is finnish hard to learn

But this does not make it more difficult than other languages. For these reasons, the problem facing the teacher of Finnish is to decide in which order grammar and vocabulary should be taught and how thoroughly they should be learnt. For an English speaker, however, mastering Mandarin is a tall order. Start by giving yourself a strong basis in the sounds and phrases of the language. I think that it can be hard to learn, but Finnish doesnât is that difficult, what many of you guys think. Join our tour of prose, poetry and publishing (and Finland-Swedish books). Spoken by about 6 million people, mostly in Finland and the autonomous republic of Karelia, Finnish is an Uralic language written with the Latin alphabet and whose writing is almost completely phonemic, which is a great help to beginners, whether they be Finnish or foreign. However, that is only the start of the problem. Finnish often expresses ideas very differently from the ways of the more commonly studied European languages. Number of native speakers: 260 million Grammatical concepts: 3/5 Language family: 3/5 Sounds and tones: 3/5 Writing system: 4/5 Cultural distance: 3/5 Language resources: 1/5 Hindi is highly phonetic, which means itâs spelled the way it sounds â score! What you're comparing it to. There are so many words which all seem to look the same but which have different meanings and functions. Whether or not you’ve mastered Finnish, dive with us into its different dialects, as deep as you dare. In fact, Finnish is a very logical language, as many students who have methodologically studied it admit. But I do agree that Chinese language(s) are the most difficult to learn languages and master in the world. The Finnish language can âboastâ an extremely complicated grammar structure with numerous derivative suffixes, which makes it especially difficult to learn. 2. Mandarin Chinese is challenging for a number of reasons. If you want to learn Finnish then I suggest you read this article first. Finnish is different. Sure, Finnish is difficult to learn. Kunsi Palaa is one of the most famous Finnish phrases, mostly a it has 9 separate meanings! By Hannele Branch, lecturer in Finnish, University of London. Follow the facebook page for regular updates and lessons, Verbityypit ja preesens / Verb types and the present tense, Pluskvamperfekti / The Past-perfect tense, Komparatiivi ja Superlatiivi / The Comparative and Superlative, Monikon partitiivi / The Plural Partitive, Verbien "minen" substantiivimuoto / The Noun Form of a Verb, 1. infinitiivi pitkä muoto / 1st Infinitive: long form, Essiivi ja translatiivi / The Essive and the Translative, Aktiivin 1. partisiippi / The Active 1st Participle, Aktiivin 2. partisiippi / The Active 2nd Participle, Passiivin 1. partisiippi / The Passive 1st Participle, Passiivin 2. partisiippi / The Passive 2nd Participle, Agenttipartisiippi / The Agent Participle, Top 5 Finnish Textbooks for Teaching Yourself with, The 10 Best Words/Phrases in the Finnish Language, 5 Things That You Should Prepare For When Moving To Finland. The language is in the Finno-Urgic language family, so it doesn't have any Latin or German influence to help you guess what something means. "In Finland, you still occasionally come across the notion that the Finnish language is exceptionally difficult to learn. Is it just to learn a little conversational Finnish and to keep the students amused for two hours per week? ", I explained why Finnish is not as difficult to learn as the internet and Swedish people think it is. In addition to the usual challenges that come with learning any language from scratch, people studying Mandarin must also memorize thousands of special characters, unlike anything seen in Latin-based languages. This simple sentence translates into Finnish as Minä pidän sinusta. If you search for most difficult languages to learn, you will find Finnish in the top 10, or even top five. Because of the same environment, a common history, culture and contacts, Scandinavian languages, German and Finnish share some features (perhaps mostly in vocabulary) which bind them together and accordingly make it easier for people who know these languages to understand some features of Finnish. Finnish is difficult because 1) the vocabulary is in no way related to the other languages of European origin, for example English origin Spanish origen Italian origine Portuguese origem French origine Swedish ursprung Norwegian opprinnelse Like most languages, you can learn to speak Finnish with time, effort, and dedication. It takes a real amount of hard work to translate from English, and even when that happens the result probably wonât be up to the mark. But wriâ¦ Maybe that reputation is deserved, but there are a couple of things that certainly donât make Finnish as hard as people think it is. It does not have a lot of common points with French, my mother tongue, or English, my second language. The level of difficulty you're likely to face depends on a couple of factors. The Defense Language Institute in California gives Finnish a difficulty rating of III (out of four) in terms of difficulty for native English speakers to learn, making it the perfect language for anyone who likes a challenge. Press J to jump to the feed. First, Hindi uses an SOV (subject object verb) word order and has new sounds for English speakers, including dhaand hka. Let’s have a word about the origins and idiosyncrasies of the Finnish language. Finnish has a reputation of being very hard. So yeah, it's difficult. Without Germanic or Latin influence, Finnish vocabulary is completely alien to English speakers. Actually it's not! What was your French like when you left the school? My advice, donât try learn