Is learn Finnish worth or should I learn English instead?
Is the Finnish language still used by Finns? I didn't find much entertainment in that language (cartoons, music, etc) and I saw many Finns know how to speak English. Is it true? At school and in everyday life, is English used rather than Finnish?
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Comentarios · 14
8
Of course we still speak Finnish. Weird question. Has any country given up their mother language before?
Even when Swedish is our second language, I think the law says that any shop has to serve us in Finnish language. So yes, we speak Finnish everywhere and we are not going to quit.
And to be clear:
We are taught English language since grade 3 (when we are 10). And I think the learning never ends even in schools. Even college and university of applied sciences teach you English.
We are taught Swedish since grade 7 (when we are 14). I think you can start it earlier in some schools. However from my anecdotal experience I would say that most people can't speak Swedish at all.
5
I've never heard any Finn use English seriously instead of Finnish. There is no threat at all of the language disappearing.
To the commenter saying "Once a language is sufficiently threatened as to require legal protection, itâs usually all over but the crying."; the law stands to ensure service in both languages no matter where in Finland you are. It's a law about bureaucracy, not about language protection. For example, some places in Finland are very Swedish-speaking (e.g. the southwest archipelago) and it would for example be pretty weird to not be able to get serviced in Finnish at a Finnish police station.
To the commenter saying "Once a language is sufficiently threatened as to require legal protection, itâs usually all over but the crying."; the law stands to ensure service in both languages no matter where in Finland you are. It's a law about bureaucracy, not about language protection. For example, some places in Finland are very Swedish-speaking (e.g. the southwest archipelago) and it would for example be pretty weird to not be able to get serviced in Finnish at a Finnish police station.
5
Thank you, this is most interesting Juho! I had not known that Swedish proficiency is so low in Finland. A bit sad for the Sveaphile, but completely understandable. You're good at English, the Swedes are good at English, so why bother...
But I think I have an example to the contrary of what you say about mothertongues. In Ireland, the Irish Language seems to have less importance now than English. Far from "giving it up", if you look at the efforts put into it, but its native speakers are now a minority like the finlandssvenskar (Swedish native speakers in Finland). So result-wise, it seems to be the opposite of the Finnish situation.
3
Moritz is 100% correct â people give up their mother language all the time in favor of one that can be used more widely. Letâs just take French, as one example. In the capital of France, it would be very hard to find a speaker of Breton or Occitan. Furthermore, French is spoken in parts of Belgium and Switzerland that once spoke Germanic languages. French is also used in many African countries as an official language, facilitating communication with different ethnic groups within country, as well as international communication.
As far as the law mandating shops serve you in Finnish, this is historically a very bad sign. Once a language is sufficiently threatened as to require legal protection, itâs usually all over but the crying. Btw, English is not an âofficial languageâ in the USA, nor in England, if Iâm not mistaken.
Still, if you like the culture, that's the most important thing, so go ahead and learn Finnish.
3
I know that apart from their native language, in Finland they speak English and Swedish because they were a swedish colony long time ago, so that language is taught at Schools along with English. About your question, even though finnish people speak English since pretty young (something I wish would happen in my country) I think they use their native language more than any other.
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