What Languages Are Spoken In Finland? (Find Out!)

The main languages of Finland are Finnish and Swedish. Finnish is the first language of around 87% of the population, and the second language of around 13%. Swedish is the second language of about 44% of the population. Most Finns also speak English to a degree, and there are also the Sami languages of Lapland.

Finland is something of an outlier linguistically, simply in the sense that its main language is not Indo-European.

This makes it one of only a handful of non-Indo-European languages spoken in and around Europe.

Let’s find out more.

In This Article

How many languages are spoken in Finland?

There are two primary languages spoken in Finland: Finnish and Swedish. Finnish, naturally, is the primary language, and the vast majority of the population speak it at least as a second language.

As mentioned, Finnish is interesting as it is a Uralic language, meaning it is part of an entirely different family to most European languages.

Other than Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Basque, Sami and Maltese, all languages spoken in Europe are Indo-European.

Of these, Finnish is spoken by the second largest number of people after Hungarian.

Other than Finnish, the two main second languages which are most widely spoken are Swedish and English.

Close to half of the population speak Swedish as a second language, and it is one of the most useful second languages for a Finn to have given Sweden is their direct neighbor.

English, being an international language and one of the main languages of the European Union, is also widely spoken as a second language by many Finns.

There are also a handful of minority languages that are officially recognized in Finland.

These are mostly Sami languages, of which there are there primary variants recognized in Finland: Northern Sami, Inari Sami, and Skolt Sami.

These languages are spoken across Lapland and are only distantly related to Finnish.

The Sami people are indigenous to Lapland and have lived there since prehistory.

Beyond these languages, there are many large communities of foreign-speaking peoples in Finland.

There is a considerable population of Romani—so many indeed that it is an officially recognized language.

There are large numbers of French and German speakers in the country, as well as Russian, Estonian, Arabic and other immigrants.

There is a very large immigrant population in Finland and it is also extremely linguistically diverse—you will also find Albanian, Kurdish, Persian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Turkish and Spanish speaking communities.

Finland is very diverse, then, when it comes to the languages spoken there.

So, which of these languages are the main languages of Finland?

What are the main languages in Finland?

The two main languages of Finland are Finnish and Swedish.

These are the languages spoken by the largest number of people in the country, whether as a first language or a second.

Finnish, naturally, is the number one language in Finland.

It is spoken as a first language by 87% of the population, or around 5.4 million people.

As a second language, around 13% of the population speak it.

The next most widespread language is Swedish.

Though it is only spoken as a first language by around 5% of the population, this still makes it the next most common first language in the country.

It is, however, far more common as a second language—around 44% of the population speak Swedish as their second language.

It is the language most commonly learned in schools, and Finns are generally able to converse well in Swedish into adulthood, if they are not completely fluent.

Beyond that, English is perhaps the next most common language, though it is not all that common as a first.

Speaking English is extremely common throughout Finland and Scandinavia for a variety of reasons.

Finnish is not widely spoken internationally, so it’s essential as a language of trade and business.

What language family is Finnish from?

As mentioned, part of what makes Finland a linguistic outlier is the fact that Finnish is not related to most other European languages in the way they are mostly related to each other.

Even apparently very different languages like English and Italian are still both Indo-European.

Finnish is a Uralic language, in the Finnic branch. Uralic languages are spoken primarily in Europe, though also partly in Asia, and include languages like Hungarian, Khanty, Mansi, Mordivinic and Sami.

All other European languages are supposed to have derived from a single, theoretical, uniform root language, called Proto-Indo-European.

Though we naturally have no records of such a language, it is the job of linguistics to trace the development of language backwards.

Are Finnish and Russian similar?

Finnish and Russian are really not very similar at all.

It may surprise you to learn that Russian is in fact an Indo-European language, grouped in the same family as the majority of European languages.

Finnish, therefore, is of an entirely different language group and there is little to no similarity between the two languages.

Naturally, there is some shared vocabulary, but the similarities are otherwise fairly superficial.

Finnish is a fascinating language, then, which many expect to be related to other northern Germanic languages such as Norwegian and Swedish.

But it is related to very few European languages and is not even part of the same language family as the vast majority of European languages.

The Sami population of Finland is a relatively small part but the language also plainly plays a big part in the country’s overall linguistic makeup.

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Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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