What to do first?

There are many different methods of learning a language. Here and there we see adds offering new effortless ways of acquisition Spanish/French/Finnish/whatever. Some of them suggest to put the grammar books away, others convince us that we don't even have to do anything because their "methods" will teach us the language while we are sleeping. The market is full of this stuff but I can't stress it enough: your ability in a foreign language depends on two factors: time and effort. I've heard and read many sories about people who learnt a foreign language naturally while living in a country where the target language is spoken. It might be a good option of learning Finnish but I can't move to Finland for now. Some say that we must learn languages as kids, surround ourselves with the language and take it in. But it will takes years and I think this method is not productive. On top of that, our brain learns differently when we are adults. So I deliberatly chose the only approach that works: a grammar based approach.

The first thing I did was that I found a short grammar book for an absolute begginer covering the very basic Finnish grammar. It is essential to familiarize yourself with the amout of work you are expexted to put in learning Finnish from the get go. Thank to that book I found out that there are several types of verbs in Finnish, I learned the basics of noun cases. It is worth noticing that I quickly went through the book (it took me three or four days) without trying to memorize any grammar rules or words. But I must say that some of the language has stucked in my brain already and this was the initial goal. All grammar books generaly explain grammar in similar ways, so when I start a real comprehensive textbook, I will know what is ahead of me and when to expext the answers to the questions that will inevitably pop up in my mind. I used a grammar book for begginners written by a Russian author so it is no use of posting the title on here. At first it doesn't really matter what book to use as long as it is short (mine was 50 pages) and covers the basics.

One cannot rely on just one sourse of grammar so it is important to have several of them. Since I already ordered a comprehensive textbook I am planning to use to teach myself Finnish, I needed something more. Having read tons of reviews and comments on different internet resourses I chose Finnish: an essentian grammar by Fred Karlsson as my supplementary book. This is no textbook but rather a refference book and I use it accordingly. I'm content with the book for now.

Another thing that is essential to do first, apart from familiarizing yourself with basic grammar, is starting to listen to the language. I dont't believe in explanations in books of how to pronounce this sound or another. I have to hear it. Plus, listening is a huge part of my studying in general. I found some matherials to listen to but I'll make a separate post dedicated to these matherials once I've formed my opinion of them.