Finland is known for the Northern Lights, the midnight sun and for being the home of Father Christmas. But do you know what language is spoken in Finland and what are the main features that differentiate it from other languages?
Idiomas oficiales de Finlandia
In Finland there are two official languages: Finnish and Swedish. The latter being spoken by just 5% of the population. In 2020 the percentages of speakers of languages in Finland were as follows:
- Finnish: 86.9%
- Swedish: 5.2%
- Other languages: 7.8%
The official languages are those used by educational institutions at all educational levels. Normally, these institutions use either Finnish or Swedish as working languages. However, there are some bilingual universities and institutions that use both languages indistinctly.
Finés
Finnish (Suomi) is a Finno-Ugric language, a branch of Uralic languages, with some 4.7 million speakers in Finland.
Features of Finnish
Native name: suomi [ˈsuo̯mi]; suomen kieli [ˈsuo̯men ˈkie̯li]
Language affiliation: Uralic, Finno-Ugric
Number of speakers: approximately 6.3 million
Countries where it is spoken: Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Russia and Norway
First written records: approx. 1450
Writing system: Latin
Status: official language in Finland. Recognised as a minority language in Sweden, Norway and Russia.
Swedish
The Swedish speaking population is mainly concentrated on the southern and western coasts of Finland and, as we’ve mentioned, they represent just over 5% of the country’s total population.
Swedish became an official language of Finland in 1863. Up until then it was considered a formal language, while Finnish was the more commonly used language in informal conversations.
The pronunciation of the Swedish spoken in Finland is very slightly different to that spoken in Sweden. These differences in pronunciation do not stop the speakers in either country from communicating.
Muchos de los hablantes nativos suecos consideran que el finés sueco es un dialecto de la variedad sueca.
Minority Languages in Finland
As well as Finnish and Swedish, other native and foreign languages are spoken in Finland.
Sami Languages
Sami languages, also called Lapp, are the languages spoken by the indigenous population of Finland and are the official languages of the regions of Enontekiö, Inari, Sodankylä and Utsjoki. The Sami population lives in the northernmost region of Finland, in Lapland.
The majority (three-quarters) of Sami speakers speak Northern Sami and in Finland, there are 3,000 people who speak the different Sami language varieties and dialects.
They are highly complex languages with numerous variants and dialects as we can see in the following diagram:
Source: Proel classification of Sami dialects
Foreign Languages in Finland
More than 150 foreign languages are now spoken in Finland. At the end of 2020, the number of foreign language speakers represented 7.8% of the population.
The largest groups of foreign languages in Finland are Russian, Estonian, Arabic, English and Somali.
¿En Finlandia se habla finlandés o finés?
El hecho de que en este artículo digamos que el idioma de Finlandia es el finés y no el finlandés no es algo aleatorio ni una preferencia personal. Según la Fundéu:
«Se recomienda emplear finés como nombre del idioma hablado en Finlandia y finlandés como gentilicio de dicho país. Ambos términos pueden usarse como sinónimos, pero, según indica el Diccionario panhispánico de dudas, se prefiere el empleo de finlandés como gentilicio y finés para el idioma que se habla en dicho país.»
Si no conocías esta diferencia y no utilizabas correctamente ambos términos, no te preocupes, es uno de aquellos errores extendidos entre gran parte de los hablantes de castellano y que incluso nosotros hemos cometido en alguna ocasión.
Do You Need to Speak Finnish to Travel or Work in Finland?
Finland has a population of 5.4 million people, with English spoken by 70% of the total population (3.8 million people). This is very common in countries in the North of Europe and tends to be more common among the youth.
If you’re going to travel around the main cities in Finland, you’re not likely to have any problems communicating in English. However, if you’re thinking about heading to more rural, less touristy areas, English might not get you very far.
That said, if your objective is to work in the happiest country in the world, we recommend you get cracking learning Finnish; not only will it make everyday communication easier, but it will also help you better understand the country’s customs, culture and social reality.
5 Interesting Facts About Finland
There are more saunas than cars in Finland, with around 2 million saunas for a population of 5 million inhabitants. Not a bad proportion, right?
Finland is the third most sparsely populated country in Europe.
Finland is known as the “land of a thousand lakes”, although there are in fact 187,888 lakes in total.
The Wife-Carrying World Championship is held in Finland, where competitors from across the globe complete a 250-metre assault course carrying their wives on their back.
Finland has the most heavy metal bands per capita; no surprise then that some of these bands have participated in Eurovision.
Did you know these facts about Finland? Do you think we’ve left anything out? If so, leave us a comment and we’ll gladly add it to the article.
