I'm Learning Finnish Because It Makes Me Happy 🇫🇮❤️

Why do we learn languages, anyway? In today's video I discuss one important aspect of this through the example of me getting back to learning the Finnish language. It's perhaps not the most practical choice right now, but it makes me happy and is helping me to move past some difficult experiences in my past. I think that's as good a reason as any 😊🌎❤️
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[@fuckbored4724]

I'm just glad that there's other people out there who learn languages merely for the pleasure that learning and using that language brings to them. My family members often struggle to understand this basic concept, and it can feel a little lonely being surrounded by people who do not understand or even respect one of your major passions. Anyways, keep up the good work Robin.

[@schoolingdiana9086]

I have a few friends like that. Communication is, and always has been, **the** top job skill. There are still a few who say “Oh. Well, they can just learn English, then.” (Obviously, those are not any of my fellow Native friends.) I don’t even bother with them at that point be they can’t see how imperialist their thinking is.

[@jamesm.9285]

With you there lol, which sucks because I (often) learn best and find motivation much easier with other people. The Internet community helps a lot, but it's not the same as face-to-face relationships I guess. 😆 Having a language partner or at least someone else with an interest in languages and linguistics and cultures can be a powerful way to stay interested and engaged. Anyway, never lose your passion - you're part of the awesome group of people with a hobby that can be endlessly rewarding (personally and professionally)! 👍😉

[@nickludwig5]

Likewise! I tell people I have been learning Icelandic for almost a year now and people just say why?? It's my dream language and I have put it off for years because I convinced myself it "wasn't useful". But it's fun! And I've never had so much motivation for a language outside of French (my profession, and language at home with my daughter). Nice post!

[@explorerpigeon8462]

I relate to everything you say. Some languages I learn them because I see myself speaking it for fun and be immersed with the culture/s, or just discover another side of me, a new way of thinking.

[@eddyc8900]

I think most people have no interest in learning unless it's a necessity for them. I study a few languages and rarely tell anyone about it these days. It can weird others out a bit. I look at it like it's a strange hobby or something.

[@iirovaltonen4258]

Looking at these comments I am flabbergasted how many foreigners are studying Finnish. And also from so many different backgrounds. Keep up the fun!

[@Judestomp]

A Finn here, it makes me happy to see you so excited about Finnish, I love our language! Also you should experience Finland in all her seasons, she's beautiful. :) Onnea opiskeluun - Good luck studying!

[@emel3925]

I loveeeee people learning languages just because they’re drawn to them 🙌 learning a language for practical reasons is fine of course, but there’s something magic about exploring a language you’re genuinely fascinated by 😁

[@Pakanahymni]

This video warmed this Finnish teacher's heart

[@asoulinsearch4267]

Haha, this is incredible. You won't believe it, Robin, but I'm learning Finnish for the same reason. Because it makes me happy. No other reason other that I love how it sounds, how it looks when written down, and, most importantly, I LOVE its grammar and how you can stack suffixes on suffixes to create meaningful sentences. I've never studied a Uralic language before, so this is a totally new experience, and I'm really happy about it. At the moment, I'm reading the first Harry Potter book in Finnish, halfway through it (ordered it from Finland, the actual printed one), already got past Arsene Lupin in Finnish. Have something around 150 to maybe 200 hours in Finnish and know maybe like 700-800 words or so? The thing that surprised me the most was that I have pretty much the same reasoning for learning Finnish as you. I particularly love its complex grammar, but still, the main reason is just that it makes me happy. So good luck in your Finnish journey man, hopefully it'll bring you the fulfillment you want :)

[@myers4067]

Let me know if you want to practice with me. I live here about 3 years and I have a good level. 😉

[@asoulinsearch4267]

@@myers4067 Hey! Thanks for reaching out. Let me know which chat app you would like to use. If possible, let's use Telegram. KZbin doesn't have a private message system implemented, so let me know if you're okay with Telegram and if so, I'll give you my handle. As soon as you find me there, I'll remove the message from here. Disclaimer: I'm not nearly ready for any output, so I don't think I'll take you up on the speaking practice offer, but we surely can chat and it would be great to have someone who can answer my questions about Finnish from time to time :)

[@myers4067]

@@asoulinsearch4267 I don't know what is happening, I already put my telegram here 2 times but it seems someone's deleting my messages. 😒😒

[@asoulinsearch4267]

@@myers4067 Sorry, you haven't reacted for 30 minutes, so I'm editing the message. Let me know when you're ready to find me as soon as I post.

[@myers4067]

@@asoulinsearch4267 Well, i don't understand, I put AGAIN my telegram and it doesn't keep here. Well, I'm here anyway.

[@a.r.4707]

Wow I'm a Finn and it amazes me everytime when I see a person who wants to learn Finnish and is not a resident here etc. I know a lot immigrants here who never bothered to learn Finnish even if they reside here. Nice one Robin😃. Cheers!

