I’m sorry this post is a bit late. But I have a good excuse. I’ve been away. I went to Finland! Oh yes, I can just feel your excitement in the air like static electricity.
But wait a second now! There is a reason why I am writing about Finland here. You see, they also speak Swedish over there. In fact, it’s one of the country’s official languages, the other being Finnish, naturally. Finnish itself is a totally incomprehensible oddity and to me sounds like Klingon spoken backwards. Or, as my friend who lives in Finland says, “I’ll let you in on a little secret, it IS Klingon spoken backwards.”
Fortunately, quite a few people across the Bay of Bothnia do speak something more understandable as their mother tongue. Swedish! There are even several municipalities in Finland that are totally mono-lingual, where the inhabitants speak Swedish and nothing else. The most famous one is Hammarland on the Åland archipelago, and the other is just down a spit across the bay from me – Korsnäs. Korsnäs has the distinction of being the most Swedish municipality in the world, percentage-wise it has more Swedish speakers (around 98%) than any municipality in Sweden. If that’s not impressive then I don’t know what is.
Finland Swedish (finlandssvenska) is one of the many Swedish dialects, just like skånska. But much easier to understand than skånska, if I may be allowed to say so.
As with any dialect, there are differences between “proper” Swedish and the variant of the language spoken in Finland. There are some words that may be used in a different context that mean something else, or there are words that don’t exist in the “mainland” Swedish at all. Or archaic words, but which changed their meaning, are still used. Sometimes the sentence order can be a bit strange as well. Technically correct, but somehow unfamiliar to “proper” Swedes. And then there’s the lack of melody and intonation. Swedish is the only Indo-European language that still retains its tonal characteristics. But not Finland Swedish. The tones are largely gone. (And Swedes always claim that of the two it’s the Finnish Swedish that’s more archaic and backwards. Ha!) For that reason many, if not most, rikssvenska (standard Swedish) speakers wrongly assume that finlandssvenska is just normal Swedish spoken with a Finnish accent.
What is quite impressive is that a country with such a tiny population as Finland, where an even tinier minority speaks Swedish, produced so many famous Swedish-speaking individuals. Have you heard of Tove Jansson? Of course you have! The Moomins! She wrote those stories. And the composer Jean Sibelius? Swedish-speaking, too. And the violinist Linda Brava and her band The Violators? Yep, another Swedish-speaking Finn. And Fredrik Idestam, the founder of Nokia? And Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux? And Karl Fazer, the guy who started the Fazer chocolate company? I’m not going to list more (and there is more, believe me,) because Finnish-speaking Finns will develop an inferiority complex and stand in the corner and pout.
This is just a short introduction to Finland Swedish (finlandssvenska) and Swedish speaking Finns for you. And I think you can clearly see that the topic just warms my heart!
Image: Wikipedia. Predominantly Swedish-speaking areas are marked in yellow.
17 Comments
Anna,
I am so excited that you are writing about the Swedish part of Finland. My mother’s family comes from the Narpes area and that is how I originally became interested in speaking (and understanding) Swedish. Keep up the good work!
Hi Rebecca!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this story! There will be more. I’m a HUGE fan of Finlandssvenska, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.
hej again anna! only a question: are you a language teacher? or are you a researcher on languages? i ask you that because the way you explain languages behavior…thanks!
i am curious because i have a language teacher in my house, so it sounds familiar to me your way of telling facts about it!
ceci
Hi ceci!
I used to be a teacher! You are right!
I must say that I really enjoy this blog because it approaches me to a nation that I really admire, the Swedish one. But there is a comment in this Finlandssvenska that I did not really like:
‘I’m not going to list more (and there is more, believe me,) because Finnish-speaking Finns will develop an inferiority complex and stand in the corner and pout.’
We must remark that until the independence of Finland at the beginning of the 20th century, the Finnish language was a language of peasants. The cultural languages were Swedish and Russian, and Finnish could never be developed as a national language due to the fact that the Finns were subjugated to other peoples. Therefore, all the important people born in Finland tended to be Swedes and some of them Russians, because until their independence the Finns could not be freethinkers, something that they must thank to their dear neighbours the Swedes. I found that comment quite unfair.
Besides, the Aland Islands have a special status and, although they are part of Finland, they have their own government and are completely independent. The Finnish government thought that it would be better that way, because those islands had always been settled by Swedes.
