If you come to Finland itīs not so far that you would like to learn the language spoken here. Actually it is not only Finnish, since Finland is a bilingual country about 6% of the people speak Swedish as their mother tongue (in the environment of Vaasa even 27%).I stay anyhow only at Finnish because in practice you can improve it in Finland better than Swedish.

Maybe the best start to learning finnish could be some basic words and phrases which are used in the everyday life like numbers, time and dates or words concerning the shopping. Try here if you think so, too.

Besides there are to my knowledge only 2 Finnish courses on-line (if somebody knows others, please mail me), both are for beginners, so check them in your spare time:

• Finnish Page
  
• Sami Page

There are also 3 general language dictionaries:

• a mutual english-finnish one
  
• a swedish-finnish one (no finnish-swedish)
  
• and a japanese-finnish one - both directions (anybody from Japan reading this page?)

• a server in Berkeley containing links to:
  • the Finnish Studies at UC Berkeley
  • a list of books for learning Finnish
  • finnish texts ,especially Kalevala - the Finnish national epic
  
  
• the Finnish language page and there:
  • a short introduction to Finnish
  • pronunciation information
  • some examples of Finnish words and phrases
  • a list of books for foreigners who wish to learn Finnish
  
  

  The university of Vaasa also provides Finnish courses for foreigners. You can choose between a course for beginners or for advanced students. More about it here .