Resources for Finnish?

[happypamama]

I have a daughter who wants to learn Finnish.  DuoLingo doesn't have it yet.  Our library does subscribe to Mango, so we will check into that.  Can anyone recommend any other resources for learning Finnish?

[Amy in KS]

Not to dissuade you, but Finnish is crazy difficult. I have a Russian degree, and have also studied French, German, a bit of Swedish, and Latin. Finnish is much harder than any of those. I was an exchange student in Helsinki in college. I started out in a Finnish course, but reluctantly switched to Swedish because it was much easier. Finland is a bilingual country (everyone speaks Finnish and Swedish -- and a third language to get into college). 14 cases (if I remember correctly) compared to Russian's 6, and Latin's 5. It's only related to one other language (Hungarian?). The only easy thing about it is the pronunciation... it's fabulously consistent.

Edited March 20, 2016 by amy in ks

[GoodGrief]

I found one Finnish teacher listed at takelessons.com :-)

 

https://takelessons.com/search/index/service/Finnish?session=1

[MinivanMom]

Concordia Language Villages has a Finnish program. In the summer they offer 2-week long immersion camps and a 4-week long program that awards high school credit in Finnish.

 

[Matryoshka]

My friend's ds has been taking Finnish at the local CC, but unless you're local, that won't help much...

[Jamee]

Look to see if you have a local Finnish American club. (I know there's one in Tucson). I have a friend who gave lessons. It is crazy difficult though.

[wintermom]

Finnish is offered in our city in the International Languages Saturday morning programs. There is a strong enough base of local residents who can teach and attend the courses to make this possible. 

 

I'd support the PP who suggested that Finnish is one of the more difficult languages to learn. I took a summer course in Estonian (while in Estonia), which is closely related to Finnish (and not many languages can claim this). There are many, many compound words to navigate through, where, "in the capital city" or something like that, would be one super-long word. 

 

Your dd would have to be prepared to study a language where there would be very few recognizable words from other languages making vocabulary tougher, the grammar would be very challenging, and there is a potential for very few resources and local people to work with. If she's ready for the challenge, then why not give it a try. 

Edited March 28, 2016 by wintermom

[wintermom]

Something fun for you dd:  We just attended a concert by this Finnish singing group, Rajaton. They were amazing! Their website is in Finnish and English. 

 

http://www.rajaton.net/fi/etusivu/