Darius,
I meant it in the most of lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek ways. As in “no Finnsvenska were hurt during the writing of this blog, even though some buggers sure deserved it”.
From the tone of all my posts, I thought it was pretty obvious. But if there are any Finnish readers out there who took also offense at my sense of humor, please let me know and I will revise this post. We’ll put someone else in the corner to pout, OK?
I really thank your attention. I just wanted to remark that if Finnish speakers have not been very important through the ages is just because they could not.
Once more, thank you very much. And I do really enjoy your blog.
Hej alla
Jag nya här och läst om Finlands Svenska Det mycket interessant,jag tänka på at utvandra til Finland men Jag bare kan liten finsk språk så dereföre kan jag bruk svenska i Finland då
Skriva til mig om du vil men bara Svensk och en liten finsk ibland.
Kumpi keili se on kaunis Suomea Ja Ruotsi översetta= käännä Vilket språk är Vackert Svensk och finsk Svensk är lätt berusad finsk är huller om buller
Tusen takk
I agree that Finland is for the finns however Swedish is important to the Finns because Russia will invade Finland again Yes Yes Russia like the US want gobble up everything in the world and bring us down to their level Finland has a unique most beautiful Language and culture moderate and progressive but they should stop drinking Alqohol though
Dear Anna
If you sell some thing and it is different from what you expect then sometimes we can complain to someone about mis representation Swedish Blog is swedes or swedish language
Please state what the purpose of this blog is otherwise I will complain to you
Hej Andrew!
This blog is just about a bit of everything including culture and swedes life style not just about swedish language. Besides I think Anna is pretty careful and chooses very well her words in all her posts.
Most of readers are satisfied with what they’re getting, the purpose is clear to all of us, comments reflect it.
Simply enjoy the reading and learn, that’s what this is all about. =)
Andrew, please voice any complaints to blogs@transparent.com
Hello, Mr Waddington,
iam glad that we have u ,be sure no one can mislead us,not TODAY!i think this is a wonderful Blog (bland många) to know the secret of any kind of any language!Dear Kenia, Nata, i appreciate ur patrio_blogtic.Plz,correct me!
Finns are the biggest racists in Europe. Only finnish swedes are civilised.
This was an interesting blog post. I have to say it is always a little sad for us Swedish-speaking Finns to realise just how ignorant so many people in Sweden are of our very existence. I can count several occasions in Sweden where I have been told by Swedes things along the lines of “Oh, your Swedish is so good”, which is rather patronising when it is one’s mother tongue. (I have since learnt to reply, “Thanks, so is yours”). The Swedish-speaking “world” is not a big one, so you would think that the Swedes would learn about the one other place on the planet where you can live your life in Swedish. One can’t imagine a British person being surprised to learn that they speak English also in many parts of Canada, for example.
As for the issue of melody, I was always taught that this was a later development and that Swedish in Finland is more archaic in that respect compared to Swedish in Sweden (or perhaps archaic is the wrong word, as it suggests that Sweden-Swedish is the natural norm – and who is to say that it is!) We learnt at school that the Old Norse tongues lacked the melody that today exists in modern Sweden-Swedish and also in most Norwegian dialects. If you listen to Icelandic, which is the most faithful to Old Norse, it does seem to back that theory up. The melody of today’s sing song rikssvenska is something that developed later, that theory suggests. I personally do not know which to believe.
Jonas G – I feel your pain, man. I remember in high school when we had to do an assignment about minorities in Sweden. Interestingly Finland-Swedes was one of the choices! One of the questions for the assignment was “What do you think the minority have to do to adjust to life in Sweden?” (like an indigenous minority has to adjust to life in their own homeland) and the students who chose Finland Swedes said something like “Well, they have to learn Swedish”. It seemed I was the only one who reacted. Not even the teacher reacted, since the students actually got a pass with distinction (VG) on the assignment! Unbelievable! I would like to apologize on the behalf of my ignorant countrymen. I love your dialect and I think it’s very cool!
Hej
I am looking for music (songs) that are typical for the swedish-speaking part of Finland. Any good suggestions? (It has to do with a contest were there is a challenge to use music from that part of Finland.) (title of song/music.)
Appreciate all help! Thanks.
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[...] of the population speak a dialect of the Swedish language that in Sweden itself is considered “odd”. Even though 200 years have passed, Finland still finds itself under the thumb of Swedish speakers [...]