Hi!

I recently was showing my international friends some Finnish rap and I wanted to show Pelkuri, which is a full 9 minute bitter track Gettomasa made about his alcoholic and physically violent/abusive father. It's an emotionally very heavy hitting song, which also opens up some deep generational trauma in many Finns (you can check the youtube comments on the song, this song has struck a nerve)

I tried to show the automatically translated lyrics for this song, but they just didn't do the song justice and decided to do the slow translation work, with correct meanings on the slang and references used (overall translating apps have some trouble translating Finnish slang and dialects). I think the song deserves even more recognition also internationally, so now there's a translation for the song, made by a person who's fluent in both English and Finnish.

Hei kaikki,

I’m an international student who will be staying in Finland for the next four years. After taking a beginner Finnish class, I realized I wouldn’t have enough time or mental energy to learn the language while also working on my dissertation. But I would still love to learn, at least enough to understand when people speak Finnish to me on the street or in stores.

From my experience learning other languages, I know I learn best in a relaxed way, for example by watching shows. That’s how I got the idea to watch Pipsa Possu in Finnish on YouTube (e.g. https://youtu.be/mZi5eiiBmds). It’s been very helpful because it has both Finnish and English subtitles shown simultaneously, since my listening comprehension isn’t very good yet. And because it’s a kids’ show, the characters speak quite slowly.

I’m running out of episodes, though. Do you have any recommendations for similar shows? I’d prefer ones that are free, but I don’t mind paying if the price is reasonable for a doctoral student’s budget.

Kiitos!

Edit: The part that is especially helpful is the Finnish and English subtitle shown together, because then I could slowly learn sentence structure, spelling, and while also listening to how the Finnish is pronounced. But thank you for all the lovely suggestions, I will check them out once I have a better handle on the language!

Päinvastoin (adv.) – Conversely, vice versa

Example: Jaetaanko kortit vasemmalta oikealle vai päinvastoin?

Translation: Are the cards dealt from left to right or vice versa?

You can practice the word of the day by using it in a sentence in the comments below!

Hankinta (n.) – Procurement, acquisition, purchase

Example: Koti on kerran elämässä tehtävä hankinta, joten et halua varmasti tehdään yhtään pikaista päätöstä.

Translation: Buying a home is a once-in-a-lifetime purchase, so you definitely don't want to make any hasty decisions.

You can practice the word of the day by using it in a sentence in the comments below!

Got a lot of ads for that one recently, is it a scam?

Sanko (n.) – Bucket, pail

Example: Lapsi keräsi rannalta hiekkaa pieneen sankoon.

Translation: A child gathered sand from the beach into a small bucket.

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Saartaa - to surround, to encircle, to enclose

You can practice the Verb of the Week by using it in a sentence in the comments below!

Aateli (n.) – Nobility

Example: Vallankumouksen aikana aatelin etuoikeuksia alettiin kyseenalaistaa.

Translation: During the revolution, the privileges of the nobility began to be questioned.

You can practice the word of the day by using it in a sentence in the comments below!

I’ve been seeing a ton of TikTok videos about AirLearn AI’s speaking bot, and it looks pretty good. I'm tempted to try it out, but the marketing feels a bit fishy.

​It seems like only two main accounts post about it on TikTok, both have it linked in their profiles, and they mention the app name in every top comment. It feels promoted without actually being mentioned as an ad, and I haven't seen any genuine user reviews elsewhere.

​Before spending €62 on a subscription, I wanted to ask if anyone here has used it specifically for Finnish. Is the voice interaction and grammar feedback actually good, or is it just marketing?

Did you try it for another language?

Hey. I have been wondering for quite a while what different kinds of answers I could give replying to those questions? I know that both of them basically mean "how are you", but I haven't learnt yet how to respond to them, besides standard "hyvää kuuluu". Will "huonoa kuuluu" be a properly structured response?

Also please give your own examples of positive (e.g. "I'm good"), negative ("I feel bad) and neutral ("I'm fine") replies. I'd like to see replies that apply to both yleiskieli and puhekieli. Thank you.

Kekseliäisyys (n.) – Inventiveness, imaginativeness

Example: Neuvottelut onnistuivat lopulta välimiehen avulla.

Translation: The negotiations were ultimately successful with the mediator’s help.

You can practice the word of the day by using it in a sentence in the comments below!

In about a year give or take (the date isn’t fully decided yet, could be pushed up) me and my father are going to visit relatives in Finland (I didn’t even know they existed until recently after a dna test) for around two weeks and we’ll most likely be going back. They don’t speak much English so I thought I should learn Finnish so we can communicate properly and so I can navigate without basically needing a translator. Any tips/advice will be greatly appreciated

Korkeintaan (adv.) – at most, at the highest

Example: Esitelmän suosituskesto on korkeintaan 30 minuuttia.

