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A Nation of Two Official Languages: Helsinki as Helsingfors

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Cities and Languages
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49A Nation of two Official Languages:Helsinki as HelsingforsMaria Björnberg-Enckell Finland, in Finnish Suomi, is situated between Sweden and Russia, as a border-country between the East and the West, in the north-eastern corner of the European Union. The country gained its independence in 1917 as an officially bilingual nation with Finnish and Swedish as the national languages, and Helsinki, in Swedish Helsingfors, as its capital. In the following chapter, I will concentrate on what the status of national language means for the minority-speakers, the Swedish, in the officially bilingual capital. The focus will be administration and education because schools are strategic for the future of any society, and especially so for a minority. When, for example, the indigenous people of Finland, the Sami, did not get education in their own language at school, their language and traditions were randomly passed to only some children, not to all. The necessity of education is well understood. Basic, as well as secondary and higher education, is provided in Swedish in the capital and in the parts of Finland where the language is spoken because Swedish is protected by the constitution. There are now constant demands to make the language a voluntary subject and even questions about the bilingual status of the nation. Until recently, no political party had been pursuing these goals. Now members of the Party Perussuomalaiset (Finnish Popular Party) have given voice to these ideas. The Association of Finnish Culture and Identity, originally founded in 1906, supports the unilingual nation as its central proposition and actively works to promote it (Association of Finnish Culture and Identity 2010). In addition, the relatively new xenophobic tendencies, growing with the number of foreigners living in Finland, have found a political home. Having lost a political conflict about the orientation of North Ostrobotnia towards southern Vaasa instead of northern Oulu because of the constitutionally defined language rights of the Swedish, newly elected Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi (Centerparty) stated that she has difficulty standing behind the mandatory learning of Swedish in the schools (Hufvudstadsbladet 2010). It is obvious that economic and ecological
© 2022 University of Ottawa Press

49A Nation of two Official Languages:Helsinki as HelsingforsMaria Björnberg-Enckell Finland, in Finnish Suomi, is situated between Sweden and Russia, as a border-country between the East and the West, in the north-eastern corner of the European Union. The country gained its independence in 1917 as an officially bilingual nation with Finnish and Swedish as the national languages, and Helsinki, in Swedish Helsingfors, as its capital. In the following chapter, I will concentrate on what the status of national language means for the minority-speakers, the Swedish, in the officially bilingual capital. The focus will be administration and education because schools are strategic for the future of any society, and especially so for a minority. When, for example, the indigenous people of Finland, the Sami, did not get education in their own language at school, their language and traditions were randomly passed to only some children, not to all. The necessity of education is well understood. Basic, as well as secondary and higher education, is provided in Swedish in the capital and in the parts of Finland where the language is spoken because Swedish is protected by the constitution. There are now constant demands to make the language a voluntary subject and even questions about the bilingual status of the nation. Until recently, no political party had been pursuing these goals. Now members of the Party Perussuomalaiset (Finnish Popular Party) have given voice to these ideas. The Association of Finnish Culture and Identity, originally founded in 1906, supports the unilingual nation as its central proposition and actively works to promote it (Association of Finnish Culture and Identity 2010). In addition, the relatively new xenophobic tendencies, growing with the number of foreigners living in Finland, have found a political home. Having lost a political conflict about the orientation of North Ostrobotnia towards southern Vaasa instead of northern Oulu because of the constitutionally defined language rights of the Swedish, newly elected Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi (Centerparty) stated that she has difficulty standing behind the mandatory learning of Swedish in the schools (Hufvudstadsbladet 2010). It is obvious that economic and ecological
© 2022 University of Ottawa Press

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Table of Contents IV
  3. List of Contributors V
  4. Preface VI
  5. Introduction Language Policies and Bilingualism in Urban Environments: Situated Discussions 1
  6. Part 1: Bilingual Cities
  7. Barcelona: A Bivalent Multilingual City 11
  8. Moncton: Symbol of Bilingualism and Symbolic Bilingualism 23
  9. Ottawa: One City, Two Languages Managing Municipal Services in English and French in Canada’s Capital 31
  10. The City of Ottawa: Symbolic Representation and Public Image 41
  11. A Nation of Two Official Languages: Helsinki as Helsingfors 49
  12. Part 2: Bilingualism in Multilingual Environments
  13. Institutional Bilingualism in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland: Between Identity Politics and Pragmatism 61
  14. Language Planning in Brussels: Two Opposing Policy Mindsets 73
  15. Administrative Management and Public Services in Barcelona 85
  16. Biel/Bienne: A Linguistic Bridge at the Language Boundary 97
  17. Conclusion 107
  18. Titles published by Invenire Books 126
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9780776638294-008

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Table of Contents IV
  3. List of Contributors V
  4. Preface VI
  5. Introduction Language Policies and Bilingualism in Urban Environments: Situated Discussions 1
  6. Part 1: Bilingual Cities
  7. Barcelona: A Bivalent Multilingual City 11
  8. Moncton: Symbol of Bilingualism and Symbolic Bilingualism 23
  9. Ottawa: One City, Two Languages Managing Municipal Services in English and French in Canada’s Capital 31
  10. The City of Ottawa: Symbolic Representation and Public Image 41
  11. A Nation of Two Official Languages: Helsinki as Helsingfors 49
  12. Part 2: Bilingualism in Multilingual Environments
  13. Institutional Bilingualism in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland: Between Identity Politics and Pragmatism 61
  14. Language Planning in Brussels: Two Opposing Policy Mindsets 73
  15. Administrative Management and Public Services in Barcelona 85
  16. Biel/Bienne: A Linguistic Bridge at the Language Boundary 97
  17. Conclusion 107
  18. Titles published by Invenire Books 126
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