• First Impressions
• “An orderly, peaceful, functioning society where most
people see sense in developing their minds” – Virtual
Finland
• “A deep reservoir of hidden strength, and you get a
sense of peace and trust. But once you get to know them
and after a few beers their hidden strength is a source
friendship and fun.” – Ronald Lau
• Being reserved, it usually up to you to make the first
initiative, and are delighted when they have an
opportunity to apply their other language skills.
• Manners
• Finland is an easy country to visit and
customs and manners are clearly
European, and the people are forgiving
towards international affairs.
• On a personal perspective it is very much
like Canada
• Identity
• Honorable wartime achievements
• Sporting activities and merits such as
Finnish rally drivers and Formula 1 stars,
football players Jari Litmanen and Sami
Hyypiä.
• Awareness and use of high tech in
everyday life.
• Language
• Finnish which belongs to the Finno-Ugrian
language family, Swedish, or small native
speaking Sami.
• English is widely spoken and common in
the business world and on the radio.
• Goal of Life Long Learning
• Comprehensive schooling 7 to 17, free
through funding, bilingual.
• Higher education between polytechnic and
university.
• Emphasis on language study: English,
German, French, Russian and Spanish.
• Education system
• Talking
• Traditionally reserved brief silence is
viewed as part of the conversation
• In general I find they are better listeners
and speak unhurriedly.
• With the right situation, mobile phone,
sauna, and night life can make them
suddenly open and candid.
• Eating
• Finnish cuisine is a mixed element of European,
Scandinavian and Russian.
• Cuisine from any nationality can be found in
restaurants, predominantly western.
• Most shopping places close typically sooner
particularly on weekends where restaurants and
night life begins.
• Finns rarely speak during meals, however are
open, unhurried, and smooth.
• Tipping
• Tipping is rare
• Bill considered part of service and goods
purchased
• Usually rounded to the nearest convenient
number.
• Tipping accepted where you know you
have caused some inconvenience or
asked for additional services.
• Drinking
• Consumption of wine and beer has increased in recent
years.
• Class 2 and higher alcoholic beverages: governmentowned Alko.
• Class 1 alcoholic beverages: local grocery stores.
• Imports: restaurants
• Homes wine reserved for weekends and guest.
• Swedish speaking Finns almost always with meals
• Finland leads the world in coffee drinking
• A coffee (free refills) and a korvapuusti (translated ear
slap) costs 4.20 euros @ Esplanad and Succès, my
favorite being Karjalanpiirakat (a rice pastry).
• Timing and the Seasons
• Although Finn life is unhurried, they are quite
punctual in the demanding business world.
• Appointments are punctually kept, and being
more than 15 minutes late even for meetings is
viewed a hassle where train and bus, concerts
and other public activities are very much on
time.
• The seasons of winter and summer is held
unique in a sense it reflects the water activities
such as fishing and ice sports.
• Sauna
• Having a sauna is completely natural,
unhurried, to forget about work and talk
about other things.
• Although it is expected that guest may
decline, medical and cultural reasons
could be a justification, particularly where
some public places have a sign prohibiting
bathing suits (www.serena.fi).
• What makes a Finn happy?
• Seura (meaning good company), biggest
circulated popular magazines a big survey.
• Bizarre Sporting
• Wife carrying, air guitar, swamp soccer,
and endurance sauna.
• Mobile hurling - And the prize for the
longest throw? A new mobile phone.
• Virtual Finland
• Computing
• Gaming won’t make the next big Nokia, but has nevertheless made
it’s mark in gaming titles such as:
• MaxPayne - RockStar
• FlatOut - Bugbear Entertainment Ltd
• Alan Wake - Finland's Remedy Entertainment Ltd.
• Nokia N-Gage.
• Changing the guard at Nokia – Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo takes the helm
• Although gaming industry is risky, expensive, and viewed by tech
leaders as a waste of productivity, new ideas are pushing towards
“Edutainment” to increase language skills, job training, and physical
fitness in a home and office environment.