Minority languages in Sweden: Finnish

Finnish is one of Sweden's national minority languages. But how come there are so many of Finnish origin in Sweden? How did they come to be here? Well, Finland has not always been a country of its own. Finland used to be part of Sweden.

From the 12th century, the Middle Ages that is, until the year 1809. Then Finland became Russian instead. But this story starts at the end of the 16th century. Although Sweden and Finland are one and the same country at this time, most Finns live in the Finnish, eastern part, and the Swedes in the western, Swedish part. This Swedish king, Gustav Vasa - notices that the Swedish pine forests of Värmland and Dalarna grow all too dense.

It would be so much better if it was possible to use the soil beneath the forest for farming. The king decides that anyone is allowed to move here if they put their work into making the soil useable. And this is one of Gustav Vasa's sons: Charles The Duke. He eventually became king Charles the IX but right now he is the Duke of - among other places - Värmland. He would love to get more inhabitants here, because he wants more tax-payers.

To make it appealing to move here, he promises that Finns working on the forests won't have to pay taxes in the first years. This is the first wave of Finns migrating west. They cut down the trees in the forests and then burn the ground which makes the soil more nutritious and fit for agricultural use. The technique of burning the ground in the forest like this is called 'slash-and-burn'. That's why the Finns who come here are called slash-Finns or forest Finns.

In Savolax in Finland, they are especially skilled in 'slash-and-burn' so many of the migrating Finns come from this region. They bring their Savolax dialect. Since the Forest Finns live rather isolated in the forest, they mostly hang out with - and marry - other forest finns. That's why their culture and language does not change much for several hundred years. Their culture is rich with belief in magic and natural powers.

In spite of being Christians, they also pray to their thunder God Ukko. By using magical chants and spells about everyday things, the words for these things stay in the language. But in 1842 a new law comes in. The Swedish school-law. All children must go to school and learn Swedish.

The children of the Forest Finns too. The teachers also instruct the parents not to speak Finnish at home. They believe this helps the children to more easily learn Swedish. During the 20th century more and more Finns work away from their homes and mix more in Swedish society. The children no longer learn Finnish at home as much as before.

Most become bilingual. But still they preserve many of their traditions. In the 20th century, the second wave of Finnish immigrants arrives in Sweden. This is during the Second World War 1939-1945. Now, over 70,000 Finnish children are sent to Sweden to get away from the war in Finland.

They arrive without their parents and get to live in foster homes. About 7,000 of these stay on after the end of the war. But the largest group of Finns arrives in Sweden during the 1950's, 60's and 70's. Now Sweden needs workforce: the industries are working at full speed and the Swedes are not enough. Meanwhile, Finland is poverty stricken after the Second World War and it's hard to find a job there.

In 1954 the Nordic countries establish a union to enable Nordic citizens to travel between the countries without a passport. Many Finns seize the chance to cross the border into Sweden to find work. Most of them find employment in Gothenburg or Stockholm. So it's hardly strange that as many as 300,000 people speak Finnish in Sweden today.