Research Institute for the Languages of Finland
Helsinki as a multilingual
language community
Pirkko Nuolijärvi
Barcelona, September 30th, 2010
Contents
• demographic situation in Finland and language rights
• immigration and the linguistic repertoire of Helsinki
• the multilingual image of the city
• multilingual public services
• languages at school and language use in universities
• Helsinki from the sociolinguistic point of view
• similarities and differences with other urban areas
• concluding remarks
Four main stages of Finland’s political history
• a period of Scandinavian hegemony and
union with Sweden from the Middle Ages
down to 1809
• a period as an autonomous grand duchy of
Russia 1809–1917
• a period as an independent republic 1917–
• a period as a member state of the
European Union 1995–
Finnish and Swedish today
• the official languages in the European Union
• the national languages in Finland
• Finnish as the majority language in Finland used by
4.8 million people
• Swedish as the second language in Finland used
by 300 000 people as a mother tongue
• Swedish the majority language and Finnish the
minority language in Sweden (in northern and centre
municipalities
Finnish and Swedish in Finland 1.1.2009
Finnish
Swedish
Source: Statistics Finland
4 828 747
91,5 % of the population
289 609
5,5 %
Constitution 2000
Section 17. Right to one’s language and culture.
The national languages of Finland are Finnish and
Swedish.
The right of everyone to use his own language, either
Finnish or Swedish, before court of laws and other
authority, and to receive documents in that language,
shall be guaranteed by an Act. The public authorities
shall provide for the educational, cultural and societal
needs of the Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking
populations of the country on an equal basis.
Language Act 2004
• Unilingual or bilingual state authorities in Finnish and
Swedish
• Unilingual municipalities in Finnish (292) or Swedish (19)
or bilingual municipalities in Finnish and Swedish (18,13)
(Totally, 1,5 million inhabitants live in bilingual
municipalities.)
• The right of the individual to use his or her own language
in authorities
• Flexible service in both languages
• Information in both Finnish and Swedish
• Authorities to ensure language rights
Monolingual and bilingual municipalities
Population in Helsinki
Total population (1.1.2010) 583 350
(in the Helsinki region 1.3 million people)
Men 46.9 %
Women 53.1 %
Finnish-speaking 83.7 %
Swedish-speaking 6.1 %
Other languages 10.2 %
Foreign citizens 7.2 %
Table 2. The whole population by mother tongue in Helsinki at the
turn of year 2008/2009 (Statistics Finland 2009).
Mother tongue
Whole population
Finnish
Swedish
Other languages total
Russian
Estonian
Somali
English
Arabic
Chinese
Kurdish
Spanish
German
French
Turkish
Vietnamese
Other language
Persons
576 632
486 218
35 124
56 321
12 470
6 217
5 792
3 798
2 534
1 968
1 562
1 558
1 366
1 238
1 177
1 031
15 610
%
84,3
6,1
9,6
2,2
1,1
1,0
0,7
0,4
0,3
0,3
0,3
0,2
0,2
0,2
0,2
2,7
The image of Helsinki
• highly educated people
• state administration and public sphere visible
• cultural national institutions
• activities and hobbies
• names of buildings and gates
Signs and information
Mannerheimintie
Mannerheimvägen
Kaupunginteatteri
Stadsteatern
Helsingin rautatieasema
Helsingfors järnvägsstation
Languages at school (1)
Separate Finnish and Swedish schools in every
bilingual environment and also in many
unilingual towns
Instruction of native language (other than
Finnish, Swedish or Sámi): 2 h / week
Languages at school (2)
Helsinki comprehensive school:
• Instruction in 40 mother tongues (Russian, Somali,
Estonian, Arabic, Vietnamese etc.)
• 12 % of pupils learn Finnish as a second language
• Bilingual education in some schools:
in Russian and in Finnish
in Estonian and in Finnish
in Somali and in Finnish
in Arabic and in Finnish
in Chinese and in Finnish
• Language immersion in Swedish for Finnish-speaking pupils
Languages at school (3)
A-languages of the secondary school graduates
in 2006:
99,3 %
English as an A-language
8,9 %
German
7,7 %
Swedish
6,3 %
Finnish
2,3 %
French
0,7 %
Russian
Integration Services in Helsinki include
• guidance and advice in everyday routines and social functions with
information about language courses and other training.
• acquiring information about social security, assessing the client’s
economic situation and when necessary granting a living/integration
allowance
• appeals integration-related discussions and meetings on a personal
or family level with social workers and
• guides a possibility for refugee families to get psychological services
to support children’s integration acquiring information about matters
concerning family reunion
Services are applied at the Immigration Unit by making an appointment
personally or by phone.
The service is produced by the Immigration Unit in cooperation with
other authorities if necessary.
The services are free of charge.
Language strategies:
University of Helsinki
“The University of Helsinki maintains, encourages and
supports an active bilingual environment. Because the
University is the academic flagship of an officially bilingual
society, bilingualism within the university community must
be both omnipresent and functional. Teaching and
learning should meet the requirements set by Finland’s
bilingual society and by legislation. The internationalisation
of teaching and research requires ongoing activity in
foreign languages. Arranging teaching in English supports
the educational targets set by the University without
undermining the position of Finland’s national languages.”
Concluding remarks
It is needed
• language strategies and good practical solutions to
maintain and develope Finnish and Swedish in
universities and in scientific work
• special support for the minority language Swedish in
Helsinki
• more support for the minority languages in the comprehensive
school
• more support for courses of Finnish and Swedish as a second
language
• more social and health service in minority languages (e.g. Russianspeaking doctors, interpreters in various languages)