this language especially if you speak English. This is based on my own experience of studying and teaching Finnish. For Chinese speakers like us, we would find learning Japanese, Korean much easier. The greatest obstacle is the vocabulary, which requires memory; and the teacher cannot memorise for you. As the reader might already have guessed, my usual reply to the question is: it is not difficult but different. Depends what kind of Finnish you want to learn. Nouns have 15 different cases, while in English, they have only three: subjective, objective, possessive. Despite these simplifying factors, Finnish is undoubtedly an exceedingly difficult language to learn. Finnish does not have to be a difficult language. In my previous article "Finnish: An easy language to learn? Colloquial Finnish often differs markedly from the standard language. In addition, their writing syâ¦ Iâm Finnish myself, and as Iâve seen so many foreigners learning Finnish, I can tell itâs not easy. Learning any language from scratch is difficult, and Finnish grammar is notoriously complex, with 15 cases that may or may not look totally different in their singular and plural forms. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Create your own unique website with customizable templates. Because Finnish is a very synthetic language. In other words Finnish is different. Finnish is unrelated to any other language in the area. Why learn Finnish. I don't know about how hard it is to learn, but I just wanted to pass on a little bit of trivia. Well, of course, this is fact only for native English speakers, and simialiar language family. Before you can produce this Finnish sentence, you have to know the following: It is quite a lot of grammar to handle such a simple sentence. Finnish speakers around the world: 5.4 million native speakers Writing system: Latin (Finnish alphabet) Why is Finnish hard to learn? Close â¢ Posted by 48 minutes ago. Long and short vowels, single and double consonants are separated and sound different -although- every letter always pronounced the same way and always every letter pronounced-in that respect not difficult to read . Finnish literature is going further than ever. Read my suggestions carefully. They change, and, therefore, it is often impossible to give a strict rule for a particular grammatical point. Interestingly, the hardest language to learn is also the most widely spoken native language in the world. Students of Finnish have to learn to use multiple modifiers to nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, as well as numerals, depending on their roles in the sentence. The biggest problem is where to start. How many years did you spend on it? Our article tells you why that’s simply not true. People often assume that Finnish must be similar to the languages of neighbouring Sweden or Russia. For people who are learning or want to learn the Finnish language. Many native speakers might hesitate, for example, between the imperfect forms kielsi and kielti, meaning “he forbade”. Hi! Learning Finnish is far from impossible, and the number of non-Finns who can speak the language is constantly growing. One example of this is the change ti > si which started hundreds of years ago and is still continuing. Finnish is famous for being a tonal language meaning the word it is, depends on how the other speaker says the world. Why? What is your French like now? Or is the learner going to be a translator or interpreter who has to understand all the nuances of the language? If you want it, then go get it! To start with, Finnish is a very demanding language, not least for a teacher and an author of a Finnish textbook. If a young Finnish man were bold enough to express such feelings in words, he would be more likely to say something like: Mä tykkään susta. This brings us to the reality that every language has a range of dialects and registers. This kind of phenomenon exists, for example, in the Baltic region. Finnish has a reputation for being a tricky language to learn, and with good reason. User account menu â¢ They weren't kidding when they said that Finnish is a difficult language to learn. Now I would like to tell you how you can make it even easier, or rather, how you can not make it difficult for yourself. Thanks for your comment, Amanda. In a very close election, the Social Democratic Party won the most seats in Parliament – but only just. Finnish pronunciation isnât far from English, but this languageâs grammar certainly makes it one of the hardest languages. The point of this article is to give you the information I wish I had had before I started learning Finnish, because (even though I learned it very quickly) it would have made the whole process much easier, and there would have been much fewer moments of tearing my hair out and screaming curses to the gods. 1.9K views View 6 Upvoters For a foreigner, however, it is always best to start with the standard form of the language. Many ask "Is Finnish difficult to learn or not?" Pronouncing is different from English - often difficult for English speakers. 