“Finnish is my native language, yet people still speak to me in English” – How international adoptees feel marginalised in Finland

I get that it must feel frustrating to constantly be spoken to in English when Finnish is your native language. That would definitely get old. At the same time, I wonder if sometimes people are just trying to be polite or helpful rather than intentionally marginalising anyone. Feels like there’s a real conversation to be had here (about feeling like an outsider even though you were born here, or that you should feel grateful), but maybe it’s a bit more nuanced than the headline makes it seem…

It is what it is. These things are the result of multiculturalism

I get that it must feel awful, but I think it’s kinda dumb to attribute malice to it.

There’s an increasing number of people in the country that don’t speak finnish, and people make assumptions about what language someone speaks before choosing which language to start with.

Sure, those guesses are often based on appearance, but I would guess the guesses are also more often than not correct. Not always, obviously, but it’s more taxing to start in finnish with everyone and then switch to english, even with groups where based on appearance a vast majority don’t understand finnish.

I’m on the benign end of this spectrum. I don’t look distinctly non-Finnish, but there is something to the way I look that makes people on occasion assume I’m not local. It typically happens in touristy spots and at the airport. Also, back in the day I used to wear suits for work and ride taxis. In certain spots the drivers seemed to assume it was the safest bet to greet me in English. Nobody has ever complimented my Finnish, though… I hope it’s not shit.

In my workplace there is this blonde Finnish girl who once got the same interaction like this.

Our customer told her you speak very good Finnish, her thought was the hell if I don’t speak good Finnish it would be catastrophic for Finnish people.

In my workplace most of the workers are 2nd gen immigrants born in Finland or foreigners. She is one of 3 workers who are native Finns (no visible immigrants look).

Weird but funny.

Haha people are never happy. I have the opposite problem. What ever white country I visit people always think I am a local one and speak local language. They come and ask where is some street, or house or hotel. Sorry I dont not understand and I do not know.

We’re sorry we cannot decipher whether you can or not speak our difficult language. Mind reading is extremely complicated with people we have no prior experience with. We really need to level up our mind reading capabilities.

(/s, but I also mean it)

Being approached with different language than you desire to speak is not being marginalized. The option to speak back and switch to desired one is right there, such simple solution does not exist for actual stuff that causes one to be marginalized. 

As a customer service worker, I always start the conversation in Finnish. I switch to English when a customer requests it or if they give me an awkward look. I don’t want to do any profiling based on appearance. Additionally many people who are still learning Finnish seem appreciative of getting to practice it in real life situations. I did a semester abroad in Austria so I know what it feels like. Every time customer service workers heard my B2 German they immediately switched to English. I just wanted to practice speaking German, but I guess not 🙁

I have noticed that if i go with ‘hei’ instead of ‘moi’, a lot of people hear it as ‘hi’ and start talking English instead of Finnish.

I feel like this is partially because Finland has only recently become more international. We’ve always had immigrants, but usually from nearby countries and we can’t always tell them apart from the native population. So, everyone speaks Finnish. Then more people started to move to Finland and even though they might have an accent their kids usually don’t anymore (plus adoptees obviously).

I’ve been away from Finland for quite a few years and I’m always surprised by how much more international my hometown has become when I visit. I don’t always know whether people can communicate effectively in Finnish or not when I have something to say. I used to speak in Finnish and English, but nowadays I always start with Finnish and then switch if they don’t understand me, because I don’t want to come off as stereotyping others based on their looks. 🤷‍♀️

I get it’s frustrating, but people genuinely don’t do it out of malice. It’s more because we want to be considerate and get the best possible communication right from the start, but stereotypes/ideas of who speaks Finnish are unfortunately lagging behind reality. Younger generations are better about this in my experience.

I have had an interaction with this unpleasant individual in tampere.

they were lining up to an ATM which was busy with some teens, and she looked exasperated.

I told her “if you are waiting for the atm, there is another one free at the top of those escalators” to which she replied something cutting and sharp about speaking finnish, then eyeing me as she walked away.

Until most people who look like her speak finnish, I wont be speaking it on the first. We also dont need social justice warriors like this one in finland. No reply of mine deserved her response, and itll just bitter my response to future foreigners.