Thoughts on how Finnish language impacts culture? Or differences between Swedish and Finnish-speaking Finns

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lumenF
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 2:55 am

Thoughts on how Finnish language impacts culture? Or differences between Swedish and Finnish-speaking Finns

Post by lumenF » Thu Jun 21, 2018 12:58 am

I wasn't sure what subforum this should go in, but ever since I learned about Finnish, I've been fascinated with how different it is from other languages in spite of the culture in Finland being similar to that of Sweden.

I already asked this on Quora, but figured I'd drop the question here in case anyone had any ideas or experiences related to this.



Thoughts on how Finnish language impacts culture? Or differences between Swedish and Finnish-speaking Finns

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FinnGuyHelsinki
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Joined: Sun Nov 08, 2009 8:52 pm

Re: Thoughts on how Finnish language impacts culture? Or differences between Swedish and Finnish-speaking Finns

Post by FinnGuyHelsinki » Thu Jun 21, 2018 8:22 am

Among the Nordic countries, there is a long tradition of co-operation in various ways, which undoubtedly has brought them closer to one another, as an example citizens have not needed a passport for traveling between the countries since the 1950's and going across the (land) border for e.g. shopping is quite common.

On the mainland the vast majority of Swedish-speaking Finns are bilingual, more or less with a native proficiency in Finnish. Ahvenanmaa is different, as its legally Swedish-speaking, and speaking Finnish is not-uncommonly shunned upon. Also, there are various other decrees in the law about the region.

lumenF
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 2:55 am

Re: Thoughts on how Finnish language impacts culture? Or differences between Swedish and Finnish-speaking Finns

Post by lumenF » Thu Jun 21, 2018 5:43 pm

Ah, that makes sense. About the bilingualism I mean. I wouldn't have guessed Ahvenanmaa shuns Finnish, but it's looking like I'll get a very different picture whether I search about it as Åland or by its Finnish name. Tahnks for the info. :)

FinnGuyHelsinki
Posts: 1439
Joined: Sun Nov 08, 2009 8:52 pm

Re: Thoughts on how Finnish language impacts culture? Or differences between Swedish and Finnish-speaking Finns

Post by FinnGuyHelsinki » Fri Jun 22, 2018 12:31 am

lumenF wrote:
Thu Jun 21, 2018 5:43 pm
Ah, that makes sense. About the bilingualism I mean. I wouldn't have guessed Ahvenanmaa shuns Finnish, but it's looking like I'll get a very different picture whether I search about it as Åland or by its Finnish name. Tahnks for the info. :)
Recently there was a news story (albeit in a tabloid publication) about the language issue: https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/201806 ... 9_u0.shtml , which also seems to have caused a bit of a stir: https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/201806 ... 2_u0.shtml

The gist being that it's commonplace to not want to hear/speak Finnish, though more so in the past than nowadays. I think it's pretty much common knowledge, regardless of which "side" one asks, so not really a matter of opinion. Then again, generally the people living on the mainland rarely if ever think about it, if it doesn't concern them personally.

Valinnan vapaus
Posts: 104
Joined: Wed Aug 18, 2010 4:08 pm

Re: Thoughts on how Finnish language impacts culture? Or differences between Swedish and Finnish-speaking Finns

Post by Valinnan vapaus » Sun Jul 01, 2018 6:35 pm

All I know is it was a minor sort of mind-f*** talking English to a Swedish-speaking Finn once because her Finnish wasn't so great. It's easy to forget about "those people". :) My ex also had some family somewhere near Turku and they went between their Finnish and Swedish a lot. But yeah not nearly all of them have as fluent Finnish as normal Finns do.

There were studies that showed that Swedish-speaking Finns are a bit healthier. Check this stuff: https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suomenruo ... nkielisiin


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