Diversity connects - Finland

When you travel in Helsinki by train or a metro train, it is easy to notice that all names for places are not only in Finnish, but also in Swedish. Most of them are translations and some are adaptations to another language.

For example:

Jakomäki – Jakobacka
Puistola – Parkstad
Mellunmäki – Mellungsbacka
Helsinki – Helsingfors
Kaisaniemi – Kajsaniemi


By Maria Efimova, Jakomäen yläasteen koulu, 9 C

Diversity connects - Finland

In the first two pictures the Finnish name is on the top and in the third picture the Swedish name is on the top



Swedish words that are in used in Finland as street names or names of places

In Helsinki all street names are both in Finnish and Swedish. That is because Swedish is another official language of Finland. In Helsinki the street names are put on the signs so that the Finnish name is on the top and the Swedish name is under it. But in some cities in Finland the names are put differently: Swedish on the top and Finnish under it. The signs are like that if the city is more Swedish than Finnish.

By: Rune Pönni, Jarmo Hirvonen and Niko Fast Jakomäen yläasteen koulu 9C

Diversity connects - Finland

“DIVERSITY CONNECTS”

In the following text we give some examples of how different languages have influenced the Finnish language in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. Historically, Finland has been both under Swedish (1150/1249 -1809) and Russian rule (1809-1917). However, as for the languages, the influence of the Swedish language has been a lot stronger and longer-lasting, as Swedish had been used for years as the language of administration and civilization. To begin with, the Swedish language kept its position as the sole language of administration even when Finland became part of the Russian Empire in 1809. However, during the 1860s, Czar Alexander II ordered that legal equality between Finnish and Swedish as languages of administration was to be gradually introduced, and with time, Finnish also gained its position as the national language of Finland.

Nowadays Finland has got two official languages, Finnish and Swedish. About 5, 6 % of the inhabitants of Finland have Swedish as their mother tongue. Most of the Swedish speaking Finns live in the southern and western parts of Finland, quite often in the coastal area. Nowadays about 6, 2 % of the inhabitants of Helsinki have Swedish as their mother tongue.

Helsinki slang or slangi is a local variation of the Finnish language mainly used in the capital Helsinki. It dates back to the late nineteenth century when Helsinki was about 50% Swedish-speaking. Helsinki slang is based on spoken Finnish and it is characterized by a large amount of words borrowed from originally Swedish, German and Russian. The slang was widely used especially in working class areas but it only became really popular in the 1950s among young men who wanted to rebel against their parents and impress young women.

Helsinki slang or “stadin slangi”, as the Helsinki people themselves prefer to call it, is still very much alive. Since the 1990s, because of globalisation and the role of the Internet, new slang words have usually come from English. As there are nowadays many immigrants from Russia, Estonia and Somalia in the Helsinki area, it is expected that new slang words come from their languages, too.

Here are some examples of “stadin slangi”. You can first see the Finnish word or phrase, then the same in “stadin slangi, and finally, in English:

asua budjaa (to dwell), mennä rikki brakaa (to break), tyhmä dorka (dork), työ duuni (work),
tyttö gimma (girl), nukkua goisaa (to sleep)
koti hima (home), linja-auto dösä (a bus)
raitiovaunu spora (a trolley car, a tram)

“Mieti vähän, pikku apulainen, miten helppoa tällä olisi siivota”
Kelaa, snadi jeesaaja, kui iisii täl ois stedaa"
(meaning "Think, little helper, how easy it would be to clean with this")

9 C Jakomäen yläasteen peruskoulu

Winter in Spain

click on the picture

Three German students on a school exchange to Vigo

Monday:20.04.09

At 6.43 we went by train to Leipzig. Than we flew to Palma de Mallorca. and from P. de Mallorca we flew to Porto (Portugal). Then we drove by bus to Vigo. In Vigo waited the Spanish families, and we went home with the families. Later we ate a littlebit and drank and then we went to bed.

Tuesday: 21.04.09
We met at school and we had a tour on the beaches in Vigo. Fantastic. Next we had lunch at school. In the afternoon Veronika and Vivien went with Alba and Monica to the beach (Kasssandra was shopping).

Wednesday:22.04.09
On this day we had English lessons at school and then a schoolvisit. A little bit later we went to Castrelos Park, there were Orange -and Lemon trees. We were really surprised that they had blossoms and fruits at the same time. In the afternoon Kassandra was inline - skating and Vivien, Monica, Veronika and Alba had a bowling game and they were again on the beach.
We learned that Spanish children learn inline-skating at school! It would be a nice idea for us, too.

Thursday 23.04.09.
We went with the bus to Santiago de Compostela. There we had a tour in the town and visited the Cathedral from Santiago. After this Vivien was swimming and Kassandra and Veronika ware shopping. In the evening we had a big dinner with all the children from our partner schools in Finland, Poland and the Netherlands. It was nice because the owner of the restaurant spoke German because he had lived for 20 years in Germany.
After the dinner we went in the city and it was time to say Good Bye, because our friends from Helsinki and Lublin had to leave very early on the next morning.

Friday:24.04.09

At 09.00 o´clock we met with Mrs. Schaper (our teacher) in the Hotel Galicia. Then we were in the city and then we went by taxi to the busstation. Then we drove with the bus to the airport in Porto and then we flew via Mallorca to Leipzig. We were sad that we couldn’t stay there a bit longer, but our school waited for us. About midnight we came home.

That was a wonderful week.

Veronika, Kassandra and Vivien