Indians in Helsinki/Espoo - Need more info

sahithipavan · Post by **sahithipavan** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 6:01 pm

Hi All

We are planning to move to Finland in near future as I got an offer from an IT company. I am from India living in USA with wife and 2 kids. There are few factors on which i need some info from Indians living in Helsinki/Espoo region as these factors determine my decision to move.

1. Indian community in and around Helsinki/Espoo - any groups , links, forums and contact numbers would be helpful for us as we would like to talk personally.
2. Schooling and options available for English medium schools.
3. Indian Music or Dance classes for kids
4. Areas where most Indians live in Helsinki / Espoo region

I would appreciate any useful info regarding these points. Please do let me know if anyone can share their contact numbers so that we can call and talk.

Thank you

MS

**Sponsor:**

coolaqua · Post by **coolaqua** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 12:16 am

Hi,

I am also an indian , living in helsinki from last 2 years , i have also 2 year old son but i just got fed up of this place as it is quite lonely even when i am used to go in parks i found hardly 1 kid . so its really very tuff to survive here , weather conditions are also not favourable as temp goes upto -28 in winters . we are here as we are helpless and want to go back as early as possible.

I am not telling you lie as i am telling you the truth as many other family are facing so just warning you , if you can have some other good project then please look forward to it.

fatherchristmas · Post by **fatherchristmas** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 2:21 am

After the bad news about Nokia, it's not really the best time to move to Finland. The ripples are about to hit the economy. There will be thousands of engineers out of work soon. I would advise you to look to places like Singapore or Silicon Valley. It's hard to move to a country like this with your family only to hear that you will onnly have a job for a year.

s4shiva · Post by **s4shiva** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 2:35 am

Hi I am an Indian and planning to move to Finland.Can we survive in Finland without knowing finnish? English is enough?

aseeb · Post by **aseeb** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:06 am

Survive? Deaf and dumb people don't die because of langúage issues

s4shiva · Post by **s4shiva** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 8:44 pm

Hi Aseeb,

Sorry to use the word survive..
I mean is it fine to communicate to people in English in Finland for normal day to day activities..
Shops,buses,hotels.... will the directions and bus name plates will be written in English?
I am just asking these to get to know more abt finland.. before moving there.. plz dont take it in other way..

englishnanny · Post by **englishnanny** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 6:51 pm

Almost everyone speaks English pretty well if they have completed high school, young people especially. So if you ever need to know something, you should aim to ask someone under fifty as it is likely their English will be better. There is a growing immigrant population here so people are used to being asked things in English. Almost every restaurant offers English menus, all the entertainment venues have English, and all the library workers speak English. The public library system is really excellent here, it is one of the things I've enjoyed most about moving here. It has lots of great books in English for kids and adults and is free to use. You can request whatever you want. They also have music and movies.

The places on the buses are written in Finnish because the street names and suburbs etc are all Finnish, they don't really need to be translated because if you ever want to go somewhere, you'll likely know the name of the place or area or street in advance. You can use google maps for this. Also the bus drivers are usually quite helpful and if you write down the name of the place you want to get to and show it to them, they can tell you when to get off. The buses are not too crowded so it is usually possible to sit at the front near the driver for this, or else they will shout it to you if you're near the back. If a bus driver ever doesn't know or refuses you should just wait for the next bus, because the majority of drivers can help. The underground metro system is very simple to use and the trams are very regular. At every bus or tram stop there is a map showing where each route goes.

You might like to take a Finnish class when you get here but it will probably take you a while to start using it, because it's a complex language and people don't like it to be spoken badly. English is okay meanwhile! Also there are areas which are popular with immigrants from different countries, you might like to research where people from your country live, as the FInn's don't often seem to like to make new friends, especially when they have to speak English to them all the time!

People tend to be quite negative about Finland, Finn's especially, because it is so cold and dark for much of the year, and the people have a reputation for being 'cold', unfriendly and not smiling often. You'll have a better time if you think in advance of some fun 'hobbies' you can do inside, as you probably won't always want to go out in the evenings or weekends when it is very cold, and if you try to make friends pretty much straight away. In Finland people tend to make friends through work, school or hobbies. It is a very peaceful place to live, with a greater level of social equality than most other countries. The summers are beautiful and worth waiting around for! There are so many nice things to do in summer. Also bring over whatever you think you'll need: it seems everything here is quite expensive to buy.

After over a year here I can honestly say I'm glad to be moving away in July. It seems harder to live here than a lot of places, even though the country is so well organised. But it's a beautiful place and I'm sure I will miss the way no one is ever in a hurry, and there's this surreal sort of calm across the country, and the tall, tall trees everywhere.

Hope this helps!

s4shiva · Post by **s4shiva** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:32 pm

Thanks a lot Englishnanny for the useful information. It would really helps me to move to Finland with a clear idea about the place.

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 8:20 am

englishnanny wrote:The underground metro system is very simple to use

englishnanny wrote: People tend to be quite negative about Finland, Finn's especially, because it is so cold and dark for much of the year, and the people have a reputation for being 'cold', unfriendly and not smiling often.

Yet fridge is positive...

geo.tf6 · Post by **geo.tf6** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 4:20 pm

https://www.facebook.com/groups/intialainen/

dixit.pradeep · Post by **dixit.pradeep** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 9:58 am

sahithipavan wrote:Hi All

We are planning to move to Finland in near future as I got an offer from an IT company. I am from India living in USA with wife and 2 kids. There are few factors on which i need some info from Indians living in Helsinki/Espoo region as these factors determine my decision to move.

1. Indian community in and around Helsinki/Espoo - any groups , links, forums and contact numbers would be helpful for us as we would like to talk personally.
2. Schooling and options available for English medium schools.
3. Indian Music or Dance classes for kids
4. Areas where most Indians live in Helsinki / Espoo region

I would appreciate any useful info regarding these points. Please do let me know if anyone can share their contact numbers so that we can call and talk.

Thank you

MS

Welcome to Finland...I am living in Finland from last 5 years so i can share some information:

1. there is group in Facebook "Indians in Finland", a yahoo group "Fintia". There are many indians working in different IT and Research field here, so do not worry at all..
2. Thre schooling starts here at 7 years. If you have younger kids, you can send them to day care "Päiväkoti" (both english and finnish daycare are available). There are english schools in Leppävaara and in Matinkyla, Espoo. There is also INternational School in Helsinki.
3. I do not know about Indian dance schools, but here are many activities/music schools for children.
4. Indians moslty live in Helsinki region (Espoo, Helsinki, Vantaa area). In Espoo, Leppävaara, Perkka, Olari, Matinkyla are some of the prime areas. There are few indian grocessory centers in Leppävaara.

Although Finns are modest persons. They will say that their english is not good but in reality, most of the finns speak very good english (actully better than many indians). However, its always a good idea to learn finnish language, as most of the officials documents will be in Finnish or sweedish.

Finland weather (esp in nov-dec) may be an issue for the new comers. For me, temperature was no issue, It was the dark period that may lower your morale. Otherwise, Finland is very very good place to live, enjoy family life and raise kids.

Thanks,
Prdaeep

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