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Finland’s highest circulation newspaper, the Finnish-language Helsingin Sanomat (HS), has published an editorial in which it states that the concerns of Swedish-speaking Finns over their rights are justified.
HS states in its leader that the last few years have seen an increasingly tougher climate for Swedish in Finland, primarily as a result of three reasons; an increase in hateful views on Swedish-speakers and Swedish in Finland on a number of internet-based discussion sites, a new generation of politicians who often no longer speak Swedish fluently and a view amongst many politicians that larger institutional units are as effective as small ones. The paper names Helsinki’s recent forced annexation of a significant part of western Sibbo (Sipoo), the decision to close down the maternity ward at Ekenäs hospital, the reform of court districts, the reform of the police’s administrative districts, the attempt to get bilingual Karleby (Kokkola) to join the unilingual Oulu state administrative district against its city council’s will, and the recent proposal for bilingual schools in Esbo (Espoo) as examples of recent policy decisions that cause harm to Swedish-speakers’ rights. The newspaper states that these decisions show that the right to receive services in one’s mother tongue has been relegated to secondary issue when decisions are made.
HS’ editorial states that Swedish-speaking Finns can be a part of the reason behind the change in attitude towards Swedish in FInland. The leader column states that “Swedish-speaking Finns have had a defensive attitude towards their linguistic rights. This has strengthened an understanding amongst Finnish-speakers that Swedish-speakers want to isolate themselves and are inflexible.”
However, HS goes on to state that is is hard for persons belonging to a linguistic majority (i.e. Finnish-speakers) to understand how things seem for a minority group that are constantly concerned about their cultural identity and rights.
Helsingin Sanomat states that is is time for decision-makers to take the rights of Swedish-speaking Finns seriously. The paper underlines that Swedish-speaking Finns are as Finnish as Finnish-speaking Finns and notes that the cultural roots of Swedish-speakers in Finland go back as far as the start of Finnish history.
Helsingin Sanomat’s leader is a welcome contribution and hopefully will provide a welcome call to Finnish-speaking decision makers and civil society who may not even have noticed how recent actions have effected the Swedish-speaking population. For Finland’s bilingualism to work, it needs champions in Finnish-speaking society and amongst Finnish-speaking politicians. We Swedish-speakers can not make it work on our own.
At the same time, the fact that the issue has become so clearly visible even on the radar of the leader pages of Finland’s most influential newspaper reveals just how serious the language climate is right now. We must hope that there are Finnish-speaking politicians, including those in the government, who have read this article today and have realised that constitutional rights must be upheld in order to ensure our law-based society continues to develop hand in hand with the values of fairness.
Former Social Democrat, President and 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner Martti Ahtisaari has encouraged all Swedish-speaking Finns to use Swedish as much as possible in their contact with Finnish speakers, reports the (Finnish) Swedish Press Service news agency in Borgåbladet.
Ahtisaari’s comments come a day after he wrote a debate article in the capital’s main Finnish- and Swedish-language newspapers, Helsingin Sanomat and Hufvudstadsbladet, calling for the strength of Swedish to be strengthened. Ahtisaari was critical to recent developments which have weakened the status of Swedish in Finland and towards the decrease in functional bilingualism amongst Finnish-speaking Finns. Ahtisaari underlined the importance of knowledge of Swedish as an anchor for Finland’s Nordic identity. The former president proposed that Finnish-speaking students should start Swedish classes earlier in their school career, saying that starting during puberty in their seventh year of school as they do today was not a good thing for their attitude towards the language. Ahtisaari believes Swedish lessons should start at the primary level of education.
It is notable that Social Democrats can be perhaps be said to be amongst the most prepared to stand up for Swedish amongst Finnish-speaking politicians. Current President of the Republic Tarja Halonen has also spoken out in favour of Swedish. Former Prime Minister and Parliament speaker Paavo Lipponen also has actively promoted Swedish teaching through his involvement in the organisation Svenska Nu. Perhaps Finland’s Swedish-speakers would be better off with a government involving the SDP rather than Matti Vanhanen’s Centre party, who seem intent in breaking down Swedish structures wherever they can.