[@emmi3276]

I have to agree with you there! I love seeing people learn our language, it’s amazing how much love and effort they put into it. It makes me love the country more than I already do!

[@a.r.4707]

@@emmi3276 Yeah definitely. It makes us perhaps to appreciate what we have, and to love our language more😊.

[@emmi3276]

@@a.r.4707 Yeah, definitely!

[@emmi3276]

I find it inspiring to know that people enjoy learning our language, I don’t know why, but I just do!

[@a.r.4707]

@@emmi3276 The reason for it could be that Finnish is a minority language and not spoken much anywhere outside Finland really. Only the immigrants who move to Finland learn Finnish often and not necessarily out of interest but more like out of necessity. But it seems that nowadays Finnish is gaining more popularity and some might even consider it exotic. So when we see people abroad somewhere learning Finnish just for fun we feel like that.

[@bensomes7662]

Mä oon australiainen, ja mä oon opiskellut suomea noin 1.5 vuotias (pitka tarina). Hyvää tietää, että mä en oo yksin! Kieli on tosi ihana. Vaikka se on vaikea kieli, kyl sä pärjäät!

[@Mizar4]

Mahtava kuulla

[@julianarocha9370]

this is very relatable. i just picked up swedish and many of my friends and family still can't quite understand why. "are you planning to move there? work there? what are you gonna do with swedish? why not learn chinese, the language of the future????" and i keep telling them i want to learn swedish because it's what i feel like doing right now haha maybe i just want to have casual chats or read a novel in swedish, what's wrong with that? people are so nosy

[@schoolingdiana9086]

My mom said that about Russian to me in the 80s, when I started learning German.

[@takaraivo6421]

i just picked up brazilian portuguese and i do understand your concerns even though i have no friends and it hasn't even crossed my mind to tell about my learning progress to my family. anyway, i'd like to ask you if you've used any language exchange apps. hellotalk is great. people are very open and understanding there. there's even this doodling feature which is so cool. you can wake up your inner artist

[@KaiRaj91]

I’m learning Finnish too! It’s a language of my ancestors and it makes me feel closer to their culture and traditions. Love everything about the language 🥰

[@sraddhapadharmacari5898]

I love Finnish so much! In the last year of my degree in Scandinavian Studies I got to take an introductory Finnish course, and then just after I graduated I went on a summer course in Savonlinna. I wasn't able to keep it up after that, but every time I hear the language it just makes me so happy:) I'd love to get back to it one day...

[@snowflake4099]

I'm learning Finnish too and it feels so good to hear that I'm not alone🥰

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

I'm very happy to read that you enjoyed it and don't feel alone 🥰

[@ariahauser4224]

I love this video! I'm learning Finnish as well, because I love the language and the culture. I want to move to Finland, thought I don't know if it will work out.

[@JonathanOlelo]

Interesting to hear that you studied Finnish! I agree that you don't need to have a practical goal to enjoy learning a language. Actually, I think learning a language just because you love it is one of the best motives to study.

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Thanks Jonathan! I totally agree with you. I feel like there’s even quite a special feeling when you’re learning a language purely for the love and joy and happiness it brings you. I get the same feeling studying Swedish. But in general, at this point in my life, I just want to freely and unabashedly embrace and enjoy things that bring me happiness, which to be honest in some ways is kind of a first in my life ❤️

[@shiny7958]

Finnish was the first language I ever learned on my own!

[@vilhelminapietilainen8746]

It makes me so happy when someone wants to learn my beast of a mother tongue. With all it's structural monstrosities and myriad of dialects it's definitely a challenge but one worth taking. Onnea matkaan!

[@PolyglotProgress]

I love this! I think figuring out how to improve our language learning is great, but it's also really important to keep that from overtaking how we study. If we're not in one of those situations where we have to progress in a time frame, it's important to sometimes do those unpractical things because they'll make us happier and more motivated.

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

So glad you loved it! 🥰 I totally agree, sometimes these things can be wonderful additions to our "spice kit" for life, and you just never know where they will lead which I think is a wonderful thing to embrace in life in general.

[@jenscarlsson7744]

Hi Robin! In my thirties, some twenty years ago, I started studying finnish. Being from Sweden I have always had some connection to Finland, historical and just because we have a lot of finns living over here. When my children were small I took a long break from it but since maybe 2018 I am back on it. I now enjoy easy podcast and can to a degree understand what is said on the radio/TV. Reading while listening to the audiobook is my next step. Lycka till med finskan! Hälsningar Jens Carlsson

[@careerluv]

Minä olen opiskellut suomea 7 vuotta. Tykkään paljon! Harjoitellan minun miehen kanssa. Nyt kaikki muut kielet on tosi HELPO oppia!! :-)

[@user-nh7my6gg5b]

i'm learning finnish for fun too! ugh it's so beautiful i wish i could actually use it.

