Finnish, English, or Finglish?

Texti mai allo images getty images

english translation Marko saajanaho

“Finnish universities are eroding Finland’s national languages. Higher education institutions promote the use of English even when the scientific content of the subject does not require it.”

This is how one might sum up the statements in favour of Finnish and Swedish by Irish-born translator and interpreter Ian Mac Eochagain. Eochagain, who has settled down in Finland, recently also published a book on the subject, entitled 101 finglishmiä – eroon tankeroista. (“101 Finglishms – No More Tankeros”) 

Eochagain admonishes businesses and officials alike for overestimating their communication skills.

“Texts produced in English by Finnish businesses are so problematic that their authors could use a kick in the behind”, Eochagain writes. 

The “Finglish” of seminars and lecture halls is rife with platitudes and buzzwords only Finns are likely to even understand.

Notices and invitations in national languages?

How do university people and research communities themselves observe their everyday language environment? Are we being overwhelmed by English? If the researchers interviewed by Acatiimi are to be believed, we are not. Finnish is not being allowed to die out from lecture halls or staff rooms. University of Helsinki Professor of Finnish Terhi Ainiala affirms that so-called language awareness also includes fostering the national languages.

Ainiala is in charge of the Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies departments, and considering the relationship of Finnish, Swedish, and English is part of her job. Furthermore, she lives the daily campus life every day, which brings its own vital perspective to the language issue.

“I understand the concern over the national languages, but to me it seems as though language awareness and the idea of well-rounded use of Finnish in particular have instead grown in higher education institutions as of late. Universities seem to be ahead of the business world on this – they still live in an age of even names being translated to English”, Ainiala says.

Ainiala offers a concrete example. Next autumn, the University of Helsinki commences a new English-language BA thesis programme, Liberal Arts and Sciences. The programme contains a hefty 30 credits’ worth of Finnish and Swedish studies in an effort to encourage foreign students to preferably already integrate into Finnish society during their studies.

 “And as far as my unit goes, we use Finnish and Swedish, and our internal invitations and notices are also sent in the national languages. The university generally encourages the use of Swedish with special campaigns, such as the ‘Våga tala svenska’ project.”

The position of the Finnish language is good. However, the expanding use of English, especially in higher education institutions, creates pressure to extend the use of English to other parts of society as well.

Tiina Onikki-Rantajääskö, Professor of Finnish, University of Helsinki

Ainiala also finds validity in the concern about Finnish and Swedish eventually shrinking into “kitchen languages” if advanced studies and research are entirely based on English. She refers to a report commissioned by the Ministry of Justice, finished two years ago by Professor of Finnish Tiina Onikki-Rantajääskö. In her report, she assesses the state of the Finnish language in Finnish society. The summary of the report states, with reference to the general societal position of the Finnish language:

“The position of the Finnish language is good. However, the expanding use of English, especially in higher education institutions, creates pressure to extend the use of English to other parts of society as well.”

The Managing Director of Association of Finnish Culture and Identity, Tiera Laitinen is a space physicist and dyed-in-the-wool natural scientist working at the Finnish Meteorological Institute. In international physics, the common languages are mathematics and English, but Laitinen has publicly called for Finnish to be used in advanced and post-graduate physics studies. 

 “The native language is the basis of thought even in natural sciences.”

Using national language to fight anti-science sentiment

Do all natural scientists agree? What does Professor of Geodynamic Modelling and native English speaker David Whipp have to say about the university’s linguistic environment?

“I want to learn Finnish – especially since I have planned to stay here”, Whipp says.

Daily life and family in Finland are not the only reasons Whipp wants to learn Finnish. He wishes to overcome the nascent anti-science sentiment across the western world by approaching society outside the university in its dominant language, meaning Finnish.

“My field, geophysics, is theoretical and technical. We should be able to tell any taxpayer in a popularised way why they should pay for us doing research.”

“Of course I can popularise geophysics in English, but then there are two stumbling blocks in communication: the special characteristics of physics and, on top of that, a language foreign to a Finn. Finns do understand English well, but the harder and more abstract the subject, the more important it is to remove all obstacles to comprehension.”

The more comprehensively the popularising person understands the subject, preferably in their native language, the better they can popularise it for the audience.

Terhi Ainiala, Professor of Finnish, University of Helsinki

Ainiala agrees with Whipp’s statement. The more comprehensively the popularising person understands the subject, preferably in their native language, the better they can popularise it for the audience.

Whipp only has positive things to say about Finns’ English language skills. Of course, he has heard and read about the concern expressed publicly by, for example, teachers and paediatricians, about an increasing number of children and young people being only seemingly fluent in English. As language teachers put it, their English is actually at a “parroting level”.

According to Whipp, so-called YouTube English is not a problem, at least at the Kumpula campus.

“Of course, this is its own world, but I must say I am often amazed by the English skills of Finnish students. They have a very deep understanding of the language’s structures and nuances and ask questions related to the language and expressions that I, a native English speaker working at a university, cannot answer.”

Whipp offers a concrete method for fostering Finnish in everyday university life. He suggests that if the majority of those present in the seminar room or at the coffee table are Finnish speakers and he is the only English speaker, they should speak Finnish.

“I might not quite grasp every idea, but in that case, I can ask for clarification. This would be a favour to me as well.”

Whipp says the workplace is the best place to learn a language.

“Your own work environment is a better way to learn a language than courses all the way downtown, which are hard for someone with a family to make it to after work.”

More information

Correction: On 25 February 2026, the article was modified regarding Tiina Onikki‑Rantajääskö’s contribution. Earlier, the article misleadingly stated that Onikki‑Rantajääskö assessed the position of the Finnish language at universities as still good in the report. However, her comment concerned the position of the Finnish language in Finnish society as a whole. The article has also removed the following passages:

On the other hand, the report notes that the increasing use of English threatens to take away the status of Finnish as the language of science and consequently culture, education, and leading technology.

as well as

Ainiala’s words match the opinions of Association of Finnish Culture and Identity Managing Director Tiera Laitinen.

Translator’s note: Professor Whipp’s English-language responses were translated into Finnish for the article this translation is based on, and these re-translations into English may not entirely match the original word choices or sentence structure.