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The Finnish alphabet varies from the English so that in Finnish there are letters such as ä, ö and å.

Luckily the movies are only sub-titled, not dubbed.

The Finns have to study English for up to ten years in school so generally every Finn should know how to speak and to understand English. The problem is that some are rather shy to speak English. The best way to break the ice is to take the Finn in to a local pub for a few drinks and you are guaranteed with excellent results rather quickly.

Here are few basic words to start your Finnish lessons:

Kiitos = Thank you
Hauska tutustua = Nice to meet you
Näkemiin = Good bye
Minun nimeni on = My name is 

Finnish grammar may seem at first rather difficult to learn (Finnish language is ranked one of the hardest languages in the world to learn) but when you have the basic knowledge of grammar it’s relatively easy to learn.

The pronunciation is almost the same as the spelling. I guess the best way to learn the language is just persistently to speak to people day in and day out. The Finns are rather taken when someone is showing an effort to learn their language.

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