[@Howtogetfluent]

Great that you're getting back to Finnish. I lived in Finland for a year in the early '90s as a visiting grad student at Helsingin Yliopisto, got to a (very) low A2 level and still want to get back to it. When I was in Japan for the first time in 2019 I kept thinking I'd heard people speaking Finnish and would turn round and, of course, there would be a couple of Japanese people. It's the phonemic long consonants, so important in both languages. Richard did a summer course there a few summers ago, so maybe you next :) Have fun!

[@SusannXz]

It's always great to hear people wanting to study my native language since it can be quite challenging. I've recently started learning mandarin Chinese mainly because I think it's fun to learn all the characters, and I'm also learning Korean simply because I like the way it sounds. Sometimes I wonder if there is a "real" point for me learning those languages, but this video has motivated me to keep going, even though I never might get any practical use out of them 😄

[@arieltineo1605]

I like the people of Finland I'm interested in it's culture because I find them very interesting people (very different from the people of my country)

[@arieltineo1605]

@@Varallisuus What is your native language? Mine is Spanish

[@Hide_and_silk]

My son has been living and working in Helsinki for two years. He's back in the UK now but missing Finland so contemplating going back. I'm currently using Speakly for French and loving it so if he goes back I may just add in Finnish and learn with him as he never really picked up the language while there (he was on a 2 year contract and everyone spoke English).

[@ladyjulaia]

Years ago, I began to learn Finnish because I was so in love with the Finnish rock. I wonder how this came unnoticed to you, it's the best on the planet. Back then, as to get more into the atmosphere, I even went into a winter trip in Helsinki and at the polar circle. I cannot describe the deep peace that I've got the whole time being in Finland, I miss it so much. I interrupted shortly learning Finnish because of other priorities, but now when seeing your video, I will re-start it.. just for pleasure.

[@schoolingdiana9086]

I’m 2015, I went to see Ensiferum in concert and Korpiklaani was on right before them. Jonni was cracking jokes with the folks in the mosh pit, in Finnish, which had to make their visit to Seattle very enjoyable. It gave me a great experience of what others go through when they’re feeling left out from not grasping the language being spoken. I think I was the only one in the audience who didn’t speak a word of Finnish.

[@a.r.4707]

Yeah many people started to learn Finnish because of those metal bands by the way. I have met some people like that and their Finnish was pretty good. Those Finnish metal bands seem to be popular around the globe.

[@emmi3276]

It’s so great to know you’re learning Finnish! I’m Finnish myself and I have to agree, Finnish rock bands are the best. I remember growing up as a child, my mother used to love Finnish rock! I’ve grown up around it and I’ve taken quite a liking to it! Best of luck with learning Finnish!

[@Hellenicheavymetal]

Yes, Amorphis!

[@uzKantHarrison]

Cool! I love Finnish too, I work in Sweden and two of my colleagues are from Finland. I even enjoy their accent when they speak Swedish.

[@EasyFinnish]

Hello from Finland! This was very nice story :)

[@Mizar4]

Sama täällä

[@Silverfot]

Love that you're wearing a Finnish themed shirt. :D

[@peanuts4723]

Well l guess you have summoned the finnish youtube algorithm because l found my way here, good luck with learning this language you are always welcome here

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Glad to have you here! Thank you, I really really look forward to coming back

[@arbanaszildiko5904]

Robin, it is totally relatable and I'm super happy to hear you talking about learning Finnish just for the pure fun of it. :) Not only beacuse I am also into this wonderful language but also because I was feeling sooooo guilty for not being able to resist the temptation. I challenged myself to study Indonesian for two months in the summer and - of course - I've fallen in love with it. I have already Norwegian and Finnish (at different levels) in my daily language routine so including a third one might sound a very-VERY crazy step. But after your video I feel more relaxed about it and ready to keep going on even if in slow motion. Your enthusiasm is really contagious! :D Good luck with your "passion-languages"! I would be happy to hear more about your Italian and Finnish adventures. :D

[@aspeggy]

Sounds like a passion project! I'm full steam ahead with Norwegian at the moment because I'll be moving there in a few months, but I'm hoping to one day get back to learning Irish. It doesn't have any practical purpose to be honest, but as the language of my country I feel a strong connection to it regardless 💚 Best of luck on your Finnish adventure! 🇫🇮

[@NomadicVegan]

It's so great to see you happy, Robin, and I totally relate to this video. In the past year, I've gotten completely swept up in learning Galego, which doesn't make sense in any kind of practical, logical way. And yet it's bringing me great joy and is something that I feel strongly compelled to do, so I'm going to keep doing it. The universe has brought me here for a reason. It's the first time I've learned a minority, marginalized language, and that in itself has been a real eye-opener.

