Where in the world do the Swedish-speaking Finns belong?

Welcome to our first guest blog post, where we explore topics related to the languages of Finland, featuring insights from guest contributors. Our first contributor is Josefin, who shares her experience as a Swedish-speaking Finn. Thank you Josefin, for contributing to the LAIF project! Denna blogg finns även på svenska.

Josefin Nordgren IG:@thediplomatfamily

I moved to Sweden when I was 19 years old. Like many other Swedish-speaking Finns, especially us from the Ostrobothnia region (SV: Österbotten, FI: Pohjanmaa), I wanted to see what the big deal was and if life truly was better there. My dad had moved to Sweden from Ostrobothnia when he was young - that’s where he met my mom. Her parents (also Swedish-speaking Finns) had moved to Sweden 20 years before that, and now, it was my turn. 

You see, Sweden to Swedish-speaking Finns is like what America once was to the Swedes. We have the Swedish dream. We dream of living in a country where people understand what we say, a place where we’ll be welcomed and appreciated, and where we won’t be scared to go to the hospital because you know that in Sweden, they’ll understand what you say. You know, small things like that. 

But your dreams will crash quicker than you can say IKEA. The Swedes don’t understand you. Not your language, not your values, and not your culture. You are now someone even more misplaced than you were in Finland, and worst of all - you have to start explaining what you are. You’re often confronted with the uncomfortable reality that many of Swedes don’t understand how someone from Finland can speak Swedish. I wish I was kidding, but I’m not. Just ask any Swedish-speaking Finn. 

What makes things more bizarre, is that many Swedes are convinced that everybody knows Swedish-speaking Finns exist. But if that were true, why do so many of us have the exact opposite experience? I posted a reel on Instagram asking Swedes the question - “how do you not know we exist?”. It’s been viewed over 230,000 times at the time of writing this, but what’s more interesting is that it has more than 700 comments. 

There have been three types of comments. 

1. Other Swedish-speaking Finns sharing similar stories and frustrations.

2. Curious and kind Swedes, who’s been surprised by the lack of knowledge.

3. And to my big surprise - a large number of Swedes who were outright dismissive, claiming “everyone knows” and implying that I must just hang out with the “uneducated” because everyone they know is aware. 

But if everyone knows, why do so many of us Swedish-speaking Finns keep meeting people that don’t? Why do we so often, at every level of society, have to explain who we are? And maybe even worst of all - why is it that we aren’t believed when we say that these are our experiences? That is perhaps the most frustrating part. 

Having your existence questioned does something to your sense of identity. What do you mean my dialect is funny? What do you mean that’s not a word in Swedish, I’ve used it my whole life? No, my parents aren’t from Sweden, we’re all Finnish citizens? Yes, of course I cheer for the Finnish ice hockey team, why wouldn’t I? Imagine being from Switzerland, and when you go to Germany, they don’t understand why you’re able to speak German. A bit funky German, but German nonetheless. Wouldn’t that be bizarre? While the Finns in Finland might not always like Swedish-speaking Finns and some have strong opinions about “pakkoruotsi” (having to learn Swedish in school), they at least know we exist. The relationship between Finns and Swedish-speaking Finns is also an interesting topic, but that’s for another day. 

The concept of Swedish-speaking Finns is so simple. We’re from Finland. We speak Swedish as our native language. Voilà. It’s easy enough, right? In reality, it’s a little bit more complex. I’m writing this as someone who grew up in the southernmost point of Ostrobothnia, which is one of the main Swedish-speaking regions in Finland. I mention the region because it matters, and I point out I’m from the southern part because it matters too. My experience and view of Swedish-speaking Finn-ness will differ from someone from the eastern part of Uusimaa (SV: Nyland), which is another major Swedish-speaking region. In Ostrobothnia, we are culturally closer to Sweden - we watch Swedish SVT and Bolibompa whereas people from Uusimaa tend to watch Finnish YLE and Buuklubben (the former being the Swedish public TV channel and their daily kids show, and the latter being the Finnish equivalent. 

In Ostrobothnia, we generally don’t speak great Finnish. The southern part is especially bad at it. We’re taught it in school, but do not under any circumstances think that we speak it well, or in many cases - at all. That is not to say there aren’t people who can speak it, and some are even bilingual, but generally speaking, we’re rubbish at it. Because we don’t need it. If you don’t leave the region, you can live your whole life speaking only Swedish. My grandparents did. Finns and Swedish-speaking Finns live in a strange sort of acceptance of 

each other, where as long as you don’t try to speak Swedish outside of the regions where we live, you’ll be okay. And that’s why so many of us don’t leave where we’re from, but if we do, we go to Sweden. The promised land, remember? 

After four years in Sweden (Jönköping and Göteborg, I never lived in the holy Swedish-speaking Finn city that is Stockholm), I had had enough of “oh, your Swedish is so good, where did you learn it?” and I moved to Copenhagen, Denmark. The Danes don’t know we exist either, but what blew my mind is that when I tell them where I’m from, they are - unlike the Swedes - curious. It warms my heart. So much I even married one of them. 

I’ve travelled a lot in my life and I’ve met countless people from all over the world. I used to avoid saying where I’m from because it always turned into a conversation I didn’t want to deal with. Saying that I’m from Finland wasn’t the whole truth, and explaining what a Swedish-speaking Finn is yet again wasn’t something I was eager to do. That all changed when KAJ won Melodifestivalen (the music competition where Sweden’s representative for Eurovision is selected). They are from Ostrobothnia like me, and we are so proud of them. We couldn’t believe that someone from our little corner of the world could make it in the biggest competition in Sweden. It was a David-Goliath situation. And they’ve made me proud of being a Swedish-speaking Finn. As they got attention, so did the Swedish-speaking regions of Finland. All of a sudden, the world was curious about us? 

KAJ Comedy Group (Photographer: Erik Åhman)

The guys in KAJ are warm, hard-working, helpful, kind, funny, and down-to-earth. They represent the values of people in Ostrobothnia. They might be from the central parts of Ostrobothnia so their dialect differs from mine, but the values are the same. Listening to them brings me right back home. I currently live in China and I don’t intend on moving back to Ostrobothnia. I love it more than life itself, and I’m grateful for the values growing up there gave me, but my place is not there. 

And now, I want the world to know where I’m from. I want the world to know what a Swedish-speaking Finn is. I want the world to know that we belong in Finland and that we have a... complicated love-hate relationship with Sweden. I don’t expect the world to know about all the nuances and differences that exist between the Swedish-speaking Finns, but I would like the world to know as much about us as what most people know about Canada. That there is a minority in Canada that speaks French, and that their French sounds different from the one they speak in France. It sounds familiar, right? We are basically Canada but on a smaller scale. And our Celine Dion is KAJ. 

About the author:

Josefin is a Swedish-speaking Finn living in China completing her degree in Learning, Communication, and IT. Her greatest passion is sharing knowledge about the Nordics and raising awareness about the linguistic and cultural diversity of Finland, focusing on the Swedish-speaking communities in Finland. You can find more on the topic of Swedish-speaking Finns as well as on diplomatic life via Josefin's social media: Instagram: @thediplomatfamily