Finnish courses for foreigners are offered by
- Language centres of universities
- Summer universities
- Open Universities
- Adult education centres
- Folk high schools
- Upper secondary schools for adults
- Private language schools.
The courses vary in length and level. A fee is charged for most courses.
Finnish can also be studied independently, using, for example, various online self-study programmes.
A bilingual country
Finland is a bilingual country whose official languages are Finnish and Swedish. About six per cent of the population speaks Swedish as their first language.
In some parts of the country, one of the two languages dominates. The west and south coasts of Finland have strong Swedish-speaking communities. The province of Åland is almost totally Swedish speaking.
As Finnish and Swedish are very different, some skills in Finnish are also recommended for people competent in Swedish for interactions in Finnish-speaking areas.