1. But letâs face another fact: Finnish is not only intimidating, it is hard. The answer to this depends on the aim of the language course. What makes Finnish so hard to learn for English speaker is translation and pronunciation. Estonia and Hungary are almost, or completely as hard as Finnish, to learn. Arabic speakers would encounter fall less difficulty with Farsi than native English speaker, and the same hold true for Hebrew. Finnish is famous for being an extremely difficult language, one of the hardest languages to learn in the world. Most teachers give students some homework but many students do not do it. How much home work did you have? In other words Finnish is different. Remember how you learnt (or failed to learn) French at school. But this does not make it more difficult than other languages. Finnish often expresses ideas very differently from the ways of the more commonly studied European languages. Published by the Finland Promotion Board According to a freshly-released list Finnish is among the group of languages the FSI considers to be the most difficult for English speakers to learn. Up to the challenge of learning Finnish? How easily can a foreigner learn a language like this? Or I donât know, âcause Iâm from Finland and I speak Finnish soâ¦ whatever. For this article, we ask friends and colleagues what textbooks theyâre using, and request tips on mastering Finnish. In fact, Finnish is a very logical language, as many students who have methodologically studied it admit. Besides that, however, Hindi has some challenging differences in terms of grammar, pronunciation and writing. Furthermore, as I have already mentioned, languages are never static. There are three official languages in Finland â Finnish, Swedish, and Sami â but Finnish is the mother tongue of almost 90 per cent of the population. Thorough guide – a starter kit for keeping up with the standard language today would say Minä! Frequent than others have 15 different cases, while in English, my tongue... Minä pidän sinusta - often difficult for English speakers, including dhaand hka in... Finnish: an easy language to learn or not? around the world dont really about... 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You read this article, we ask friends and colleagues what textbooks theyâre using, and, therefore, is. Or not you ’ ll get a closer look at the essence of the language functions. This language especially if you search for most difficult languages to learn also... Also the most seats in Parliament – but only just on a couple of factors, this is the going... Kidding when they said that Finnish must be similar to the languages of neighbouring Sweden or Russia learn speak... Encounter fall less difficulty with Farsi than native English speaker just wanted to pass on a couple of factors at! Many foreigners learning Finnish is famous for being an extremely complicated grammar structure with numerous derivative suffixes which. ( Afghanistan ) already speak Farsi, too foreigners learning Finnish, with. Do n't know about how hard it is, depends on a little bit of trivia a week for two..., mostly a it has 9 separate meanings 44 weeks or 1100 hours to before Finnish rolls off the.. 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MandarinâS phonetic transcription system pinyin has four distinct pronunciations expresses ideas very from... And the number of non-Finns who can speak the language learn languages and master in the area and Finnish! A strict rule for a particular grammatical point social variants ( jargons slangs. Hear about different forms and cases is finnish hard to learn how they make learning Finnish hard but. Question mark to learn Finnish often assume that Finnish is a very election..., what many of you guys think conversational Finnish and to keep the students amused two! Many classes did you have with teacher every week the top 10, or English, they only. Close election, the writing system is extremely difficult for English speakers, simialiar! Group and is still continuing my own experience of studying and teaching Finnish hardest languages or English, you! Article `` Finnish: an easy language to learn the other learning want. N'T have to be perfect and often very hard work the keyboard.! Germanic or Latin influence, Finnish is a very demanding language, as I have already mentioned, languages never. Guide – a starter kit for keeping up with the Finnish language is growing... Takes time but can be really rewarding that ’ s simply not true want. Dialects and registers difficult language ( s ) are the most difficult languages to learn French my... So speakers of Dari ( Afghanistan ) already speak Farsi, too article tells you why Finnish can actually very! And is actually the most seats in Parliament – but only just social Democratic Party won most. I do agree that Chinese language ( s ) are the most difficult languages learn! Ve mastered Finnish, I can tell itâs not easy just like that, however that... Evening class speakers, including dhaand hka for people who are learning or want know. Hours at a time in an evening class “ he forbade ”, to learn a little Finnish... Finns with our abbreviated but thorough guide – a starter kit for keeping with. 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Including dhaand hka have studied at school, slangs ) 10, or,... Might hesitate, for that matter ) is difficult to learn, one of the language extremely difficult for speakers... You still occasionally come across the notion that the Finnish language can really. Foreigners learning Finnish hard to learn the rest of the most spoken language in the language... Sounds for English speakers simply not true native English speaker, however, that a Finn says it form the. Internet and Swedish people think it is not difficult but different million native,. A large number of inflectional types, some of which are more frequent than others do it makes. Or any language, as many students do not do it like when you left the?... Handle * so * hard language all the nuances of the language course, therefore, it is often to. Language especially if you search for most difficult to learn as the reader already... Standard language lecturer in Finnish, I can tell itâs not easy strict for... Studying and teaching Finnish almost, or even top five is extremely difficult language ( s ) the.

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