Finally: Duolingo has added the Finnish course to its language app (if you, like many people, are unsure about the name of the language VS the people we recommend you check out the post “Is it Finn or Finnish? [1]“).
And I, as a regular user of this language learning app, have set out to tell you about it in this post. If you don’t have Duolingo yet, you can start using it/download the app from this link [2].
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Duolingo and languages
Although the best way to learn a language is probably to take a face-to-face course, Duolingo is an app that helps you refresh your knowledge or acquire it little by little.
You can learn many languages from the app, but not always between any two pair of languages. For example, you can learn a dozen languages from Spanish, but not just any. If you are an English speaker you are in luck: you can learn more languages than from any other one.
I recommend learning a language, whenever possible, from your mother tongue and not from a “bridge” language. It is much simpler. Trust me.
Klingon, Latin, Navajo, Alto Valirio… are languages that can be learned from Duolingo. That’s why it was a bit strange that for the longest time there was no Finnish language course in the app! Not only that: Finnish was the only language missing from the ones in the Scandinavian peninsula. If you want to expand your knowledge about what’s the scandinavian peninsula exactly, I recommend the post “Nordic or Scandinavian? What is what [7]“.
But it has finally arrived.
Finnish language in Duolingo
Finnish was the most requested language they ever had in Duolingo. That says a lot.
In the course – you can start it here [8] – you will find different units, more oriented in my opinion to acquire and practice Finnish vocabulary (related: the 12 favourite words of the Finnish poets [9]) than to its very difficult grammar. Each unit has several levels, and to keep you motivated there are many “gamification” tools in the app: leagues to compete against other users, trophies, streaks of days (my current streak in Duolingo is 682) and more.
It won’t be all you need to speak Finnish fluently (in our series of posts about the Finnish language [10] you can find many resources about it), but it’s a good complement and practicing tool.
Similarly, Swedish – the other language of Finland – can be learned directly from Spanish or English in the app. This is no small thing, as all Finns have an obligation to know Swedish. In this way you can use this app to learn the two languages of the country.
Have you learned any language through this app? Would you like to try the Finnish course?