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Thanks so much, Wendy! I'm so glad this was relatable, it's been so nice to see your Galego Journaly posts and how immersed you've been in that language. I've been meaning to see if I can see if there are some Galego speakers in my audience who could give feedback on your posts! But it's so nice to see that it's bringing you all of that joy and is so compelling. It must be really special learning a minority, marginalized language like that - especially visiting and being able to connect with speakers of that language! Wishing you so much happiness and success 🌟

[@emmi3276]

It’s so nice to see somebody learning our language! A lot of people do not know where Finland is on maps, believe it or not! It’s refreshing to see you so motivated and happy about it. I cant wait to see how you progress! Onnea Suomesta! (I’m not a very strong English speaker, sorry if anything is grammaticaly wrong.)

[@nendoakuma7451]

I've been kind of going back and revisiting languages I'd dropped for the last year or so. It feels kind of good.

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

I agree. For me it's particularly special when I have some past history and stories with the language.

[@pahis1248]

Learning new languages is just fun. imo greetings from Finland

[@SeaboltSpeaks]

Robin, I absolutely love Finnish and actually have been dabbling in it for a few weeks, and I may make it my main study language starting in September. It's so incredible.

[@Zazah_Contortion]

Hey, I'm learning Finnish. It's my favourite language and it makes me happy😍😍 Finland is also my favourite country🇫🇮🇫🇮 Hearing this makes me feel so much better😊❤

[@janiradmer3183]

Terveisiä Suomesta! Toivottavasti innostuksesi suomen kieleen jatkuu. :) I have chosen those languages that I am learning from emotional reasons instead of practical ones, so your video for me was very relatable. Language learning is fun when the motivation is internal. One does not always have to learn the most spoken languages in the world.

[@Aureelia63N3]

Great that you`re learning Finnish! It is one of my strongest foreign languages that I speak (the other one being English) and has played a big part in my life. So I`m always happy to hear when someone starts learning it. :) Onnea ja menestystä suomen opiskeluissasi!

[@anapaulaloveanjo2550]

I did not understand all what you sad because I am from Brazil and my native language is portuguese , but even so , I liked so much of the video . I tried to learn japonese , but I found this language very difficult , english is much much more easier ... even so I am not fluent in english , but I am trying to learn it . My goal is to learn spanish , english , german , turkish and japonese . Although I'm not learnig finish , I also like this language , I know a few of its grammar so hard with a lot of declinations , very interesting . Minä olen talossa = I'm at home Congratulations from your efforts to learn finish and for the excelent video ! Parabéns pelo seu esforço em aprender finlandês é pelo excelente vídeo !

[@olbrok]

So awesome! Maybe this will inspire more people to write in Finnish in Journaly as well

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

That would be wonderful! I’ll definitely try to promote more Finnish activity and also corrections/feedback on Journaly!

[@MDobri-sy1ce]

Finnish is probably my favourite Uralic language. However, French, Spanish, and Russian is enough for now so maybe someday.

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

It is delightful! The nice thing is that it will always still be there if you decide it's finally time one day 😊

[@MDobri-sy1ce]

@@RobinMacPhersonFilms Unfortunately, a lot of the Uralic languages in Siberia are being phased out due to more people speaking Russian instead. However, I don’t think Finnish, Estonian,and Hungarian are going anywhere but I prefer Finnish because of its popularity. And seems closer to a “true Uralic language “ compared to Hungarian which has been heavily influenced by German and the Baltic languages.

[@m1.999]

You inspired me to get back into learning french! good luck with Finnish 🤞🏽

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Woohoo, I'm so glad to read that! Merci et bon courage !

[@rinacopinga4881]

I have followed you for a while now, and I have been getting into Italian since February and since June I am learning Finnish. I am absolutely over the moon that you are getting back to Finnish :)

[@myers4067]

Let me know if you want to practice with me. I live here about 3 years and I have a good level. 😉

[@emmi3276]

(Finnish person here XD) Oh, wow! If you need any help, I’m happy to help you at any given time, I love watching people learn Finnish!

[@zeramonde7283]

So relatable and still sooo good to hear it again!

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Yay I'm so glad to read that!

[@85sharifa55]

Hello! Here somebody from Finland, have subscribed your channel and somehow? got to this video! I am learning Italian now and am interested in languages in general. Thank you for your work!

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Hello! Wow what nice timing, haha 🙌🏼 Buonissima fortuna con il tuo italiano! Thank you for your support 😊

[@petronellal652]

Heey Robin! Such a sweet video. So exciting to hear that you are returning to your Finnish studies :) Maybe I should start commenting your videos only in Finnish from now on...

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Heyyy! Ahh I'm so glad you liked the video ☺️ Please feel free to comment in Finnish 🥳 Somebody commented "Hei Suomesta" above and that already was a super interesting and helpful insight for me figuring out the case system haha. Kiitos paljon ja hei Englannista! :)

[@unixlv708]

Hi from Finland. Already subscribed 🇫🇮 Hei Suomesta!

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Hi @unixlv! Wow, at my early stages of Finnish, it's amazing how helpful the simplest comments can be as I'm trying to figure out the case system 😄 Hei Englannista!

[@alwayslearning7672]

Finnish sounds cool!

