Finland is best known for its high-tech products, such as Nokia phones and Kone elevators, and its progressive social programs. Now a member of the European Union, this small country fought with neighboring countries for its independence for many years. Indeed, its two neighbors Sweden and Russia claimed the land known today as Finland for centuries before finally letting it go in the early 20th century. Read more about the Finnish language!
Finland has two official languages: Swedish (spoken by around 5% of the population as their primary language mostly in the West, the vestige of a long-term Swedish presence) and Finnish (spoken by 90% of the population as their mother tongue). Today there are approximately 5 million Finnish speakers in the world, located mainly in Finland, but also in some parts of Sweden, Norway, Russia, and Estonia.
Did you know Finnish is not an Indo-European language? Finnish is classified into the Finno-Ugric languages (in which Hungarian is also included), and more precisely into the Finnic group, along with Estonian. This linguistic group probably originated in the Ural Mountain region, and as a result of migration, shifted westward. Since Finnish people are, genetically speaking, closer to Indo-Europeans than to the people living in the Ural region, it is likely that the original Finnish speakers settled in Finland and imposed their language on the autochthons, and the two populations then mixed to give birth to the modern Finnish population.
Finnish was solely a spoken language until late in the Middle Ages – the first written Finnish document only dates back to 1450. The Finnish writing system was greatly influenced by Latin, German, and Swedish systems. Nowadays, it is not only one of the two official languages of Finland, but also one of the 23 official languages of the European Union.
It should also be noted that Finnish uses case suffixes, plural markers, possessive suffixes, and derivational suffixes. It is classified as a level III language by the Defense Language Institute, which classifies languages into four groups (from the least difficult to the most difficult languages to learn for English native speakers).
Example of Finnish poetry:
Below is an extract of the very famous Kalevala, an anthology of verbal poetry from different Finnish regions written in the 19th century.
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Original version (Finnish) |
Translation into English |
| Vaka vanha Väinämöinenitse tuon sanoiksi virkki:
“Näistäpä toki tulisi kalanluinen kanteloinen, kun oisi osoajata, soiton luisen laatijata.” Kun ei toista tullutkana, ei ollut osoajata, soiton luisen laatijata, vaka vanha Väinämöinen itse loihe laatijaksi, tekijäksi teentelihe.
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Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,Answered in the words which follow:
“Yet a harp might be constructed Even of the bones of fishes, If there were a skilful workman, Who could from the bones construct it.” As no craftsman there was present, And there was no skilful workman Who could make a harp of fishbones, Väinämöinen, old and steadfast, Then began the harp to fashion, And himself the work accomplished.
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