Guest
No secret, Finland needs international talent. There are talent retention and talent attraction initiatives across various regions of the country. There is strong demand for mature, highly skilled and highly performing persons who value lifelong learning and are easily adaptable. There is something that these individuals have in common in terms of learning Finnish. They want someone to address their doubts rather than to tell them how to learn. These individuals would seem to benefit from context-oriented lessons and urban infrastructure that supports the usage of Finnish. The need for the above-mentioned approaches has long been raised in Finnish scientific literature at least since 2014. However, long-standing scientific discoveries still seem to be quite far away from our daily routines, which hinders progress enormously. As a result, an intense 6-month full-time course of Finnish may still leave learners grappling with the simplest task: properly ordering a cup of coffee. Michael Demidoff is a freelance translator/terminologist with experience at international organizations and a CELTA-certified teacher of English. He is passionate about uncovering barriers and bridging gaps in professional communication. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at