[@solea59]

hello Robin, once again you have inspired me ! I had to pop my Icelandic books back into the cupboard. Not from lack of interest, just lack of time. So instead I've decide to push myself with Portuguese which I've been chugging along with as well as my Italian . So it's going to be at least 5 words per day with Portuguese as you are doing with your Finnish. Well done and many thanks for the inspiration !

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Hello Brian! I'm so glad you found this to be inspiring 😄 Boa sorte with your Portuguese! I know you've been doing great with your Italian - continua così! 👏🏼

[@annina134]

Nice that someone is keen to learn finish. 😊 I'm from Finland and I like to learn different languages too. Today i can finish, swedish, english, germany, a little bit of spanish and i understand norway and little bit danish too and japanese is the new one i'm trying to learn (just for fun)! 😊

[@husastra]

I love the title! :D

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Short, sweet, and simple! haha I'm happy you love it 🥰

[@merulingo]

Omg, the timing of this video is impeccable. So much emotion and passion in it too. I was going to write about my book club progress on Journaly today, but I think it will be another topic. I’m really exited about it too :) Thanks for sharing your thoughts and feelings, hope you will get there wit Finnish and Japanese and all the languages you love.

[@irenemcnamara9699]

Your enthusiasm for learning many foreign languages is inspirational! And I thought I could learn only two languages at best!

[@glot4561]

Go for itttt. I used to resist these urges to jump into something else impulsively and with no goals, but they're fun and fruitful.

[@bunnyteeth365]

Sort of how I feel about Icelandic. I enjoyed learning it, but I was only 14 years old. I just couldn't deal with the lack of resources and progress. Now that I've made progress in another language I feel motivated to try Icelandic again. It just feels like I'm getting in touch with a long lost part of myself when I dabble in Icelandic. I know it will still be challenging to find resources and content in general.

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Ah yes, learning a language like Icelandic at the age of 14 - presumably without much experience learning languages - and with the lack of resources must have been challenging! It sounds like you're much better equipped now with that additional experience and, though they're still probably quite scarce relative to some other languages, I would think (hope!) there might be more resources by now compared to when you first studied it! 🤞🏼 I wish you all the best luck jumping back into it if you decide to take the jump!

[@bunnyteeth365]

@@RobinMacPhersonFilms It still seems like a lot of the resources are about the same. When I look at the other resources I've used, it doesn't seem like I used a lot of resources that aren't available for Icelandic.

[@tn98544]

Great opportunity to finish your Finnish story

[@hoonopsa1116]

Hauska kuulla että olet innostunut suomesta. Itse olen käyttänyt Speaklya viron opiskelemiseen.

[@norma94]

I'm happy for you Robin. Listening to your history with Finnish really made me feel happy you're learning it again. I feel sort of the same with Korean, after many years I'm back to learning it. I'm also learning Italian and ASL lol.

[@sajalmaqsood1077]

OMGGG😍😍😍 I speak fluent Finnish, as i am a second generation Finn😊 So happy to see this video❤️ Best of luck!

[@phgillon2614]

I just seen this video! you are ACE! Je suis français et parle américain anglais à un haut niveau, car j'ai vécu plus de 12 ans aux États-Unis et plus de 25 ans au Royaume-Uni (ma femme, mes filles et mon petit-fils sont anglais). ...but have an accent: for English, as a non native language, the truth is if you did not have a parent that was anglophone or did not go to an English speaking school when from a very young age, you will have a foreign accent. En ce qui concerne les accents anglais, il y en a beaucoup qui peuvent être forts dans certaines parties du Royaume-Uni, et dans des pays qui parlent l'anglais de manière en partie officielle, comme en partie l'Inde et autant la Jamaïque par exemple, et ils ont des accents forts. Je me suis enfin décidé à réviser mon dialecte espagnol Mexicain (aux États-Unis, nous vivions dans le sud-ouest, en Californie en fait, où le mexicain en tant que langue était fort et souvent utilisé). Aussi, à Long Island , NY, j'ai appris de l''espagnol (Costa Ricain) en 1 an avec une femme qui s'occupait de nos filles ). Mais j'adore l'espagnol Mexicain Oui, un jour je vais être très bon en espagnol mexicain et pour me détendre et parce que cela me rends heureux, comme faire le Mexicain, je vais faire pour m'amuser aussi, pour un plaisir holistique, un long cours de langue Choctaw (Chahta anumpa) pour ses sons relaxants et apaisants. ainsi que des éléments culturels éblouissants et naturels. Même essayer le grec et j'en reste là. Thank you for having hugely inspired me to re-learn the power and usefulness of languages . AND AS MUCH that to do a language because it can make one happy! Merci de tout coeur! Dabbing can then lead to one or two languages, or more, that really might hone your time and energy to learn them because you discovered their inner beauty or/and identity within some cultural or specialities that some country(ies) do. 👍💜

[@jcpana060959]

I live in Miami Florida and speak Spanish and English. I personally do not know any Finnish person or even talk Finnish with anyone but i love the language and an trying to learn it. I suppose i feel similar to the way you do about Finland. onnea suomen kielellesi!

