How do I say it in Finnish?

There's nothing more rewarding than being able to have a conversation with the locals.

Finnish is really only spoken in Finland (and in pockets in a few neighbouring countries - Sweden, Russia, Estonia, Norway) and in some communities in the USA and Canada. There are just over 5 million speakers worldwide.

The Finnish language is related to Estonian, Hungarian and a dozen other languages that spread from Finland to the Urals in present-day Russia.

Finnish has a reputation for being very difficult, and Finns are often quick to point this out. But once you penetrate the initially obscure-looking vocabulary and come to terms with what seems an odd way of building words and sentences it actually is rather an easy language with very few irregularities.

So just fling yourself with abandon into the delights of everyday Finnish and you'll soon realise it's no more difficult than any other language - and in many ways very much easier. And the rewards for speaking Finnish are numerous.

You really only need about 300-400 words and phrases to be able to communicate successfully in almost any situation. So, use this lens to pick up the basic words and phrases in Finnish and use the resources we list to move on and become a true speaker of Finnish, or check out the recommendations on Omniglossia here.

Onnea matkaan!