Finnish Written Language
Suomi
Finnish is officially recognised in:.
- Sweden
- Norway
Finnish population is bilingual in Swedish and Finnish
Where Finnish is understood/very similar:
- Estonia
- Sweden
Similarity with other Scandinavian/Baltic languages: Swedish and Estonian.
Estonian is the most similar (see below) as they share the same language group (Finno-Ugric) within the language family tree.
Swedish and the resulting Scandinavian languages do not belong to the Finnish language group so are not similar, although Finnish is recognised officially as a language so is understood by some in Sweden (Eastern Sweden (due to past Swedish colonisation of Finland).
Finnish does share a similar alphabet as other Scandinavian and Baltic languages.
Similarity between Finnish, Estonian and Swedish
Finnish text
Kaikki ihmiset syntyvät vapaina ja tasavertaisina arvoltaan ja oikeuksiltaan.
Heille on annettu järki ja omatunto, ja heidän on toimittava toisiaan
kohtaan veljeyden hengessä.
Estonian text
Kõik inimesed sünnivad vabadena ja võrdsetena oma
väärikuselt ja õigustelt. Neile on antud mõistus
ja südametunnistus ja nende suhtumist üksteisesse peab kandma
vendluse vaim.
Swedish text
Alla människor är födda fria och lika i värde och rättigheter. De
är utrustade med förnuft och samvete och bör handla gentemot varandra
i en anda av broderskap.
Finnish Latin Alphabet
B, C, Z and X are only used in loan (foriegn) words and names.
The Finnish alphabet contains 29 letters (4 of which are letters used in foriegn words and names).
Finnish is written with the Swedish variant of the Latin alphabet (exactly the same alphabet as the Swedish), including the distinct Ä and Ö (see below).
Additions to Latin Alphabet (accents)
To type accents with ALT codes, hold down the ALT key, then on the numeric keypad type the three or four digits listed here. However not with laptops, ALT codes only work with the numeric keypad, NOT the row of numbers across the top of your keyboard, as on laptops.
a with ring
å Å
a with diaeresis accent (umlaut)
ä Ä
o with diaeresis accent (umlaut)
ö Ö
Full Finnish alphabet
a A
b B
c C
d D
e E
f F
g G
h H
i I
j J
k K
l L
m M
n N
o O
p P
q Q
r R
s S
t T
u U
v V
w W
x X
y Y
z Z
a with ring
å Å
a with diaeresis accent (umlaut)
ä Ä
o with diaeresis accent (umlaut)
ö Ö
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Finnish Translation sample:
Kaikki ihmiset syntyvät vapaina ja tasavertaisina arvoltaan ja oikeuksiltaan. Heille on annettu järki ja omatunto, ja heidän on toimittava toisiaan kohtaan veljeyden hengessä.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Finnish Speaking countries
Finland.
Indo-European Language group
Indo-European > Uralic > Finno-Ugric
Difficulty in learning Finnish as a native English speaker
The Defense Language Institute categorizes Finnish as difficult (level 3, of 4 levels)
Finnish letter writing samples
- Letter (formal)
- Letter (informal)