language fact file – Finnish

Finnish is spoken as a native language in: Finland, some small parts of Sweden, Norway and Russia.

Number of native speakers: 5 million

Learn some: If you’re stuck in Finland, you might want to ask: ‘Puhutko englantia?’ Which means, ‘do you speak English?’ As with most of Scandinavia, English is widely spoken and you’ll probably be in luck!

Fast facts:

Finland consistently comes out top in the world for happiness. This may be in part because of the Finns’ embrace of an untranslatable word, sisu. This broadly means resilience in the face of adversity.

Finnish is a unique language with no roots in common with its neighbours.

There is a word in Finnish, Kalsarikänni, that translates into English as ‘drinking alone at home in your underwear’. So now you know.