Finnish Pronunciation Guide

This is a Finnish pronunciation guide for native English speakers. It is taken, for the most part, from the 1993 edition of Teach Yourself Finnish: A Complete Course For Beginners, by Terttu Leney.

Vowels and Dipthongs

Finnish letter English pronunciation
a
as in hut
aa
as in calm, but slightly longer
o
as in rot
oo
as in taught, but more open
u
as in book, or put
i
as in sit
ii
as in seat
e
as in net
ee
a mix between net and Nate
Not really an equivalent sound in English
y
as in French bureau, or German ü
yy
Same as y, but double the length
ö
like the German ö
Can be approximated in English by better
öö
Same as ö but longer
ä
as in cat,
ää
Same as ä but longer
ai
as in bike
ei
as in eight
oi
as in boy
ui
as in French lui
uo
as in British poor
au
as in South
ie
as in French ciel
The dipthongs yi, äi, öi, yö, eu, iu, ou, äy and öy
are listed as existing, but not really having an easily representable equivalent,
so I guess we're on our own here...

Consonants in Finnish are, in general, like those in English. The exceptions are listed below:
Consonant Finnish Pronunciation
r
rolled, as in Spanish
j
an English y sound, as in yellow
h
always pronounced. In front of a consonant,
sounds slightly stronger
k
like English, but not aspirated
t
like English, but not aspirated
p
like English, but not aspirated
nk
as in sink, never ankle
Pronounced as one sound, not two.
ng
as in ring, never angle
Pronounced as one sound, not two.

The following consonants are not native Finnish consonants, but are used in Loan words:
g, b, c, f, q and x.
Consonant Pronunciation
g
as in gate, never age
b
as in English
c
as in cell,
only very rarely as in camp
f
as in English
q
pronounced like k
x
pronounced (and often the spelling is changed to) ks