24 April 2025

While living abroad and learning a new language, I’ve found it extremely useful to learn a few conversational phrases and filler words right at the beginning, in order to seem like a more credible speaker of the language. First of all, it gives me a feeling of agency, since I am able to modulate what I am saying in a language I otherwise hardly know. Secondly, and most relevantly for Finnish and Finland, peppering your speech with them will make you sound competent enough that your conversation partner might not switch to English, and you might get to practise your Finnish with an actual Finn. What I am offering you today are three filler words that Finns use when thinking of what to say next or how to express something. They are: 1) “no” (= well, …) 2) “tota” (= um…) and 3) “niinku” (= like). They mean next to nothing but give you time to figure things out in Finnish. So for example, if someone asks you where you live and you want to say that right now you are living in Pasila but you are moving to Puistola soon, you could think it through while speaking and buy yourself time by saying something like: “No, mä, tota, asun nyt Pasilassa mutta tota… mun niinku uusi asunto on Puistolassa”. If you are trying to say something but need a bit more time, you can even string them all together: “No … tota… niinku nyt mä asun Pasilassa” etc.

As with all filler words, in the long run you might want to not use all of them all the time. Many Finnish speakers’ annoyance at the constant use of “niinku” is basically the same thing as English speakers’ dislike of speech filled with “like”. As with “like”, though, almost everyone uses “niinku” at least sometimes, so it is by all means a very natural part of spoken Finnish, and I highly recommend trying it and the other words mentioned above out in conversation. I truly believe they will help you get that Finnish conversation going.

3 April 2025

Every once in a while, someone in Finnish media reignites a discussion on the Finnish habit of not necessarily greeting people you know while in a public space (most recently there was an article on the subject on hs.fi this week). As everyone living in Finland will have noticed, not all Finns greet their neighbours or other superficial acquiantances. The media discussion usually goes back and forth between two stances: 1. Of course I don’t greet them! They’re practical strangers! 2. Of course I greet them! We are not brutes here!

For me though, the truly fascinating (and after years abroad, jarring) thing is that for a lot of people, whether or not they greet you depends on your geographical location. As in: your neighbour will greet you in the hallway or in the yard of your apartment building, but not at the bus stop or in the gorcery store. Similarly, a fellow student you’ve talked with in class will greet you in the student cafeteria but not if you happen to run into them in a bar or a movie theatre. 

As long as I was a Finn that had only lived in Finland, I found this completely natural, and can still explain the logic behind it: in my view, it is an expression of one of the biggest norms in Finnish life, which is that you show respect and consideration by giving people a lot of personal space. Many people find it courteous to greet a neighbour in a hallway, but as soon as you are in a grocery store, there is more leeway to give space, and so that is what you do. And conversely, a lot of people expect to be given that space as well. They don’t mean to be rude by not greeting you while shopping - they just want the right to remain in their personal bubble and choose the right avocado in peace after a long day at work.

27 March 2025

This question has popped up in my mind many times in the past weeks, when here in Southern Finland we have gone from warmish weather to takatalvi (‘re-winter’? :D) to seeing the very first snowdrop flowers appearing. When I lived in Central Europe, I would always feel like the local’s bar for what constitutes ‘spring’ was incredibly high – green grass and flowers blooming, temperatures above 15 C. In Finland, some years we are lucky if we get that kind of weather for Midsummer.

Here are some things that I think make it the beginning of springtime in Finland:

- Snow starts melting

- The sun feels warm on your face and blindingly strong in your eyes

- Birdsong returns

- First flowers in an otherwise barren landscape

- And the big one, especially for city dwellers: the anti-slippage winter gravel gets cleaned off the streets! (this happened in my neighbourhood yesterday)

What are your signs of spring in Finland, or in your country of origin?