Why You Can Read Finnish but Not Understand Finns: Teacher Lotta on Spoken Finnish

I am Lotta, a Finnish teacher, language lover and the creator of Finnished. I help Finnish learners understand and speak everyday Finnish, using the natural method.

I started Finnished after learning Italian in one year with the natural method, and I wanted to make this way of learning available to Finnish learners as well. I started to get messages from learners telling me they could see more progress after a few months of using the natural method than after years of traditional study. Those messages have kept me going all these years!

There are two main reasons. The first is that the Finnish taught in textbooks is not the Finnish we use in everyday life, the spoken language (puhekieli). Puhekieli is quite different from the "official" Finnish, kirjakieli, and it is difficult to understand if you've only studied kirjakieli. The problem is that Finns use puhekieli in almost every situation: with friends and family, at work with colleagues, at the supermarket and on other errands. If you want to understand Finns and communicate with them in everyday life, puhekieli is the way to go.

The other reason is that traditional language study focuses far too little on listening comprehension. It is the single most useful skill in communication, because it builds your vocabulary, trains your ear to recognise correct patterns (hello grammar!) and teaches proper pronunciation. But traditional classes often limit listening to short, artificial dialogues, mostly in kirjakieli, so learners never get enough exposure to real-life Finnish.

The natural method, as its name suggests, makes us learn a language the way our brains naturally acquire languages: through understanding messages, not through grammar rules. It is based on the principles of language expert Dr. Stephen Krashen and decades of research in second language acquisition.

The foundation of the natural method is comprehensible input: anything you read or listen to in Finnish that is made understandable with gestures, images, subtitles or context.

By consuming comprehensible input, your brain starts to connect words with their different meanings and uses, recognise patterns in the language and develop an intuitive understanding of how the language is structured, without consciously studying grammar rules or vocabulary lists.

That understanding then lets you speak Finnish (with some practice, of course), and you say things correctly because "it sounds right", not because you remember a rule.

Listen to something in puhekieli! Swap your Duolingo sessions (those are in kirjakieli) for active listening to real-life Finnish. Start at the level that suits you – don't jump straight into native radio programmes. If you're a beginner, subtitles will help you.

I have over 100 videos with dual Finnish and English subtitles on my YouTube channel. And if you want the full method and roadmap, my programme Finnish Me helps Finnish learners go from textbook Finnish to real conversations.

It has taught me this: do not rely on motivation. It will always wear off. The trick is to study even when you don't feel motivated.

For me, it really helps to have a consistent, regular study routine that fits around my life, not the other way around. If you are always tired after work, don't plan to study when you get home. Instead, try waking up a bit earlier, or use part of your lunch break for Finnish.

And when your planned study time comes and you "don't feel like it", ignore that and do it anyway. It will feel unpleasant, but once you've done it enough times you will start to see progress – and that's the best feeling ever.

Lotta is a Finnish teacher and the creator of Finnished, which teaches everyday spoken Finnish with the natural method. Her YouTube channel has over 100 videos with dual Finnish and English subtitles, and her programme Finnish Me takes learners from textbook Finnish to real conversations.

• Website: learnfinnished.com
• YouTube: @finnished