Learning Languages

I have came to realize as i have grown up that i have a huge interest in languages, which i did not have in Highschool, as i failed misserably in both French and German. I did not take the languages seriously, and just thought it was rather silly, because my mind just thought that "well everyone speaks English".

But as i have grown, i have had many interests in many languages, and constantly have urges to learn other languages. Unfortunately, i only speak fluent English, as i have not really been able to practice other languages that well, because of money issues and so on, but i have been self teaching myself Finnish for just over a year now.

I got into the Finnish language through one of Nightwish's songs, which made me do some research on Finnish. And i found that i was fascinated by the langauge, and thought it was unique. But as i have learnt it, i have came to the realization that it is an Extremely difficult language... and that it has lost its uniqueness in my eyes.

I find the grammar structure to be obscure and irregular, and the way sentences are made are just confusing. And also i have found that, in my experience, it is very difficult to live in Finland without good Finnish speaking skills, which i still do not posess. I have given up on learning Finnish, and living in Finland, and have returned to languages which i always knew i liked.

And those languages are the Germanic branch of languages. For years i have had interests in mainly German, through many Metal bands i listened to. But i never got down to actually really learning the language.

Recently i have been doing research on Swedish, and the more i read about it, and look into the grammar and things like that, the more appealing it seems to me. Its a much nicer sounding language than any other language have heard, and the grammar makes sense to me, and some of the words are recognizable to English and German words, (for instance english:bok, hus, finger, arm, hand, barn, skriva. German: arbeta, höra, etc) These words, with enough common sense and knowledge of Germanic languages, can see relations between the words.

For instance, i knew before even looking up the world 'barn' that it meant child/children, as i lived in Scotland for 9 years, and heard people calling their children "wee barn", which somehow made me automatically think that it has came from the vikings when they invaded the shores of scotland and england.

Anyway, what i'm saying is that, Swedish, to me, is a language which feels comfortable. If that makes sense. And it makes me feel more confident when i learn something each day.

The only problem i am having is that i live in Finland, and not everyone is too kind towards people who are pro-swedish, as the whole conflict between the Swedes and Finns. Kinda feels like home between the English and Scots... dont really understand why people are like this... but anyway, it is hard to find people to try and speak swedish with. Swedish is not compulsary in finnish education any more, even though it is the 2nd Official language of Finland. I live in Kuopio, where there really isnt Swedish speakers. For that i would have to move either South or West, or (where i want to be) to Sweden.

How can i learn Swedish in a country/city where swedish is more or less frowned upon? where my Girlfriend, (who is Finnish) won't help me learn Swedish because she hates it, and hates when i talk about anything to do with Sweden?

For the first time in my life i have felt a connection with a language, and i have the strength, confidence and determination to learn it. Yet i live in a place which is anti swedish, where there are not many places i can learn swedish, without knowing Finnish.

How do i learn Swedish? What do i do? Where do i go? Do i just give up and continue on the long journey learning Finnish?

(btw, this is my first blog ever, so please take in mind, that i dont really know what to say here, and just said things that i have needed to get off my chest. But i really do need help, or hints into how i can learn Swedish successfully without any delay.)