They are neither Slavic nor Scandinavian but because of Finland’s close history to Sweden, they are most likely closer to Scandinavian.

We sometimes see them sparse beards and sometimes with flat noses; but Finns with a yellow or brown or yellow-brown skin or with black eyes or black hair would be an unusual sight. They are almost universally of light skin, blue or gray eyes, and light hair.

So, in short. Yes, Finns tend to look a bit different to “other people in Europe”. But it would be more correct to say that Finns look a bit different to their Nordic neighbors. Spaniards look different to Germans, who look different to Poles.

Our early Finnish ancestors became “Indo-Europeanized Samis” under the influence – demographic, cultural and linguistic – of the Baltic and Germanic peoples.

Because Finnish has no connection to Latin or Germanic language groups it has proven to be more than a mouthful for most English speakers looking to learn the language. According to the FSI, learning the most difficult languages would require a minimum of 88 weeks of study time – that’s 2,200 hours.

5 Ways to Learn Finnish More Quickly

1. Think of Finnish as a puzzle, rather than a language. When you’re trying to piece together a Finnish sentence, it can be difficult.
2. Don’t be afraid to speak Finnish. This is by far the most important rule of them all.
3. Watch kids TV and read kids books.

Finnish is often regarded as one of the most difficult languages to learn. With its verb conjugation, case system, consonant gradation, and clitics it might feel quite difficult sure.

It actually depends on where you come from. If your own language is part of the same family as German, ie. English, or Swedish, you’ll find German easier than Finnish. Should you hail from a Fenno-Ugric language family, you’ll have an easier time with Finnish.