What is finnish

Twenty percent of the country lies above the Arctic Circle. All this is naturally reflected in the Finnish culture, traditions, cuisine, way of life, and in the character of the people.

Finland is full of interesting contrasts, such as four distinct seasons, the midnight sun, long winter nights and a distinctive culture in the different regions of the country. Finnish people are warm and genuine and treat each other as equals. Democracy and equality are considered more important than cultural hierarchy.

Finland is a bilingual country: the main language is Finnish and Swedish is spoken by six percent of the population. All population groups and regions of the country enjoy equal educational opportunities. It was written on a birch bark letter and is difficult to interpret into modern Finnish, but is believed to be some kind of spell. Finnish is one of the 24 official languages of the European Union, yet it is also one of the least widespread with only around 5 million native speakers, about one percent of the EU population.

Most of these speakers live in Finland, where around 90 percent of the population speaks Finnish as a first language. It is also an official minority language in Karelian-Russia, parts of Sweden, and the far north of Norway. There are also a few small Finnish speaking communities in the USA and Canada, consisting mostly of Finnish immigrants.

Finnish language teachers find that most people studying it for pleasure are doing so because of their interest in the Finnish heavy metal music scene. Finland has more heavy metal bands than any other nation and songs are usually written in Finnish or English, or a combination of the two.

The sauna was invented in Finland and is a cultural staple of the country. A lot of words in Finnish, especially more modern ones, have an incredibly literal — and hilarious — English translation. Finnish uses compound words, meaning words which are combined into one rather than written out individually e. It is not used very often. When asking for something in Finland, you only need to name the thing you need and not worry about coming across as impolite.

Finland is one of the only nations where people celebrate both birthdays and name days, a tradition which dates to the Medieval period. Every day on the calendar has some Finnish names attached to it, in which people with that name receive cards and cakes from loved ones. These only extend to common Finnish and Swedish names, however, so those with unusual names are left out.

There are seven main dialects in Finland, each one with their own sub-dialects and individual slang terms. Most of these can be divided between the eastern and western halves of the country. However, some sounds are difficult for Finnish learners to pronounce. When learning the Finnish language, these are a few things you need to know about letters and sounds:. Finnish has a great many diphthongs or gliding vowels two adjacent vowels in the same syllable. Another one is in the one word of Finnish you already definitely know: sauna.

Learn about the languages and dialects of the entire Nordic region with our interactive map. Finnish language , Nordic languages. Christina Bjerggaard. Warning: As you may expect, this article contains uncensored swearing which some readers may find offensive.

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