[@tonyderexxo7326]

So basically, you're not quite *finished* with *Finnish.* Ha!

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

😂 It was just a matter of time! 😂

[@geilegiovana5964]

Robin I like to much your videos, idk, have a long time that I don't study English, but you are a little inspiration to my journey. Thanks

[@liisukka517]

I am really glad that you want to learn Finnish. Toivon, että jaksat jatkaa nyt pitkään, ihan valmiiksi asti. Mikä sitten on valmis, en tiedä... Kerro, jos joskus tulet Suomeen. Minusta ja varmaan muistakin on mukava tietää, että joku, joka on kiinnostunut maastamme ja kielestämme, on parhaillaan paikan päällä. Kaikkea hyvää sinulle!

[@xeniabolsh9249]

Good luck with Finnish! It's interesting, but I'm not going to study German until a few days ago. When I watched some movie in German and I loved this language... And now I don't know what to do...🤔

[@Valtzeri]

What in the frick is this, I just saw your video at Helsinki from years ago and thought to myself "I wonder if he dropped Finnish" I thought you were wasting your time with our case system and low number of speakers, but I guess you're doing it for reasons of passion. I'm Finnish with fluent English and you inspired me partly to reprendre mon français that I was taught since I was a kid. Hyvää päivänjatkoa! :)

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Haha what great timing! Yeah just days after that video, everything fell apart with the job I was going to be starting and I haven’t been to Finland or studied Finnish ever since, until now. I have to say, I’m really enjoying trying to figure out the case system like a complex puzzle! As I keep seeing more and more sentences I make my own little hypothesis, then see another sentence that disproves it, I adjust my theory and eventually get it right and it feels wonderful! It’s like a 20-minute triathlon for my brain each day 🤣 It will be fun to see where it goes and I really look forward to being in Finland again one day. Hyvää päivänjatkoa to you as well! (As of now I’m not sure what the correct and colloquial way to say “you too” in this particular grammatical situation 😂)

[@Valtzeri]

@@RobinMacPhersonFilms You could say Samoin! which is likewise.

[@asoulinsearch4267]

Nah dude, some people just learn Finnish because it's such a unique and challenging language to learn, me included :) Suomi on todella kiva kieli oppia :)

[@Valtzeri]

@@asoulinsearch4267 Yeah I guess it's a different feeling, but I'd still prefer picking up 2-3 easier and larger languages at the price of 1 haha ;)

[@asoulinsearch4267]

@@Valtzeri I know what you mean. I've contemplated the possibility of learning several Romance languages at the price of Finnish or Japanese, but ever since I became fluent in English, I wanted something to challenge myself with. Something really hard. That's why I originally started with just Japanese after English, and now I'm trying to study Japanese and Finnish in parallel, which are both insanely difficult languages. I'm already around intermediate in Japanese and can grasp the main gist of what's being talked about in books, so I think it's possible now to branch out to Finnish as well (I've been doing that for a while now). It's going okay for now, so I believe it's definitely possible, especially if you have enough dedication :)

[@abdullahhamid2864]

Ich bin auf Sie sehr beeindruckt. Sie haben so viele Sprachen gleichzeitig beherrscht. Ich würde sagen, "pures Talent!".

[@ams5894]

Hieno homma! Tsemppiä opintoihin 🤗

[@MaweeEnglish]

same here, English makes my day

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

I’m really glad to read that! ☺️

[@paulaguerra8775]

Great!! Tell us about your learning schedule for this new language 😊

[@langatu]

Hey, Robin! This is something similar to what I’ve done right now as well. I quit Arabic and I moved to Persian. Why? Because I love it and I don’t really know why. I just feel like I need to learn it.

[@MDobri-sy1ce]

One advantage I find Finnish has over Russian is they use the Latin Script. I do like the Cyrillic Script because it’s different but it can be a pain switching back and fourth sometimes.

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

I also really enjoyed Cyrillic back when I was learning Russian years ago. On one hand, it feels wonderful to read in languages with different scripts. On the other, there's no doubt that it always just takes a lot more cognitive effort to simply read. I think long-term this becomes hugely satisfying once you get to the point where it finally feels somewhat effortless, but that can take a very long time.

[@MDobri-sy1ce]

@@RobinMacPhersonFilms Well, I started learning Russian and the Cyrillic script when I was 18 through part of my 20’s. Part of my background is heavily Eastern European so I wanted to I guess feel more connected to that part of my ancestry. I would say it’s mostly effortless just the switching back and forth between scripts using an online virtual keyboard. Furthermore, fairly recently I found out the “O” in Russian makes the “Ah sound “ unless it’s hyphenated so I had to re- learn a few words. For example, korshtka. “potatoes” is pronounced more like karshtka.

