Swedish speaking areas in Finland

[foca]

One funny advantage - and in line with what others have said. Finns dislike speaking Swedish, so it actually prompts them to speak English. E.g. Ask many (sober) Finns if they speak English they'll answer "no". Follow this up by asking if they prefer Swedish and Hey Presto they are willing to try English!

It seems that this "trick" works like a charm when somebody "refuses" to give you service in english.
If you request the service in the official swedish , suddenly there is somebody willing to help you in english

It even works when calling service phone numbers. Sometimes the queue is way smaller and they do speak english too !!

I second that. I always use Swedish service numbers if they are available. It is always more probable that you get better English service there.

[justaguy]

Swedish isn't very popular. One day it will be gone. A lot of Finns really detest it.

If you are going to come here to live, you should learn Finnish. You can fully integrate into society with Finns that way because most Swedes do speak some Finnish, if not fluently.

Most Swedes I believe live in the areas towards Sweden and up to certain areas of Vaasa.

I don't agree with this at all and frankly if the die-hard Suomenruotsalaiset heard you saying that, you'd end up with a kirves or two in your back...
There are plenty of Finns, and Finnish-Swedes who have no problems with Swedish (as a language) at all... without even going into the bureaucracy of the nationality.

Best places to find Swedish speakers (of any kind in Finland) is obviously anywhere on the 'WEST' coast of Finland.
Esim. Turku (Åbo), Ahvenanmaa (Åland) and then Vaasa, Tornio/Haparanda jne

[Pursuivant]

Well you just need to go east or west of Helsinki and you get enclaves.

[Upphew]

Ahvenanmaa (Åland)

Is the only place in Finland where there is only one official language. Swedish.

[foca]

Ahvenanmaa (Åland)

Is the only place in Finland where there is only one official language. Swedish.

I thought that Finnish is still an official language there too. Should check that ..

[Pursuivant]

No, Finnish is officially forbidden. They get a hissyfit if they get bilingual documents.

[foca]

No, Finnish is officially forbidden. They get a hissyfit if they get bilingual documents.

I wonder what 4 percent of Finnish speaking people are doing there? perhaps they are learning Swedish there or uprooting apple trees..

[Upphew]

I thought that Finnish is still an official language there too. Should check that ..

Checked for you:
"The only official language in Åland is Swedish. This means that Swedish is the language used by regional, municipal and state authorities in Åland. All communication between the Finnish State and Åland authorities must be conducted in Swedish according to the Act on the Autonomy of Åland."
http://www.formin.fi/public/default.asp ... ture=en-US

[Hämeen Hitain]

In what regions are the highest numbers/percentage of Swedish speakers present? For example, do people speak Swedish more predominately in Vasa or Helsinki? I'm asking because in many threads it states that learning Swedish is easier for foreigners than learning Finnish. If I want to come to Finland, I want to be able to speak to people in their native language (or close to it via Swedish) rather than English alone. So depending on this, I would choose to live in a certain place.

Is this only about a place to live, or do you need also find work ? I gather from your other threads you are American who is planning to study MSc Economics in Swedish in either Finland or Sweden.

The Swedish speaking areas are so small, including Åland, that most companies hiring MSc would require them to be also fluent in Finnish.

[foca]

I thought that Finnish is still an official language there too. Should check that ..

Checked for you:
"The only official language in Åland is Swedish. This means that Swedish is the language used by regional, municipal and state authorities in Åland. All communication between the Finnish State and Åland authorities must be conducted in Swedish according to the Act on the Autonomy of Åland."
http://www.formin.fi/public/default.asp ... ture=en-US

so Finns there are actively engaged in uprooting apple trees then....

[justaguy]

I've been to Åland more than 10 times.. and generally have had a hard time finding anyone who didn't speak any Finnish except for in the coastal redneck areas.
It's a general accepted fact that Ålanders have campaigned numerous times to be allowed to be part of Sweden, or at the very least, their own separate nation of some sort. (I have no facts on the matter though)

[llewellyn]

Actually, there are plenty of liberal Finnish speaking Finns who happily support both "pakkoruotsi" and the official and equal status of the Swedish language here. These anti-Swedish proposals have gotten nowhere in the parliament and though there is an amazingly loud minority flooding the net obsessing about this question like it's the 1930's again, it's not actually felt as burning political issue by the great majority of people.

[Upphew]

Actually, there are plenty of liberal Finnish speaking Finns who happily support both "pakkoruotsi" and the official and equal status of the Swedish language here. These anti-Swedish proposals have gotten nowhere in the parliament and though there is an amazingly loud minority flooding the net obsessing about this question like it's the 1930's again, it's not actually felt as burning political issue by the great majority of people.

There isn't need for plenty of supporters for mandatory Swedish. Katainen personally decided that even though party congress decided to switch mandatory Swedish to mandatory foreign language, he wouldn't do a thing to support that decision. Which was democratically voted and got majority's support. I have boycotted Kokoomus since 2010 when that happened.

[llewellyn]

There isn't need for plenty of supporters for mandatory Swedish. Katainen personally decided that even though party congress decided to switch mandatory Swedish to mandatory foreign language, he wouldn't do a thing to support that decision. Which was democratically voted and got majority's support. I have boycotted Kokoomus since 2010 when that happened.

I don't know if you are aware that this is in fact what party leaders have routinely done since whenever - it's the same thing as in the US: the party faithful can be rather, hmm, enthusiastic (and be dominated by quite small groups of like minded activists) which is not opportune for the leadership in the larger perspective, handily they can be rather rudely ignored since they are not in the actual charge of the party. Anyway, this is a sixth class issue, or to quote another, well, notable Finn: "the fields of this country don't care about the language of the ploughman"... But whatever makes people tick - I know that this is a huge, huge obsession for a small group of people, who seem to have unfortunately much time to share their feelings rather minutely around the net...

[Honest]

At work I meet many different people everyday with diverse backgrounds, I also get a chance to talk with many of them. From my personal observation I can say that vast majority wants Swedish to be removed as a compulsory language from the schools. And my observation is based on people mostly from Turku (vasinais suomi) who are supposed to be more tolerant of Swedish. But people who want its official status also be revoked are in small minority.