The two official languages of Finland are Finnish and Swedish. The official minority languages include Sami languages, Romani and the Finnish Sign Language. Sami is a general name for a group of Uralic languages spoken in parts of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and extreme northwestern Russia, in Northern Europe. ... This article is about the language spoken by Roma people. ... Finnish Sign Language is the sign language most commonly used in Finland. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a country. ... Sami is a general name for a group of Uralic languages spoken in parts of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and extreme northwestern Russia, in Northern Europe. ... This article is about the language spoken by Roma people. ... Finnish Sign Language is the sign language most commonly used in Finland. ...

Finnish

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (February 2008)

Map showing Finnish dialects and related languages in Finland with surroundings.

Finnish, the national language of the Finnish people, is the native tongue of 94% of the population. It is a Baltic-Finnic language and as such related to e.g. Estonian. The Baltic-Finnic languages belong to the Uralic languages so Finnish is distantly related to languages as diverse as e.g. Hungarian (an Ugric language) and the Sami languages. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Language(s) Finnish, Swedish Languages related to Finnish include Estonian, Karelian, Vepsian, Võro and to a lesser extent, all Finno-Ugric Languages. ... Approximate geographical distribution of areas where indigenous Finno-Ugric languages, including Baltic-Finnic languages, are spoken. ... Geographical distribution of Samoyedic, Finnic, Ugric and Yukaghir languages  Yukaghir  Samoyedic  Ugric  Finnic The Uralic languages (pronounced: ) form a language family of about 30 languages spoken by approximately 20 million people. ... Ugric languages or Ugrian languages are generally held to be a branch of Finno-Ugric languages. ... Sami is a general name for a group of Uralic languages spoken in parts of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and extreme northwestern Russia, in Northern Europe. ...

Swedish

Dark: Unilingually Swedish-speaking.
Middle: Bilingual, Swedish majority.
Light: Bilingual, Finnish majority.

Swedish is the native tongue of 5.5% of the population (92.4% in the Åland autonomous province), down from 14% at the beginning of the 20th century. It is a North Germanic language, closely related to Norwegian and Danish; as such it is also an Indo-European language, related (more or less distantly) to languages as diverse as Hindi, German and Russian. Its importance in Finland is greater than this percentage suggests, however, for historical reasons and because a large fraction of Finns are competent in it: apart from the 5.5% native speakers, an additional 41% of the Finnish population claim to be able to conduct a conversation in Swedish. Swedish is a mandatory subject in Finnish schools. Image File history File links Swedish-language-in-finland-map. ... Image File history File links Swedish-language-in-finland-map. ... “Aland” redirects here. ... A North Germanic language is any of several Germanic languages spoken in Scandinavia, parts of Finland and on the islands west of Scandinavia. ... For other uses, see Indo-European. ... Hindi (DevanāgarÄ«: or , IAST: , IPA:  ), an Indo-European language spoken all over India in varying degrees and extensively in northern and central India, is one of the 22 official languages of India and is used, along with English, for central government administrative purposes. ...

All municipalities where both Finnish and Swedish are spoken by either at least 8% of the population each or at least 3,000 people each are considered bilingual. Swedish only reaches these criteria in Åland and some coastal areas, making the inland unilingually Finnish-speaking. Finnish reaches them everywhere but in Åland and in three municipalities in the Ostrobothnia region, which is also the only region on the Finnish mainland with a Swedish-speaking majority (52% to 46%). Outside these regions, there are Swedish-majority municipalities only in Finland Proper (especially in Åboland outside Turku), in Uusimaa and in Eastern Uusimaa. Ostrobothnia is one of Finlands 20 regions (fi: maakunta/sv: landskap). ... Finland is divided into 20 regions (maakunta/landskap in Finnish/Swedish). ... Finland Proper (Varsinais-Suomi in Finnish, Egentliga Finland in Swedish) is a region in south-western Finland. ... Ã…boland (Swedish; Turunmaa in Finnish) is an economic district in south-western Finland. ... Location of Turku in Northern Europe Coordinates: , Country Finland Province Western Finland Region Finland Proper Sub-region Turku sub-region Government  - Mayor Mikko Pukkinen Area  - City 306. ... Uusimaa (Nyland) is a region (maakunta / landskap) in Southern Finland. ... Eastern Uusimaa (Itä-Uusimaa / Östra Nyland) is a region (maakunta / landskap) in Southern Finland. ...

The four largest Swedish-speaking communities in Finland, in absolute numbers, are those of Helsinki (Helsingfors), Espoo (Esbo), Porvoo (Borgå) and Vaasa (Vasa), where they constitute significant minorities. Helsinki, the capital, had a Swedish-speaking majority until late in the 19th century. Location of Helsinki in Northern Europe Coordinates: , Country Province Region Uusimaa Sub-region Helsinki Charter 1550 Capital city 1812 Government  - Mayor Jussi Pajunen Area  - Total 187. ... Founded 1972 Province Southern Finland Region Uusimaa Sub-region Helsinki Area - Of which land - Rank 528 km² 312 km² ranked 279th Population - Density - Change - Rank 229,443 (2005) 729 inh. ... Founded 1346 Province Southern Finland Region Eastern Uusimaa Sub-region Porvoo Area - Of which land - Rank 663. ... For other uses, see Vaasa (disambiguation). ...

The Swedish dialects spoken on the Finnish mainland are collectively known as Finland-Swedish, while the Åland dialect is closer to standard Swedish. There is a rich Finland-Swedish literature, including authors such as Tove Jansson, Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Edith Södergran and Zacharias Topelius. Runeberg is considered Finland's national poet and wrote the national anthem, "Vårt land", which was only later translated into Finnish. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... This article is about the language spoken by Roma people. ... Arabic redirects here. ... Finnish Sign Language is the sign language most commonly used in Finland. ... ... Tove Marika Jansson ( ; August 9, 1914 – June 27, 2001) was a Finnish novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. ... J.L. Runebergs autograph Johan Ludvig Runeberg (February 5, 1804, Jakobstad – May 6, 1877, Porvoo) was a Finland-Swedish poet, and is held to be the national poet of Finland. ... Edith Irene Södergran (April 4, 1892 - June 24, 1923) was a Finland-Swedish poet. ... Topelius in a picture published in the Swedish periodical Svenska Familj-Journalen 1866. ... Maamme in The Tales of Ensign StÃ¥l Our Land, Maamme (Finnish), or VÃ¥rt land (Swedish), is the title of Finlands de facto national anthem. ...

Sami languages

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (February 2008)

Map showing the traditional Sami language region.

The Sami languages are a group of related languages spoken across the region known in English as Lapland. They are distantly related to Finnish and have a combined speaker population of roughly 5,200 in Finland[2]. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Map over traditional Sami language regions, usage permission granted. ... Map over traditional Sami language regions, usage permission granted. ... Sami is a general name for a group of Uralic languages spoken in parts of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and extreme northwestern Russia, in Northern Europe. ... National anthem Sámi soga lávlla Languages Sami, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Russian Area ca. ...

See also

• Finland's language strife
• Languages of Åland

The language strife was one of the major conflicts of Finlands national history and domestic politics. ... The Ã…land province of Finland, highlighted in red Ã…land has the largest Swedish-speaking majority in Finland, with over 92. ...

References

1. ^ [1]>
2. ^ Swedish is spoken by about 6% of the population as native language and by 41% as a second language.

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