Do you ever feel stuck with your Finnish? Like you’ve been studying and studying but nothing sticks? Maybe you tried to order a coffee in Finnish and got a tea instead? ☕
(I really hope that hasn’t happened to you!)
I think this happens to all of us: you start studying Finnish with excitement, you learn a few key words very quickly, understand the main uses of the partitive, and maybe even manage to order that coffee in Finnish.
And then… nothing. No progress whatsoever. For weeks. For MONTHS.
But don’t worry – you just hit a plateau. Plateaus are moments where you seem to stop progressing despite your best efforts of studying.
In this article, I’ll go through the most common and painful plateaus that are between you and your Finnish fluency – and how to get to the next level.
You have just started studying Finnish and you think you have made good progress; you already understand some basic words, how to order coffee – yks kahvi kiitos – and you’ve memorised all the names of the cases.
Finnish grammar doesn't seem as difficult as you thought, yay!
But then you start learning rections and the conjugation of words ending in ‘s’, and you start to panic. There's no way you'll be able to memorise all the conjugation groups – at least not well enough to be able to use them fluently in a conversation.
And because these grammar rules are often complicated, and frankly, boring, you get discouraged and don’t want to continue your studies.
What to do?
Forget grammar. Getting overwhelmed with different grammar rules before you understand spoken Finnish will only paralyse you and stay on this Beginner's Lowland.
In my opinion, one of the biggest problems in language learning is that we start by studying grammar, even though our goal is to understand and speak that language. This should be the last step in language learning – like with your native language: you only study grammar once you already speak it fluently.
So instead, start your Finnish journey by focusing on what you are aiming for: understanding everyday spoken Finnish.
Ok, so now you’ve taken the advice and focused on understanding Finnish. You progressed really quickly at first and now you can understand slowly spoken Finnish, maybe with a text (that’s awesome by the way).
But you're stuck at this level and when you try to listen at normal speed, you don't understand anything. What’s even worse, it feels like you're going backwards, and you have to listen to the slow videos again many times to understand them!
The result? You don't feel like studying anymore.
To overcome the Understander’s Highland, I recommend two approaches that work best together.
If you feel like you can't get to the next level, is it possible that you're trying to take too big of a leap at once?
If you now understand slow Finnish, you can't expect to immediately understand very quickly spoken Finnish. There are other levels in between.
My advice: increase the speed gradually. Listen to the same audio first a little faster, then a little faster again – until you get to that normal/fast speed. After that you can start with more difficult audio, but again slowly at first and gradually speeding up.
If you try this but your progress is still inexistent, you should check your study routine and energy consumption. Do you always study when you’ve run out of energy or you can't fully concentrate – for example after a long day at work or when your children are running around?
Your brain needs energy and focus in order to learn something efficiently. For me, learning languages earlier in the day – like in the morning before work – works wonders! Try playing around with when you study best, and you might see a huge difference.
However, some people are very alert in the evening and learn better even at night – if you are one of them, definitely continue studying in the evening.
The third plateau is the most dangerous on them all: the Slacker’s Expanse ☠️ The Slacker’s Expanse is treacherous, because we usually end up there without even noticing it.
And I know no one wants to admit they're on the Slacker’s Expanse, but the truth is, we’re ALL there at some point – I’m the first one to admit that I find myself there every now and then 🙋 – and there's nothing wrong with that! (as long as you don't get stuck there forever)
This is what it looks like: when you start studying Finnish, you are really motivated. It feels new and exciting, your brain produces dopamine when you even think about studying Finnish and all the new things you get to learn (hmm maybe not in all cases…).
It's easy to spend a lot of my time studying because it actually feels good!
Then… this feeling of novelty wears off – usually after a few weeks or a couple of months at the latest.
You don't feel good about studying anymore, but you haven't got enough results to encourage you to continue.
You no longer have motivation and you might start googling "how to maintain motivation" instead of actually studying Finnish.
You start feeling like a failure, and you might abandon your studies completely – and you end up on the Slacker’s Expanse.
And the real problem here is NOT that you lack motivation. The problem is that you are too lazy to study without motivation.
To get out of the Slacker’s Expanse, you have to improve your willpower by doing things that you have decided to do when you have decided to do them.
This means that you study Finnish even when you don't feel like it.
Here’s a full article explaining how to keep studying even when the motivation is long gone.
If you've decided to study Finnish half an hour before going to work, you'll do it even if you'd rather be sleeping or scrolling on your phone. So make a clear and realistic study routine for yourself, decide when and how much you will study per day and per week and commit to it.
You can train your willpower first with smaller things if necessary – it's a bit like a muscle that gets stronger when you exercise. And that's when you notice that if you stick to your routine 80% of the time, after a few weeks and months you've made tremendous progress.
Because the secret to learning a language is persistence.
When you study (1) regularly (2) in a way that works (3) for a long enough time, you will learn Finnish. It's that simple!
To help you with step number 2, I invite you to watch my free video class full of gems on what to do and what NOT to do to start understanding and speaking the Finnish puhekieli the fastest way possible.
Whichever plateau you’re facing, remember: it’s not a sign you’re failing – it’s a sign you’re growing. The key is knowing what to do next.
So if you’re ready to break through and make real progress, check out my free video class – it’ll show you the way forward.
Published on 21 March 2025.