A member of the Finno-Ugric language family Finnish is a language which modifies the both adjective and noun forms depending on their usage within a sentence. Finnish is commonly said to be both difficult to understand and very hard learn, especially because there are few languages that closely resemble it. The first written form of the Finnish language, based on Swedish, was produced by Finnish bishop Mikael Agricola in the 16th century. However, it was not until the Reformation that the true beginning of written Finnish can be observed. During the16th century, important literary works in Finnish were written by such notables as Jaakko Finno, Erik Sorolainen, and Paavali Juusten, as well as Mikael Agricola. Along with Swedish, Finnish is one of the official languages of Finland. There are about 7.5 million speakers of Finnish in the world today.