Say It Like a Finn: Pronunciation & Everyday Phrases Made Fun!

If you are traveling to Finland or planning such, or just curious how the language is pronounced, please join Saija Laurla this pronunciation workshop. We will go over a few easy and useful phrases and focus on stressing the syllables correctly while making vowel sounds the way Finns do them. Your own questions are more than welcome! Such as "How do you say this in Finnish?" or "How do you pronounce this?"

Bio: Saija Laurla

Although the Finnish language can be difficult to learn, instructor Saija Laurla makes it fun and interesting. She was born in Helsinki and raised in Vantaa, the international airport city of Finland. Living accessibly to other countries, her family took her abroad two to three times a year. This gave the talkative Saija the ability to learn some French, English, Spanish, Swedish and Italian. As a young adult Saija continued traveling, always picking up words here and there continuing her interests towards different languages. In Finland Saija worked as a journalist, script writer and a TV-producer. When Saija’s husband got offered a job in the United States in 2015, Saija watched numerous popular TV shows to refresh her English as well as expose her to American culture.

In 2018, Saija had lived in the US for three years by the time she discovered the teaching position available at Saima Park, and felt comfortable to apply. The rest is history; now Saija enjoys teaching Finnish online as well as in person. If you haven't yet met her, you will find her teaching at the Scandinavian Cultural Center.

Friday, January 10th | 6:30 - 7:30 pm | $20; $15 for members

Host or Publisher Scandinavian Living Center