[@Ewan_Smith]

Minä luulen, että se on erittäin hyvä idea! Minä opin suomea Speaklyn avulla, ja tämä 'intuitive' järjestelmä toimii hyvin.

[@a.r.4707]

Minä luulen, että se on erittäin hyvä idea. Minä opin/opiskelen suomea speaklyn avulla.

[@Ewan_Smith]

@@a.r.4707 Thank you! I feel like I'm on Journaly haha

[@a.r.4707]

@@Ewan_Smith Haha yeah almost😆 and you are welcome.

[@poljento]

Jee! Hyvä!

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

🥳🙌🏼 jee jee!

[@agathoklesmartinios8414]

Brace yourselves! The Fin(n)ish puns are coming!

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

It has begun! 😂

[@zh3294]

Omg! That language of my dream 😊 ( but for now i dedicate time ro improve my English)

[@skyediy6557]

LEGEND

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

WOOHOO thank you 😄🌟

[@dmitryas2114]

Hello, Robin !!! My name is Dima. I am found of learning languages. I have a problem with choosing words in a dictionary. I write the word in my native language and I see a lot of different translations of this word, I don't know which one to choose to learn and use in my speech. For example: I write Russian word "щенок" and I see a lot of variations to say that in English: " pupster", "puppy", "pup". If I look for images for each of these words, I see the same things. And such words can be much more than three. It is difficult, especially when you have a beginner or elementary level in this language, when you can't see the definition of these words, all you can is to see the translation. I hope you help me find a solution of this problem!

[@MetalBere]

I've always wanted to learn finnish, but i think it's too difficult. Now i'm full time learning german, but i hope in the future, maybe, trying again with finnish

[@Theroadneverending]

Hey my dude! I am an American who is trying right now to establish how I should go about learning Suomi. I am legit lost on where to begin because it is such a complicated language and I don’t want to spend money on language development tools that run me in circles. Can we please talk some more about what you’re doing and how I can mimic that? This is such a unique language that I haven’t found anything yet Also I’m curious to how you became employed in Finland? I am new to your channel so I’m not sure if you were a European citizen but you don’t sound like one …you sound Canadian? I have been told there’s zero chance of Canadians and Americans working in Finland due to the restrictive European laws unless you have a very niche career

[@teresita.lozada]

Since I am feeling pretty confortable with French I decided to re-learn German, since I've had experience with it (singing some songs with my choir for around 15 years). Esperanto can wait :). But honestly, the Swedish language makes me happy, so it is in my future plans.

[@rollingdownfalling]

Yes!! You're learning what I'm struggling hahaha.

[@teresita.lozada]

@@rollingdownfalling 🤣🤣🤣

[@allkindsofthings1497]

Hi, now in retrospect, what do you think of the Speakly app for learning Finnish? How does it stack up against Duolingo?

[@paolofiorillo7415]

I was born a strong passion for languages but I'm not inclined, I don't know if my fatigue is connected to my being sensitive, introverted and my blocks or not because I noticed that most people can study languages easily , I don't know if they were all born with the innate predisposition and I together with the minority are the only losers who don't have it and if you need to have a talent not to struggle with languages

[@johncrwarner]

I worked in Estonia for short periods around the end of the last century and the beginning of this so I learnt some Estonian though the classic problem was that it seemed EVERYONE and their dog wanted to practice their English. Weirdly on the bus you would hear Russian speakers and Estonian speakers conversing in English. To get to Tallinn the cheapest way was to fly from London to Helsinki on a cheap airline and then cross on the ferry so I encountered some Finnish and met some Finns who invited me to sauna with them etc. So I learnt some Finnish and even did a class in Milton Keynes for Finnish. I knew when I read the signs in bilingual Finnish towns and understood more of the Finnish than the Swedish that it was quiet easy - though the language purity movement from the Finnish Nationalism period where they made words "more Finnish" made the vocabulary harder than Estonian.

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Very interesting story about your time working in Estonia and your encounters with Finns along the way!

[@andrew_owens7680]

Have you tried Hungarian or Turkish?

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

I've never tried Hungarian. I did a little bit of Turkish for fun back when I worked at a coffee shop and there was a Turkish customer who used to come in - I have to say I really enjoyed it 😊

[@FinnlandIlpoPietinen]

Suomi mainittu!

[@a.r.4707]

Jee nähdään torilla!

[@alobo_78]

Terve!!! Sina olet mukava..! Estas son algunas de las frases que sé jejeje

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Kiiiiiitos Annie! jeje estas son buenas frases!

[@a.r.4707]

Sinä olet mukava*

[@alobo_78]

@@a.r.4707 kiitos!

[@a.r.4707]

@@alobo_78 Ole hyvä tai eipä kestä!

[@up_your_level]

Do you have a British accent?

[@guazonkiler3640]

A Like The Videos Me gustan Los Videos

[@rollingdownfalling]

WHAT!! that's such an intense schedule. Wonder how's your Chinese book reading going. My opinion is: Short-term happiness doesn't necessarily bring long term satisfaction.