The controversial radio presenter Kirsi Virtanen’s programme of 29 July has been reported to the Mass Media regulator.
In her programme of 29 July which was broadcast on the Finnish language channel Ylen Radio 1, Virtanen took up the theme of immigrants and immigration. The programme has caused a lot of debate and discussion in Swedish-speaking media in Finland as in the programme Virtanen stated that people from “foreign countries” are living in Eastern Helsinki, such as Somalians, Russians, Estonians, Turks – and Swedes.
She went on to state that it was ridiculous to criticise immigrants as having bad skills in Finnish so long as there are native Finns who don’t speak Finnish and don’t even want to teach their children Finnish. She said it was “hurtful” that there were Finns who didn’t learn Finnish and stated that Swedish-speaking parents who placed their children in Swedish-language day care should be “ashamed”.
Of course, Virtanen’s logic is aside from discriminative, factually inept. Finland has two national languages, Finnish and Swedish. Swedish is as much a language of Finland as the Finnish language, so it is quite right and proper that there are Finns to be found that speak Swedish and not Finnish, just as the opposite is also found (albeit in far greater numbers). It would be strange to think that two Swedish-speaking parents would choose to speak a language other than their native tongue to their children, even if they are both proficient in Finnish. And if their Finnish is not completely correct, it could be plain dangerous for the child’s future communication skills if they sought to teach it a language they themselves don’t master.
It would also do Virtanen no harm to note that the proportion of Swedish-speaking Finns who are proficient in Finnish is far, far higher than the proportion of Finnish-speaking Finns who are proficient in Swedish. She might also note that almost without exception, every Swedish-speaking Finn visiting an entirely Finnish-speaking place would seek service in Finnish (i.e. speak it in a shop etc), whereas Finnish-speaking Finns almost always speak Finnish wherever they are, even in places where Swedish is the absolute majority (or only) language.
Of course, I am sure Virtanen would say that those Finnish-speaking Finns who have, during the last decades, moved en masse to previously entirely Swedish-speaking areas should be ashamed for imposing their language on the local, native population? No, perhaps not. As, it seems to only be Swedish-speakers in Finland that are allowed to be disciminated against in the media without any action ever being taken. What absolutely is shameful is that this was broadcast on Yle and thus funded by the general public, Swedish-speaking Finns included.
Swedish-speaking Finns are becoming all the more bilingual. That’s according to the latest trend from the Finland-Swedish Barometer survey.
According to researcher Kjell Herberts at the Institute for Finland-Swedish Future Research, one can read this trend by comparing the latest barometer results with surveys done in the past. In 1950, 46% of Swedish-speaking Finns asked said that they had a strong command of both national languages. According to the most recent research, 82% of Swedish-speaking Finns are of the opinion that they have a strong command of Finnish as well as Swedish. (Although it is apparently hard to make a totally accurate comparison, as the questions were asked differently in 1950 as to more recent surveys, and the question does not necessarily imply that one should be fluent in Finnish to give a positive response).
According to Herberts, the situation for Swedish in Finland is made more difficult by those Swedish-speaking Finns who so easily and willingly switch to using Finnish when accessing services. According to Herberts, it is also the case that the more bilingual one becomes, the easier it is to abandon one’s own language. Herberts, however, does not believe that the existence of Swedish in Finland is threatened in at least the short term.
The latest barometer survey also shows that Swedish-speaking young people are significantly less interested in politics than their Finnish-speaking counterparts. 77% of Swedish-speaking youths said that they were either not at all interested or not especially interested in politics.
Our blue and white national flag celebrates its 90th anniversary today. The law determining the Finnish flag as the familiar blue cross on white was made on 29 May 1918. It is said that the blue represents the numerous lakes of our country whilst the white represents the snow in winter that blankets the landscape (an alternative, more controversial view, would say it represents the victory of the whites in the civil war). The cross design represents unity with the other Nordic countries.
