"While I've taken courses and have a solid Finnish foundation, I lacked the confidence to take my Finnish out into the world. 

Irina fostered a warm and supportive environment where we could share our experiences, make mistakes and ask for help. This course has helped my language journey like nothing else has!"

- Caro Carter, Helsinki

Ready to speak Finnish in your daily life instead of just studying it?

You’ve taken courses, maybe even passed tests with great scores, but when it comes to actually SPEAKING Finnish in real situations—at the store, café, with neighbors—you switch to English or freeze up.

The gap between knowing and speaking Finnish feels impossible to bridge.


Here's the thing: You don't need more courses. You need a strategy to use what you already know.

Join Finnish for Everyday Life: a 7-week coaching course and peer-support container where we turn your everyday situations into speaking practice.

What we'll do together

  • 1. Identify key areas in your daily life to speak

    If you live in Finland, you have opportunities to speak Finnish every day—but you need to know how to take advantage of them. We put YOU at the center of your Finnish learning, making speaking your #1 priority.

  • 2. Practice in-class to prepare for real-life situations

    Once we know your key speaking areas, we have clear action steps! Together, we practice different situations before you head out and speak in the real world.

  • 3. Support each other to go out and SPEAK Finnish

    Your homework is all about going out and speaking, reflecting on what you learned, and sharing the experience with other learners doing the same.

By the end of 7 weeks, you'll have:

• Strengthened your pronunciation skills (if this is relevant for you)
 • Mapped out daily life areas that give you the most opportunity to use Finnish
 • Practiced speaking in dozens of situations (in class & in real life)
 • Developed strategic skills for different types of conversations
 • Been supported by fellow learners who understand your journey
 • A clear plan for continuing to expand your Finnish confidence

Most importantly: You'll have proven to yourself that you CAN speak Finnish in everyday situations.

After a year of classroom learning and slow progress, I still panicked every time a cashier asked if I needed a bag or if I wanted my coffee for here or to-go. 

Irina and her FFEL program was exactly the intervention I needed to start speaking Finnish with confidence. No text books, no grammar rules." 

-  Kiel Petersen

Is this course for me?

This works best if you're:

  • Eager to speak, make mistakes & learn from them You'll get coaching on setbacks, but internal motivation is key

  • Able to commit to the full 7 weeks Show up for yourself and your fellow learners

  • Living in the Helsinki capital region Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo or willing to travel to live class once a week

  • Essential Finnish foundations: basic greetings, 'to be' and 'to have' verbs (olla), yes/no questions (-ko), question words (mikä, missä...), numbers, and 100-200 vocabulary words you can recall and use

  • Not sure about your level? No worries, when the course opens, I help everyone determine if it's a good fit.

Meet your guide

Hi, I'm Irina - Finnish teacher and motivation coach, fellow foreigner, and creator of Finnish for Everyday Life.

I've been in Finland for 15 years and struggled with Finnish in the beginning, despite taking courses. I believe every individual is wired for language—it's part of our biology! By creating the right conditions, we all have what it takes to speak Finnish. Sprinkling Finnish into our everyday lives is a powerful way to create those conditions, and this course will help you do exactly that.

What clients are saying...

“Irina's course was a complete game changer for me.”

P.S.

“Irina's brilliant, real-life orientated teaching method finally gave me the confidence to speak Finnish after years of struggling through other courses.”

Harshana

“Recently, something has clicked for me with Finnish and I've actually started speaking. The course has helped me manage everyday situations more confidently, and most importantly keep going even when people kindly offer to switch to English.”

Dan Gee

“Irina's class helped me find the fun in using my basic Finnish. I feel much more confident speaking Finnglish and experimenting with the language, and far less worried about what others think.”

Lisa

“This course teaches you the skills to use Finnish in your everyday, seeing and creating opportunities to practice regardless of the language level you are at the moment. It left me motivated, more confident and spontaneous in using Finnish.”

Luci

“I took all the possible courses at the university and also tried self-studying. One of the best things about FFEL was our group and the possibility to discuss our small achievements. I could really notice how much more confident I became in speaking Finnish in different situations.”

Evgenia Katalevskaia

“FFEL was an enriching and fun experience, giving me the courage to get out there and actually use Finnish, something I struggled with for so long. Meeting constantly, working on my weaknesses, making friends and seeing them surpass similar challenges as mine, along with Irina's experience and contagious passion, was the perfect combination I needed to get past my fears.”

Martin

“The fact that the course was taught by a person who had once been in the same situation as I am now helped me decide to enroll. I recognised myself in many of the situations Irina talked about, and the way she managed to turn even difficult experiences into something valuable helped me to be less strict with myself.”

Evgenia Katalevskaia

Course Details & Investment

What you get:

14 sessions over 7 weeks:
• 1× weekly 2-hour in-person session in the Helsinki - Espoo - Vantaa region
• 1× weekly 45-minute online practice session

• PLUS: Personalized feedback on your projects

• PLUS: Peer support community throughout your journey 

Investment:

€475 total (including 25.5% VAT)
That's €25 per hour for the sessions alone—plus personalized feedback and peer support at no additional cost.

➡️Want to bring this course to your company or employer? Email me at irina[at]languagecatalyst[dot]com to explore options.