Are you struggling to speak Finnish even though you know the language? It's completely normal to freeze when you have to speak another language, especially if you're using Finnish to run errands or for work. For me, it was difficult to speak French in a professional environment despite knowing quite a lot of French already. I even forgot how to say the numbers once (or a few times...)! But I kept practising, and the hard work paid off as soon as I started applying what I already knew in real life. In this episode of the Finking Cap Podcast, I tell you a story of how I got the courage to finally answer the phone in French, in France. I hope that this story will help you find the motivation to start using Finnish in your everyday life.Finking Cap Podcast is a podcast for Finnish learners who want to practise their listening skills. For more Finnish learning resources, go tohttps://finkingcap.com/

In this episode, you hear me describe 7 Finnish words in Finnish. Listen carefully, and if you need some help, follow the transcript on the video. You can guess what the word is and check the correct answer in my blog at https://finkingcap.com/blog/finking-cap-podcast-sanaselityksia-1/

There is a longer version of this episode for the Finking Cap Club members at https://finkingcapclub.com/.

NEW IN FALL 2025: To sign up for updates on the new Finking Cap Club membership for B2 level Finnish learners, go to: https://finkingcap.com/b2-waitlist/ and sign up for my newsletter.

All my online Finnish courses: https://finkingcapclub.com/online-finnish-courses/

Private Finnish lessons: https://finkingcap.com/private-lessons/

Welcome to the Finking Cap Podcast, where you can learn Finnish by listening AND following the transcript on the video. In this episode, I have a special guest: my best friend Veera, who I went to school with and travelled Europe with. We talk about our friendship, travel and Veera's hilarious job interviews. It's a chatty episode, and we may speak a little faster than you've previously heard on this podcast. If you have any questions about the Finnish expressions used in this podcast, pop a question in the comments!Want to learn more Finnish with me? Learn more about my online Finnish courses: https://finkingcapclub.com/online-finnish-courses/

A new episode of the Finking Cap Podcast is out! Listen to my friend Hanna and I talk about the Finnish sauna: are you supposed to go in naked, who goes with who, how is sauna at summer cottage different?Learn Finnish by listening to this podcast, in which we speak slightly slower Finnish than we usually do. You can read the transcript as you listen.

Moi kaikki! Tervetuloa Finking Cap Podcastiin! Alkaa toinen kausi. Tässä ensimmäisessä jaksossa minulla on vieraana ystäväni Hanna Korf. Me juttelemme kyläilystä ja siitä, millaista on vierailla suomalaisessa kodissa. Puhumme myös erilaisista tavoista tervehtiä, kahvikulttuurista ja pienimuotoisista kulttuurishokeista.

Saatat huomata, että puhumme jaksossa talvesta. Tämä jakso äänitettiin jo viime talvena. En ole ollut varma, miten minun pitäisi kehittää tätä podcastia. Olisin tosi iloinen, jos kuulisin teiltä kuulijoilta, mitä tykkäätte podcastista. Minua auttaa myös suuresti, jos jätätte arvostelun podcastiin. Silloin tiedän, että tätä kuunnellaan ja että tätä kannattaa jatkaa. Minulle voi lähettää sähköpostia osoitteeseen emmi@finkingcap.com.

Muut opetuspalveluni löydät sivuiltani: https://finkingcap.com/

You will find my other services at https://finkingcap.com/.

This is a podcast for Finnish learners. We try to speak a little slower than usually, and you also get to follow the Finnish transcript on the video.

Mikä suomen ääntämisessä on suomenoppijoille vaikeaa ja miksi? Tässä jaksossa vieraanani on Päivi Virkkunen, joka pyörittää omaa firmaa nimeltä Ääntämisklinikka.

Päivin löytää osoitteesta https://aantamisklinikka.podia.com/ ja Instagramista käyttäjänä @aantamisklinikka.

Mari Nikonen is a Finnish teacher who runs her own language teaching business, Ask a Finnish Teacher. In this episode of the Finking Cap Podcast, Mari joins me to talk about the YKI language test that many Finnish learners in Finland are or will be familiar with. Listen to Mari talk about the test (in Finnish) and get her top tips for getting ready for YKI. Here are some links that Mari suggests you have a look at when you're preparing for the big Y:

Puhumisen YKI-kurssi helmi-maaliskuussa 2024: https://www.askafinnishteacher.com/steps-towards-yki-the-self-study-edition.html

Marin Ask a Finnish Teacher -blogi: https://www.askafinnishteacher.com/

Marin YKI-vinkkejä blogissa: https://www.askafinnishteacher.com/blog/my-top-10-tips-for-yki-version-20

Lidiian ja Tarequen YKI-kirja englanniksi: https://ykipass.fi/

CORRECTION! In the captions, it should say "viitekehyksen" with a "t", not "d". Apologies for the typo!

Tässä jaksossa puhutaan ulkopuolisuuden tunteesta vieraassa maassa suomeksi. In this episode of the Finking Cap Podcast, you will hear Finnish expressions related to falling in love with a new culture, the culture shock that follows and how it feels to not quite understand all the jokes in a different language. If you're learning Finnish and sometimes feel that you can't be "yourself" in Finnish, then you might relate to what I talk about in this episode.

Finland is the land of mosquitoes! Suomi on hyttysten maa! At least for a couple of months a year. Ainakin pari kuukautta vuodesta. Bugs are a great topic for small talk, especially if you spend a lot of time outdoors. In this podcast episode, you'll hear me chat about spiders and mosquitoes in Finnish. You will hear Finnish expressions that you can use to talk about our little friends that rock up every Finnish summer to delight us, for example:

- säikähdän = I get startled

- Hyi! = Ugh / yuk!

- pyydystää = to catch

If you'd like to download a free PDF with the Finnish transcript AND the English translation, go to my blog post: https://finkingcap.com/blog/podcast-episode-3-talking-about-bugs-in-finnish

Hello, dear Finnish learners! In this episode, I talk about what it was like growing up without a mobile phone in the 90s. Learn Finnish vocabulary and expressions related to communication and ways to talk about "how it was way back".

Get the free PDF transcript and English translation: https://finkingcap.com/blog/podcast-episode-2-growing-up-without-mobile-phone/

Transcript and English translation in my blog at ⁠https://finkingcap.com/blog/podcast-episode-1-moomins-personality/⁠.

It’s my first ever episode! Tervetuloa! In this episode of Finking Cap podcast, you will hear me describe some of the Moomin characters in Finnish. You will learn useful Finnish adjectives and expressions to describe people (or Moomins!).

I speak a slow(ish) mix of spoken and standard Finnish.