My flag is flying high outside my house today, as it is outside homes, apartment blocks and on public buildings throughout the nation. It’s a symbol that represents all Finnish people.
And yet historically, it has been the role of an organisation called Suomalaisuuden liitto (Finskhetsförbundet – Finnish alliance) to give information on Finland’s flag to the public. This organisation is a Finnish extreme right nationalist group that has, in recent years, become yet more extreme. These days, under the chairmanship of the controversial Heikki Tala, the organisation campaigns for the elimination of Swedish in Finland. Even longing for a future where Åland is Finnish speaking. According to Suomalaisuuden liitto, there is a campaign to ‘Swedify’ Finland – apparently this is being carried out by us Swedish speakers with help from Sweden’s government (the suggestion is so self-evidently ludicrous it’s not even worth making further comment upon). In the past, the organisation received a grant from the state to fund its work in promoting our national flag. Finally, after many protests from politicians from both language groups, the parliament voted in 2002 to end this subsidy. This came after a scandal where it turned out Suomalaisuuden liitto was absolutely refusing to give any information on Finland’s flag in Swedish. The move to increasing extremism has been largely because of extreme right wingers taking over positions of power in the organisation. Even former chairman Martti Häikiö said that “the association has ended up in the hands of the mad fundamentalists”. Today, the organisation has slightly over 1000 members.
Why do I make this point? Still, on the morning of Independence Day (6 December) it is Suomalaisuuden liitto who has the honour of organising raising our national symbol, the flag, at Tähtitorninmäki – Observatorieberget in Helsinki. This is usually done in the presence of the President of the Republic. In my opinion it is time for this to end. A more unifying group should be chosen. Finland’s flag is a symbol of the entire Finnish people. To have a group of extremists who are openly intolerant against one group in society organising the raising of a flag that represents everyone is deeply inappropriate and offensive. The President of the Republic’s presence also affirms recognition that this group is somehow appropriate and representative. I think this December, in our 91st year of independence, and 90th with our national flag, it’s time to invite a more unifying group to organise the raising of our flag. Perhaps veterans from the wars, today’s military, representatives from cultural life (maybe from the Finnish, Swedish and Sami language groups together). The options are numerous. But certainly not a group that represents only the views of a very narrow and small xenophobic minority.
The Swedish Assembly of Finland, Folktinget, has officially reported the Finance Ministry to the Parliament’s Justice ombudsman. The reason for this is that the Finance Ministry requested the official opinion only in Finnish of 11 municipalities who have Swedish as their majority language. The opinions were requested regarding the proposal to close the Magistrate districts of Raseborg and Åboland.
Despite enquiries by the municipalities concerned, the ministry failed to send the documents in Swedish.
Folktinget considers that the Finance Ministry has broken the Language Act. According to the law, state authorities should communicate to a municipality using the municipality’s majority language.
The chair of Folktinget, Ulla-Maj Wideroos said “The Finance Ministry has broken the Language Act and furthermore done so in a matter that has great significance for the Swedish-speaking population. We can not accept such infringements of the law. It can not be accepted that authorities ignore the Language Act.”
The Finance Ministry’s documents were requesting official opinions of municipalities on the ministry’s proposal to close Raseborg magistrate and Åboland magistrate, both of which have Swedish as their majority language. According to the ministry’s proposal, the magistrate activities of these areas would be incorporated into respectively Esbo (Espoo) magistrate and Åbo (Turku) city and district magistrates – both of which would have Finnish as the majority language.
The Nordic Youth Council (UNR), the youth political organisation of the Nordic Council, has decided that it will allow the English language to be used when necessary in meetings. This goes against the official Nordic language policy which stipulates that the working languages are Swedish/Norwegian/Danish (which are mutually intelligible).
According to UNR, Nordic cooperation should be open to all individuals in the Nordic countries and not be an exclusive club for those that can speak a Scandinavian tongue.
UNRs president Lisbeth Sejer Götzsche said that she had come to the conclusion that speaking English on occasion would not make her any less Danish or Nordic. However, she pointed out it would be easier for UNR to operate in solely the Scandinavian languages if it received more support for interpretation.
