years | About 4¾ years |
| 14 hours | About 17 months | About 2⅓ years |
| 28 hours | About 8 months | About 14½ months |
These are class and study hours from full-time courses, so treat them as a rough guide. Time you spend understanding Finnish on your own counts too.
What Slows Learners Down
- Written Finnish OnlyIn everyday speech, many people say mä and sä in place of minä (I) and sinä (you). Listen to podcasts and vlogs as well as the news, so spoken Finnish sounds familiar.
- Case Tables AloneA Finnish noun such as talo (house) can also be talossa (in the house) or talosta (out of the house). A table of endings is hard to use until you have read each form in many sentences.
- Content Far Too HardA Finnish series where you know one word in five teaches you very little.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Finnish app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Finnish, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Our Finnish app comparison covers courses, tutors and speaking apps too.
Can I learn Finnish in three months?
You can learn enough Finnish to greet people, order food and talk about your day. At 14 hours a week, three months is about 180 hours, which is less than a fifth of the 1,012 class hours FSI plans for professional fluency.
How much should I study Finnish each week?
Aim for three to five hours a week of Finnish you understand, in sessions of at least 15 to 30 minutes. A longer session lets you get lost in a story, which teaches more than five minutes a day, and steady time each week matters more than a daily streak. Our post on deep sessions over daily streaks explains why.
Is Finnish hard for English speakers?
Yes, by the Foreign Service Institute's measure: Finnish is in its third group of four, so it takes longer than Spanish or German and half as long as Japanese. One part is easy, because Finnish has no words for “a” or “the”, and hän means both “he” and “she”. Most of the time goes into the words and the case endings, which you pick up fastest from Finnish you understand.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- U.S. Department of State, Foreign Language Training (FSI language categories)
- Wikipedia: Finnish orthography (a long sound is written with a double letter, as in tuli, tuuli and tulli)
- Wikipedia: Finnish noun cases (talossa, in the house; talosta, out of the house)
- Wikipedia: Colloquial Finnish (mä and sä in place of minä and sinä)
- Wikipedia: Finnish grammar (no articles; hän means he or she)
- Selkosanomat: news in Easy Finnish, with audio for each article
- Helppoa suomea podcast (free transcripts for each episode)
- Finnish with Eemeli podcast (for intermediate learners, only in Finnish)
- Yle: Subtitles on Yle channels and in Yle Areena
