Apply for the citizenship without knowing finnish

[Koka201910]

Hello
Im overseas qualified dentist and im planning to start equivalency process to be dentist here in finland

Im thinking about learning swedish instead of finnish because from what i heard that finnish is way more harder than swedish and both languages are official
And according to valviera i can be dentsit without learning finnish
https://www.valvira.fi/web/en/healthcar ... te/dentist

But im afraid afterward if i want to apply for the finnish citizenship will it affect me or not than I don’t know finnish language?

Thank you

[rickx1234]

Hello
Im overseas qualified dentist and im planning to start equivalency process to be dentist here in finland

Im thinking about learning swedish instead of finnish because from what i heard that finnish is way more harder than swedish and both languages are official
And according to valviera i can be dentsit without learning finnish
https://www.valvira.fi/web/en/healthcar ... te/dentist

But im afraid afterward if i want to apply for the finnish citizenship will it affect me or not than I don’t know finnish language?

Thank you

You are required to possess either Finnish or Swedish language skills at least level 3 in order to be eliglble for Finnish citizenship. If your dentist qualification is completed outside EU, you are still subject to the language test as well as a series of professional examinations before becoming a licensed dentist in Finland.

It is really up to you whether you opt to study Finnish or Swedish as they are both official languages. But you may take into account the pros and cons if you do not speak Finnish and the vast majority of your clients are probably Finnish-speaking. Personally, language should not be a problem for you as you have accomplished your dental qualification.

[Koka201910]

Hello
Im overseas qualified dentist and im planning to start equivalency process to be dentist here in finland

Im thinking about learning swedish instead of finnish because from what i heard that finnish is way more harder than swedish and both languages are official
And according to valviera i can be dentsit without learning finnish
https://www.valvira.fi/web/en/healthcar ... te/dentist

But im afraid afterward if i want to apply for the finnish citizenship will it affect me or not than I don’t know finnish language?

Thank you

You are required to possess either Finnish or Swedish language skills at least level 3 in order to be eliglble for Finnish citizenship. If your dentist qualification is completed outside EU, you are still subject to the language test as well as a series of professional examinations before becoming a licensed dentist in Finland.

It is really up to you whether you opt to study Finnish or Swedish as they are both official languages. But you may take into account the pros and cons if you do not speak Finnish and the vast majority of your clients are probably Finnish-speaking. Personally, language should not be a problem for you as you have accomplished your dental qualification.

Yeah but I believe that approximately all finnish people speak english right?

Because finnish language seems much more harder than swedish otherwise i would love to learn finnish especially that my wife is finnish

[rinso]

Yeah but I believe that approximately all finnish people speak english right?

They do. But the majority is too embarrassed to use it. Using only English will be more difficult than you imagine (outside of Helsinki).

[heretostay]

Nearly all Finnish people speak some English but that doesn’t mean they are comfortable or want to use it. Especially something like health/dental care they will want in their native language in most cases. It is not taken very well if you expect them to speak English with you. I had a co worker that was fired from a summer job in tourism for trying to rely on asking customers to use English too much. There were many complaints to the owner about this behavior.

[FinlandGirl]

But im afraid afterward if i want to apply for the finnish citizenship will it affect me or not than I don’t know finnish language?

For citizenship it does not matter, you submit either a Swedish language certificate or a Finnish language certificate and this fulfils the formal language requirement.

[thompsonmax]

Hi there. Interesting thread. How much time in general does it take to learn basic finnish?

[H31s3nb3rg]

For me it took about a year. I felt there was a steep learning curve, but was quite a rush after a few weeks to understand shopkeepers and know what I'm buying.