![]() ![]() It’s one of two official languages spoken in Finland, used every day by 90% of the Finnish population. Unlike languages such as English, Swedish, Norwegian, French, Pashto, Persian, German, Greek, or Russian, Finnish is not an Indo-European language.įinnish - called suomi by its native speakers - is a Uralic language, like Hungarian and Estonian. ![]() Language Family, Related Languages, and Dialects Now, Finnish is the predominant language in Finland - in government, education, and everyday life. Finns still celebrate their independence each year on December 6. ![]() In 1917, when the Russian Empire fell, Finland declared its independence. Although the Grand Duchy’s government had some freedom of self-determination in the beginning, and saw steady economic growth, Russian control grew stricter and more dominant over time. From 1809 through 1917, Finland functioned semi-autonomously as the Grand Duchy of Finland. Throughout the 19th century, Finland was subject to further incursions and violence from neighboring countries. Even so, the Russian government did not obstruct the efforts of Johan Vilhelm Snellman and the Fennoman movement to make Finnish an official language in its native land. Just as under Swedish rule, a foreign language - in this case, Russian - dominated the upper social strata of Finland. Mikael Agricola, by Albert Edelfelt (1854–1905) PD-US (Public domain in the United States, its country of origin, and other countries where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 100 years or fewer.)įinnish faced further challenges in the early 18th century, when it was occupied by Russia during the latter country’s Great Northern War with Sweden, as well as the Russo-Swedish War of 1741-1743. (Coincidentally, it’s also the birthday of Elias Lönnrot, who wrote the best-known Finnish epic poem.) To this day, Finns commemorate the April 9 anniversary of Agricola’s 1557 death, which has been declared the national day of the Finnish language. Agricola realized that he needed to standardize Finnish writing and spelling, in order to make his translation project work.Īgricola’s efforts led to the development of the modern Finnish language. This all changed in the mid-16th century when Mikael Agricola, the Lutheran Bishop of Turku, decided to translate the New Testament into Finnish to make it more accessible for his fellow Finns. Helsingin tuomiokirkko (Helsinki Cathedral)įor centuries, Finnish was not taught or used in written form. ![]() Because of the political situation, Finnish speakers were relegated to a secondary status in society, unable to use their native language in any official capacity. During the time of Swedish control, the Finnish language took a back seat to three other languages: Swedish was used for government and administrative purposes Latin dominated the churches Middle Saxon (also called Middle Low German) was the language of commerce. For centuries, Finland was annexed and occupied by forces from both Sweden and Russia - two powers who were locked into geopolitical and religious conflict with each other.įinland was a Swedish territory for nearly seven hundred years, starting in 1120.
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