Here are 5 honest lessons I learned:
1️⃣ Reframe your language story
This isn’t “Finnish for foreigners.” This is Finnish spoken by professionals—multilingual, multicultural, and globally aware. Let’s stop treating accents like deficits. They’re signs of courage and intelligence. Let’s stop shrinking ourselves to fit in.
2️⃣ Know your why.
People don’t learn languages because they’re forced to—they learn when they have purpose.
For some, it’s to speak to their child’s teacher. For others, it’s about career, friendship, or voting in municipal elections.
Respect that every country values its language—but also respect your own pace and journey in getting there.
3️⃣ Use the languages you already know as trampolines.
English, Russian, Arabic, Somali, Estonian… these aren’t just “community languages”—they are part of Finland’s living, breathing culture.
Let them help you learn Finnish or Swedish.
And if you’re already fluent, don’t become a language bully. There’s enough fear in the room already. Let’s keep the joy of learning alive.
4️⃣ Podcasting is not just creative, it’s operational
Booking guests, writing scripts, revising transcripts, troubleshooting studios… it was a logistical adventure.
We hosted 15 incredible people. Some of them are now running in local elections. (Go vote if you’re eligible!)
And yes, our work was even featured in Yle News in English.
If you’re a first-mover, don’t wait for applause. Keep going. The impact always shows up later.
5️⃣ Humor is survival
Finnish grammar is brutal. Editing scripts at 10 p.m. is not glamorous. But laughter got us through. And in the end, we created a space where people could speak imperfect Finnish and still be heard, valued, and respected. That’s the real win.To our guests: kiitos.
Thank you for trusting us with your stories.
Thank you to our supporters and partners who helped bring this project to life, Elina Helmanen, Ran Blumgrund, Paramartha Sajjana Narendradhipa, and the amazing team at Familia ry.
To all the listeners: thank you for showing up.
Want to test your Finnish?
Want to support the next season?
We’re currently looking for partners, funders, and collaborators to keep Suomi+ alive.
If you believe in linguistic inclusion, representation, and opening new doors through language, we’d love to hear from you.
📣 Learn more here: kamillasultanova.com/en/project/suomi-plus-podcast
Because no matter your grammar, you deserve to feel at home in your voice.
Recent Comments