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of Finland’s two national languages,
and the cultural sentiment is to speak
Finnish in Finland. Even speaking the
second national language (Swedish) is
frowned upon. There is a noticeable
difference in our conversations with
people in our limited knowledge of
Finnish compared to the same type
of conversation in English. People
are more open when we speak their
language to them. We envision the
future ministry in Finland will have
two aspects—a main thrust in Finnish
and a few subsets in other languages
for immigrants.

Every country has its stereotypes. Finland
has several that our experience has proven to
be false. One is that the Finnish people are
cold, reserved, and rude. While a Finnish
person can come across that way when they
speak English, emotion and politeness are
expressed in the Finnish language dialog. In
English, our excitement is shown through
physical characteristics such as changing the
pitch of one’s voice or using body language,
but in Finnish, this is expressed by changing
characteristics of the spoken word. One
can lengthen it, use a different word that
means the same thing, or describe exactly
how he feels through an idiom. Finnish is a
language with many idiomatic expressions.

In conversations, one will routinely hear the
word esimerkiksi (meaning for example) as
the Finnish speaker explains the idiom they
just said with another idiom. Also, because
words can become complex in Finnish,
shorter, easier phrases are generally used.

This has even changed the spoken Finnish
language to be something entirely different
from the written language.

With each passing day, we see God at work
in Finland and throughout Europe. Many
are in search of friendship and need to be
introduced to the greatest Friend, Jesus. The
only item lacking is for a person to go and tell
them in their native tongue. W
Andrew & Nicole Wippler & family
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