It’s hard to understand why this decision is necessary. Finnish-speaking Finns, Icelanders, Greenlanders and the Faeroese all must study one of the mainland Scandinavian languages (in practice Swedish for Finnish-speaking Finns and Danish for the others) in school. UNR seems to be sending out a signal that says the education systems are failing to perform their roles. It also seems to be conceding and even collaborating with the English take-over of various domains which is damaging for the vitality of the Scandinavian languages. Of course, English is a global language and it’s convenient that we have such a tongue – afterall, this blog is written in it to reach out. But the Nordic Council and its youth wing are meant to be forums for the Nordic countries – it’s not an entity that encompasses the wider globe. English or any other non-Nordic language simply shouldn’t be necessary.
Picture is of the Nordic Youth Council’s members. Source: Nordbild/norden.org
Companies’ fear of language problems and extra inconvenience is the largest obstacle for the employment of foreign students and qualification-holders, not skin colour. That’s what they believe at the Finnish-language polytechnic in Kokkola/Karleby, according to the city’s Swedish-language daily Österbottningen (ÖB). The polytechnic has almost 300 foreign students of 29 different nationalities. There are 7 programmes taught in English within the technology, business economy and healthcare areas.
According to a survey, only 28% of foreign students get a practical vocational training place in Finland. Yet this is an obligatory part of the course for all who study for a degree at a polytechnic.
Foreign students can better prepare themselves by writing their CV according to the Finnish layout style. According to Hannele Teir, who is a department manager at Kokkola’s Finnish polytechnic, language is also a problem – but perhaps more for the companies than the students. All of his students have to study Finnish as an obligatory subject, however companies are often fearful of employing a practical trainee who they may be forced to speak English with when dealing with difficult matters that are hard for the trainee to understand in Finnish. The skin colour question can also not be totally ruled out. This seems to differ in the two major towns in northern Österbotten. In Teir’s experience there is a difference in attitude in Jakobstad, where they are used to dealing with refugees and foreigners, than that in Kokkola (Karleby).
Those companies in the Karleby (Kokkola) region that have taken foreign students as trainees have had good experiences, according to the Karleby Region Development Company KOSEK. KOSEK notes that there are also international companies which use English as their working language situated in the region.
The Gymnasium Student’s Association of Finland (SLL) wants an increase in the number of Finnish-speaking students taking Swedish as part of their school-leaving exam. In order to do this, the association is suggesting that the value of the Swedish test is raised to a similar prestige as the civil service language test, or at least for the written part.
The association also suggests that the student exam test in Swedish receives a speaking part.
According to the association, the problem of fewer Finnish-speaking students taking Swedish in their student exam should be solved by measures increasing the motivation to learn languages.
Finland has two official languages; Finnish and Swedish. It is compulsory for all school students to study the other domestic language; Finnish in Swedish-speaking schools, Swedish for the Finnish-speakers. However, since 2005 it has been possible not to chose to take the other domestic language as part of the end of high school examination.
This year, around 13 600 Finnish speaking students have decided they will take Swedish as part of their school graduation exam. That’s a massive decline of nearly 15 % compared with last year. Since the 2005 reform, around a third of all Finnish-speaking school graduation exam takers have chosen not to take Swedish.
This is a worrying trend. In order to be able to offer services to Swedish speakers, the government and authorities need speakers of Swedish. It may be easy to choose not to take it at the time; but what happens later in life when you decide you want to work for the state administration, the police etc?
There are reports that show that the quality of Swedish teaching in many Finnish speaking schools is poor and uninspiring. Swedish needs to be made more interesting and attractive to Finnish speaking students – from an early age – so that the enjoy learning the language. Right now, many may well choose not to take it because of the poor teaching and thought that it might be easier for them to get a better grade in something else. The government needs to take measures to give more funding to Swedish as a school subject and improve the teaching quality. Perhaps a more intensive programme of cooperation could be opened up between Finnish and Swedish speaking schools in this country – and perhaps also Sweden.
