Finnish from Afar Blog

It's a tautology to say that you can't speak a language if you don't know the words. That is my biggest problem with Finnish. ...

It is often said that “out of the mouth of babes comes the truth”. Sometimes that truth can be painful though.

Last Monday, former ski-jumping champion Matti Nykänen started a 16 month prison sentence in Kupio for aggravated assault on his on-off wife...

This weekend I read a newly published book called “ How to Marry a Finnish Girl ”, by Phil Schwarzmann. I have to admit, I was quite excit...

Drinking is a very important part of Finnish life. So it's no surprise that Finns have many jokes involving drinking. I mentioned a co...

This week was an important one for The Death of Gagarin. No, I am not referring to the death in 1968 of Russian cosmonaute Yuri Gagarin (R...

This summer, a group of us were walking along Esplanadi in Helsinki on our way to the restaurant Kapelli, when Noah, aged 14 and visiting fr...

This blog has been a little neglected in the past couple of weeks. But I have a good excuse: I was lazing around on the Caribbean island of ...

Apparently, a common way of congratulating someone in Finnish is: Onnea, onnea, onnea vaan! Punainen tupa ja perunamaa! Contratulations (x...