Foreigners in Finland

[Murat]

Hmm, interesting. Reading this thread, it seems a lot of people can get by in Finland without speaking much or fluent Suomi kieli... Globalization, I guess. But how about everyday life? Do you Finns come across people with poor Finnish often and does it bother you? Immigrants, foreign workers and what not. Just curious.

[Upphew]

But how about everyday life? Do you Finns come across people with poor Finnish often and does it bother you? Immigrants, foreign workers and what not. Just curious.

It depends. Tourists don't need to know the language, they get services in their language and pay for it, if capitalism work at all. If you start to live here and don't even try... there are translation services available, use one.

[Murat]

If you start to live here and don't even try... there are translation services available, use one.

I'm not in Finland and am not planning to move there any time in the foreseeable future. I have travelled around Western Europe but have never been to your beautiful northern country.

[Flossy1978]

Sometimes I think it's also a race thing, how you are treated even if you can speak Finnish. I am white (ok, think Irish white, so actually whiter than Fins) and I come from Australia, which seems to be 'unique' and 'cool' for Fins, so no one treats me badly for not speaking Finnish so well. They're usually excited to meet an Aussie (even after all the years I've lived here) and want to tell me how they wish to go there.

My Finnish isn't so great, but if I have to make an appointment or something, I start by speaking in Finnish. If it's a typical Finnish Helsinki woman who speaks faster than is even possible (LOL), I will tell I don't speak Finnish so well, please speak a little slower. Sometimes the person will talk slower for me, sometimes they just change to English. I make sure I always apologise for any bad Finnish spoken.

Some times people apologise to me for their poor English (which is always better than my Finnish LOL) and I tell them it's not a problem, it's my job to know Finnish, I live here.

If there is some service I really need spoken in English, something serious, then sometimes I have to ask them if they could get an English speaker for me because I really need to understand everything. At the moment I am dealing with a government agency and they always get a 'tulki' for our meetings. Ok, I don't really need them because I understand all that is spoken, but it's nice the service is offered to me.

I think if you aren't one of those people who 'expect' people to speak English to you, while you don't bother to take the time to learn even the basics, then maybe some Fins would be rude to you. Which I think is their right to be if you live here and don't even try.

[Oho]

Sometimes I think it's also a race thing, how you are treated even if you can speak Finnish.

Well.. You know of a lot of Aussies living in Finland with welfare as primary or sole source of income? Me neither.

[Flossy1978]

It's not just about welfare. There are plenty of people of different race here who work and don't bludge off the government. They aren't always treated so well even if they can speak Finnish properly.

I am not treated well because I work. I am treated well because I am from a 'cool' country. Nothing to do with working. I've taken so much from the Finnish govenrnment, ie maternity leave, long many months of sickleave, huge medical expenses, special services costing 1000's (which is still continuing now), maybe more than some bludgers. This has never been held against me. A Fin isn't going to know if you don't work and bludge off the government if you don't tell.

[Oho]

It's not just about welfare. There are plenty of people of different race here who work and don't bludge off the government. They aren't always treated so well even if they can speak Finnish properly.

So, not the point. You are an Australian. People don't think you are here for free ride and treat you accordingly. Some other people they think, mistakenly perhaps but nonetheless, are here for the free ride and treat them accordingly or more often just avoid contact. No one said its' right, or just, or fair, or anything like that, but it is not essentially a race thing.

[Upphew]

A Fin isn't going to know if you don't work and bludge off the government if you don't tell.

Also a Finn doesn't know that you work and act like a decent person if you happen to belong to a group that isn't known for those virtues. You can be hard working Roma and you still get labelled pensioner. You can be the bus driver of the year, but if you happen to be Somali you get bunched in with the khat chewing people who prefer importing of customs to integration.

[Flossy1978]

I agree.

[Murat]

so I've learned it over the years. I can't really speak in joka päiväinen Finnish. The Finnish I've learnt has nothing to do with anything but my job. I have no co workers, so I never have to speak it with anyone really.

How long have you been living in Finland?

[riku2]

You can be hard working Roma and you still get labelled pensioner. You can be the bus driver of the year, but if you happen to be Somali you get bunched in with the khat chewing people who prefer importing of customs to integration.

I think this is totally true for foreigners in Finland. You will be judged on initial appearances and receive different treatment in shops accordingly regardless of your actual status in society.

I think only somewhere massively multi-cultural like the USA or Canada will people be so accustomed to all races and colours that they are "colour blind". Even there things are mostly like that because there are plenty of immigrants who have done well in life and business so if you see a chinese person in Vancouver they could equally own an factory with a thousand employees or be washing dishes in a chinese restaurant.

[Flossy1978]

Almost 13 years. Ok, perhaps I know more than I let myself believe because people say I do, but I don't feel like I do LOL. I can read most of my child's papers from school and his other stuff. And I can communicate my needs when needed, clearly. Or should I say when I am 'put on the spot' LOL.

I do write only in Finnish for work, but it's only Finnish for my job and of no use anywhere else in life.

My child refuses to speak Finnish with me at home, so he's of no help with learning. And since I am a single parent to a young child and live where I do, the opportunity to go to Finnish schooling is nil right now. I find if I continue studying Finnish, even if it's bloody difficult (the grammar), I use my Finnish more. So it'd be nice if I could go back to schooling for it.

With the exception of one person, all my friends are Finnish. They will never communicate in Finnish with me. It's so much nicer for them to practice their English, they just say.

But I am doing alright. No, I can't speak Finnish properly, but I can understand what is needed to be understood and I can communicate if needed.

[Oho]

I think only somewhere massively multi-cultural like the USA or Canada will people be so accustomed to all races and colours that they are "colour blind".

Right....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEHD5kaOhoQ

[raskarhu]

"typical Finnish Helsinki woman who speaks faster than is even possible "

Do not say that before you've been to the Rovaniemi area. In fact I find Helsinkilaisia to be the slowest speakers of the Finnish language ... not to mention the fact that they give you the impression that they have a huge (baseball) stick up their arse

[Flossy1978]

No way..... I use to go to Kokemäki a lot. I loooooooooved talking with the people in the supermarkets and other places there. Even though I didn't understand some of their 'murre', I could follow so easily what they said. I had time in my head to translate what I didn't know off by heart LOL.

I love in this language when two women are talking so fast and have so much to say all at once that they lose the end of what they wanted to say because they have to take a breath and so there's literally no end to the sentence LOL.