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

I think that's a totally fair and wise opinion, and I also don't think it contradicts what I'm doing in any way. The key for me is what I mentioned in the video: being aware of and thoughtful about what you're doing as it pertains to your long-term goals and what you know you can do. In my case, I think I've been incredibly patient with my languages and have always looked to my long-term goals and happiness. To be honest, I may have been a bit too focused on long-term happiness, always sacrificing things that would make me happy in the present moment for many years now in order to hopefully build a truly delightful future where I could enjoy those things far more. I think I need to be more balanced and also embrace things that make me happy today while working hard to build for the future. 99% of my language learning time is spent with languages I've been learning for many years, many of which I learned to very high levels. Chinese is the youngest other active language I have, but even that language I have been learning diligently for 2.5 years now and am finally approaching those early stages of fluency (with a long road still ahead, which I look forward to). So I think spending 20 minutes or so learning Finnish in a way that brings lots of happiness to my days without really impacting my other commitments much; doing so very intentionally and in a way that may well bring an immense of long-term happiness but without the burden of needing to - is just fine. Regarding the first part of your comment, it's not that intense for me, just adding 15-20 minutes of pure enjoyment to my day. My Chinese learning is going really great in general and I'm also very happy that I've been able to read part of a native-level book in the last 3 weeks and enjoyed the process. I didn't get to read as much as I hoped last week due to working such long hours on Journaly, but I'm feeling *really really excited and inspired* to have my biggest and best week of Chinese reading so far this week! I'm also really delighted with how my Italian is going, and pleased with my decision to rotate Spanish out of active study in order to alleviate time for those things. Japanese has been a bit light the last few weeks since I've wanted to try my very best to dedicate as much time as I can to the book club, and I look forward to continually working on improving each week and adjusting to the ever-changing circumstances. I'm really enjoying finally bringing a lot of my languages back into my life after all these years and getting back to my old self when I always kept all my languages sharp and continually improving.

[@rollingdownfalling]

@@RobinMacPhersonFilms I guess it's all about tweaking with the active/passive/fun ratio.

[@hmt894]

@@RobinMacPhersonFilms And are you still working on Catalan & Vietnamese in addition to Japanese, Italian and Finish??

[@raven.4815]

Just dropped German because I wasn't liking it that much, this video helped me to realize that one should learn what makes it happy (or if you just like it, doesn't matter). Edit: typo

[@rollingdownfalling]

German is a good challenge, it's not too easy and it's not discouragingly difficult, I kind of liked that language.

[@raven.4815]

@@rollingdownfalling Yeah, maybe for someone native in the Germanic family, because I am not native in that family (altough I know a thing or two about English) so it's kinda hard, not at the same level as Chinese, but still. Don't get me wrong, I have NOTHING against German or Germans at all, I just simply wasn't liking it like I used to. Edit: typo, again

[@rollingdownfalling]

@@raven.4815 I guess everything has a honeymoon phase, I used to study the language by myself for 2 year and I stopped, because I have no system and the motivation wasn't always there. Even if I pick it back up I would put it aside sometime. Now I plan and track my daily schedule and I will also vary what I do with German from time to time so I don't think it's a problem even if I don't feel like it sometime.

[@daysandwords]

Yes, Speakly also tempted me to learn Finnish just because of how good the platform is. Also: Watch out. You just used the word "Nordic" within 5 minutes of mentioning Finnish. Now 4000 people are going to feel the need to point out that Finnish is not a Northern Germanic language. And no, it doesn't matter that you in no way implied that it was.

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Haha to be fair I said the word Nordic referring to the country of Finland being part of the Nordic Region, and was careful not to group it into the Scandinavian countries. I know you're acknowledging that within the broader point you're making but still just wanted to point that out for other readers 😂 Can't wait to bring Swedish back in a big way later this year! I've been waiting sooooooooo patiently for SUCH a long time now but taking things step by step as I work back to my old self, so I'll wait a wee bit longer because I know once I get back to Swedish I will want to do it for way more than 15-20 minutes per day.

[@daysandwords]

@@RobinMacPhersonFilms Yeah that's just the thing. I said exactly the same thing in a video a few months back and every second comment is like "Ahem, Finnish is a Finno-Ugric language NOT similar to Danish, Swedish or Norwegian." And I'm like... Do you think I may already know that? Awesome! I'll look forward to the Swedish!

[@schoolingdiana9086]

This is interesting because Estonia can and does claim to be Scandinavian/Nordic. I have very dear friends from Finland (I babysat their son, 4 months younger than my oldest son; both boys are now 30) and they call themselves both Nordic and Scandinavian.

[@peaceonearth8693]

Makes you happy? Nice. Be sure to let us know when you're Finished.

[@accent77]

As Italian as you appear, it is a shock that you are English and don't speak Italian.