Learn Finnish Through Useful Moments

Why Learn Finnish?

Speakers
About 5 million (2020), 4.75 million of them in Finland (2023)
Official in
Finland, alongside Swedish, and in the European Union since 1995

Read at Your Level

Finnish Course Levels

  1. Level 1I'm just starting out or know only a few words
  2. Level 2I can handle simple exchanges
  3. Level 3I follow conversations on familiar topics
  4. Level 4I understand most content but miss some nuance
  5. Level 5I read complex topics but rare words slow me down
  6. Level 6I can read almost anything

How Long Does It Take to Learn Finnish?

The U.S. Foreign Service Institute plans 1,012 class hours for its English-speaking students to use Finnish at work. That is about 44 weeks of classes, plus about 17 hours a week of study on their own.

Here is how long 1,012 hours takes at your own pace:

3½ hours a week
About 5 years 6 months
7 hours a week
About 2 years 9 months
14 hours a week
About 1 year 5 months
28 hours a week
About 8 months

Common Questions About Learning Finnish

Does Bubblegum teach Finnish?

Yes. Bubblegum teaches Finnish. The story parts of a lesson use standard written Finnish, and the characters talk in everyday spoken Finnish.

Is Bubblegum good for beginners?

If you are serious about learning Finnish, start with Bubblegum. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons at your level about things you like.

Which levels does Bubblegum teach?

Bubblegum has six levels, from Level 1 ("I'm just starting out or know only a few words") to Level 6 ("I can read almost anything"). You can change your level at any time.

Do the Finnish lessons have audio?

Yes. Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.

Can I practice speaking Finnish?

Yes. In live voice chat, you talk out loud in Finnish with Poppy, your AI tutor.

Which languages can Poppy explain Finnish in?

Poppy explains Finnish in any of the 74 languages the app comes in. The language pairs page shows how much of the Finnish grammar and dictionary is ready in each one.

Is Bubblegum free?

Yes. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons.

Go Deeper

Learn Finnish With Bubblegum

Sources

  1. Wikipedia, Finnish language (5 million speakers, 2020; 4.75 million in Finland, 2023, Statistics Finland; one of the two official languages of Finland, alongside Swedish; an official language of the European Union since 1995)
  2. U.S. Department of State, Foreign Language Training (Category III: about 44 weeks, 1,012 class hours; Albanian, Azerbaijani, Bulgarian, Czech, Estonian, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Slovenian, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese)