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Finnish might intimidate new learners, what with their long words and tongue-twisting pronunciation—but don’t let that discourage you! In fact, it’s an absolute joy to study as it’ll open your eyes to Finnish history, culture, and the arts.
Nowadays, the easiest way to learn a new language is by installing an app—and, luckily, there are loads of Finnish ones out there!
However, since there’s no Rosetta Stone Finnish course, we’ll help you find some close alternatives. But before that, let’s find out more about Rosetta Stone.
What is Rosetta Stone?
With interactive courses in store, it’s no wonder why Rosetta Stone rose to prominence over the years.
Whether you want to brush up on your vocabulary or study the culture of your chosen language, both its website and app have got you covered! Best for beginners and intermediates, they combine immersive lessons with real-life applications to create effective and flexible courses.
To improve your skill level, Rosetta Stone uses a Dynamic Immersion method to reinforce new words and phrases and expose you to real-world conversations. In other words, this means that you won’t learn by memorization alone—but rather, through context and reasoning.
And, to keep your studies in check, its tutorials are backed with TruAccent speech recognition technology, as well as a customizable plan so that you’ll be able to reach your learning goals!
Unfortunately, Finnish isn’t available on Rosetta Stone or Babbel at this time—so if the wait or teaching style doesn’t suit you, you can instead try one of these alternatives or any of the Finnish learning resources here.
The best Rosetta Stone alternatives
For as great as it is, it’s a shame that Rosetta Stone lacks Finnish lessons. Fortunately, these Finnish learning apps do—and deliver way more than you might expect.
1. Pimsleur
Pimsleur is an excellent place to learn conversational Finnish. While it’s mostly an audio course, its practical lessons (recorded by native speakers) do more than enough to rival Rosetta Stone’s immersive teaching approach.
Through the scientifically-backed Pimsleur Method, this app will get you to understand a new language naturally. By repeating Finnish words and expressions in strategic intervals, it won’t just train your long-term memory, but it’ll likewise prepare you for real-life situations!
Without a doubt, Pimsleur’s efficient strategies will build your speaking and listening skills.
Key features:
- Uses daily, 30-minute audio lessons
- Helps you read, speak, and understand a new language
- Engaging and authentic teaching style
2. Mondly
With courses for beginner, intermediate, and advanced learners, Mondly is a fabulous alternative to Rosetta Stone!
Its Finnish lessons are kept short and light, and mainly help you improve your vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Plus, it’s got a competitive leaderboard to track your stats!
Should you want to test your listening and speaking skills, the app’s equipped with recordings from native speakers which you could easily play and imitate.
And, with its special hands-free mode, you can catch up on your studies while on the move!
Key features:
- Bite-sized courses for all skill levels
- Includes lessons on reading, writing, and dialogue
- Built with high-quality audio and hands-free mode
3. Ling
Who says you can’t study and play? On Ling, you’ll study Finnish using its playful flashcards, audio, and mini-games.
From picture-matching to sentence arrangement, the app’s got all sorts of gamified features to keep you up and about! It’s even got an interactive chatbot that can help you practice dialogue through a series of prompts.
All in all, you’ll have no trouble leveling up given its engaging interface, fun exercises, and research-backed learning units. One could say that it’s the perfect blend of expertise and entertainment!
Key features:
- Courses for beginners and up
- User-friendly interface and game-like tutorials
- Has a chatbot for conversation practice
Other resources to learn Finnish
In most cases, people top up their Finnish lessons with books, podcasts, audio and video files, games, and websites. Should you want to do the same, start with these:
Finnish for Foreigners 1: This book is a decent place for absolute beginners to start. With vocabulary and grammar notes, authentic transcripts, and engaging exercises in store, it’ll take you through the basics with ease.
italki: Getting a Finnish language tutor has never been easier, now that italki is here! This app lets you choose between community and/or professional tutors, sift through their rates and reviews, and schedule 1-on-1 classes of your liking.
Preply: This site connects you with a private Finnish tutor for personalized, one-on-one online lessons. You get to choose from a selection of native-speaking teachers who will tailor the learning plan to your specific goals, like conversational fluency or YKI exam prep. It’s a flexible, effective way to get real-time feedback and practice speaking.
Moomin Books: I’ve got a soft spot for the Moomins—and if you, too, are enamored by these lovable characters, you can add this to your Finnish lessons! This storybook is the first of Tove Jansson’s popular Moomin series, and it’s a heartwarming read for beginner to intermediate learners. Also check out these useful Finnish textbooks.
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Memrise: This isn’t an official Memrise course, although its user-generated lessons are just about as good. Packed with mini-games, free tutorials, and media files, it’ll make a decent supplement to your core studies.
Drops: Want to grow your Finnish vocab? Try Drops, a handy app filled with eye-catching illustrations, dynamic exercises, and high-quality audio that keep your lessons active.
uTalk: If you need to quickly learn practical Finnish words and phrases, try uTalk’s fun, low-pressure games. The app helps you acquire a core vocabulary of over 2,500 terms across 60+ topics. Plus, you get authentic pronunciation from native speakers, and can record your own voice to practice.
Skillshare: Want to learn how to pronounce Finnish? There are only a couple of Finnish courses on Skillshare but these two can help you nail down your vowels, diphthongs, and consonants.
Cudoo: This platform lets you sharpen your conversational skills quickly and effectively through a range of Finnish online courses. These courses cater to all learning levels and suit different requirements, including professional and casual conversation. Check out our extensive list of Finnish online courses here.
Lasten Uutiset: Meaning “Children’s News”, this YouTube channel features simple, weekly discussions of Finnish news and public affairs. Since kids are the target audience, the language isn’t too complicated for beginners to understand, or maybe even pick up on!
FinnishPod101: For your listening needs, FinnishPod101 is here to save the day! Apart from granting you access to a vast media library, you can also slow down the audio or get complete, line-by-line transcripts.
Simply Learn Finnish: Believe it or not, phrasebooks are actually quite handy! Whether you want to polish your pronunciation, reference this while traveling, or simply optimize your studies, this app’s got enough audio-supported Finnish flashcards to aid your learning endeavors.
Conclusion
Given its extensive, practical, and—most importantly—fun courses, Rosetta Stone Finnish would’ve been a good place to start with. However, that’s not to say you’re out of options.
With these alternative apps and resources by your side (and a whole list of tools to help you learn Finnish), you certainly won’t run out of material in the long run!
Rosetta Stone alternatives for learning Finnish – Pin it!