Translation: The recommended duration of a presentation 30 minutes at most.

You can practice the word of the day by using it in a sentence in the comments below!

Sorry if this post is too negative. I just need to vent.

I simply can't pronounce the Finnish R. It's not just that I can't roll it, I apparently can't even pronounce the letter at all.

The R of my native language sounds very different and is almost a vowel compared to the Finnish one. To put it into perspective: the Finnish "aa" sounds like "ar" to me. That's how different of a sound I'm used to.

This makes several Finnish words impossible for me to pronounce. I've been told that when I try to say for example "paras", it sounds more like "paa'as" or even "pahas".

There are even names I avoid to say. I have coworkers whose names are Miro and Taru, and the times I've tried to say their names, my Finnish coworkers have just stared at me in silence followed by a "... w-w-who?"

And don't get me wrong, it's not their fault and my frustration is not aimed at them, but at myself. I've spent years of effort (and money) on learning Finnish, several courses and countless of hours spent at home learning, I have a private tutor who has taught me a lot about puhekieli. I even have classes focusing on pronunciation, particularly the R, but it still feels impossible to me. I understand what people around me are saying and I can write more or less fluently, but speaking feels impossible solely because of the R and it's starting to get to me.

Some recent experiences that have made this worse:

I tried to say the word "karhu" and a Finn starting laughing out loud at my pronunciation and even repeated how I said it while laughing. Yes I know it must sound weird and I should just get over it, but it honestly really got to me that she was just so openly laughing at me.

Last night I was at my Finnish course doing group work. The others had trouble understanding me when I tried saying words like "ura" and "arva", and I eventually told about how I struggle with the R. They kinda just stared awkwardly at me in silence, and went "That's difficult for you...?". Look, I didn't expect them to cry for me or anything like that and I know we all struggle with different things, but I almost felt a bit looked down at, and it was honestly kinda disheartening how other learners seemed to have no understanding of my problem. Maybe this is just a testament to how sensitive I've gotten about it.

I've just tried so hard for so long, and I still have the feeling I will never fit in, at least languagewise, because of this.

Sorry, I just had to get this out of my system

Hello, ladies and gentlemen's do you maybe have some advices where i can find language cafes PK-aluella or maybe there's some persons who have literally nothing to do and become bored, ofc if become finnish language teacher for you not being even more boring😅 we might be just take a chilling walk around or discord conversation while playing ( im into gaming). Currently i have A2.2 Finnish, but considered i am shy introvert im struggling with speaking. That's why i looking for language cafe or somebody to talk. Thanks for advices😌

The situation is a but sad and romantic, I guess. Not so long ago I went to Karelia and deeply fell in love with this country. Unfortunately, there is not much information about Karelia or certain cities of Karelia, and a big chunk of essays and books are written in Finnish (and I don't know this language at all). The book I want to translate is Sortavalan arkkitehtuuria 1864-1939. Russian variant does exist, but the edition was small and no scans in Russian are available online.

I am doing it out of sheer enthusiasm and I don't offer money for help with translation (because I'm financially not well off) so If you want some exercise or like random pieces of history, please, answer my cries for help.

Välimies (n.) – Arbitrator, middleman, mediator

Example: Neuvottelut onnistuivat lopulta välimiehen avulla.

Translation: The negotiations were ultimately successful with the mediator’s help.

You can practice the word of the day by using it in a sentence in the comments below!

If this type of post is not allowed, I hope the mods will tell me where I can post this.

I am looking for a Finnish humanities student (doesn’t matter which subject) who would like to help a more advanced student (me) expand vocab and improve spoken ability in in-person lessons. The hourly rate can be negotiated.

Poikkeavuus (n.) – Abnormality, anomaly

Example: Laitteen toiminnassa havaittiin poikkeavuus, joten se päätettiin tarkistaa.

Translation: An anomaly was detected in the device’s operation, so it was decided to check it.

You can practice the word of the day by using it in a sentence in the comments below!

Tehostaa - to optimize, to intensify, to enhance

You can practice the Verb of the Week by using it in a sentence in the comments below!

So, basically as the title said. I've read around online and such that the first syllable of Finnish words is usually "stressed", but what exactly does that mean? I presume that you don't make it longer, since consonant and vowel length actually change words and such in Finnish, but do you make it louder, or something else?

I know it's a kinda oddly specific question, but this has been plaguing me for a while because I've worried that my Finnish has been completely incomprehensible this whole time because I haven't been stressing the first syllable. So, does anyone have any tips as to how execute or at least hear first syllable stress? Kiitos!

Edit: Some people were asking and saying that I should include my native language, so to let you all know, my native language is English (Specifically US English). Sorry 'bout that, really should've included it originally, haha.