Finland
Finnish belongs to the Uralic languages, some of whose members are Estonian, Finnish, and Hungarian. The ‘odd ones out’ in Europe linguistically, they are unrelated genetically (as linguists term it) to the other, mostly Indo-European languages, of Europe.
Many linguists propose a homeland near the Ural Mountains/Volga River area for the Uralic languages. Together with the Samoyed languages and the Karelian languages, the family spans the breadth of the Eurasian landmass, from northern Europe to the centre of Siberia. To this day, there are speakers of Uralic languages throughout Siberia, yet the only representatives with substantial numbers of speakers are to be found in Europe.
It is believed that the languages moved into Europe during ancient migrations, with native Indo-European populations then adopting the speech of the newcomers. Spoken by over 5.5 million people in Finland, the Finnish language is also used in other Scandinavian countries and still has speakers in Karelia, the traditionally Finnic-language areas now part of the Russian Federation.
A Finnish text is largely incomprehensible to speakers of IE (Indo-European) languages in the way that, for example, a Spanish and an Italian speaker can understand the basics of the written forms of each other’s language.
The Finnish language has been vital to Finnish national identity, as Swedish had been the main language for administration, education, and government in Finland for centuries. The compilation of both Karelian and Finnish folklore and mythology in The Kalevala in the 19th century offered further impetus to the nationalist sentiment. This Finnish-language revival fuelled a sense of national destiny, ultimately leading to Finland’s independence from Russia in 1917.
As a member of the Uralic language family, it has attracted the interest of modern linguists, who find it a curious juxtaposition next to the neighbouring Germanic and Baltic languages. J.R.R. Tolkien (author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings), fascinated by Finnish, based the language of the Elves of Middle Earth on its structure.
Spectrum Translation has worked with Finnish since 2005. We have translated and localized Finnish for a variety of purposes, including business, legal, medical, and technical.
We welcome your queries regarding successful translation, proofreading, and editing in this unique language of northern Europe.