The Finnish communication culture is characterized by a hefty dose of context that is universally and subconsciously understood among Finnish speakers, says German-born Roman Schatz, a media celebrity in his new homeland. As a small culture, the Finns share many common conventions for shooting the breeze that they can all depend upon. Schatz gives the following example:
“Two men meet on the street. One says, ‘Mitäs jätkä?’ (What’s up, dude?) and the other answers ‘Paskaaks tässä’ (Same old shit). This brief four-word interlude contains so much: one asks how the other is doing and the other replies. At the same time they wish each other the best and bond,” he says.
As a foreigner in Finland, he has also taken note of how Finns find it unnecessary to use an equivalent for the word ’please’, or ’bitte’ in his native German. ‘Laita ikkuna kiinni’ (Shut the window) is a simple and direct request, requiring no useless grovelling or niceties. Even in the grocery store, everyone says on equal footing.
“When Finns go shopping, both the customer and the salesperson say ‘kiitos’ (thank you). In effect, thanks for having bought our product, and thanks for having sold it to me.”
But there is one Finnish word Schatz says has no equivalent in the German language:
“Talkoot! No German would go out on a Saturday to do yard work with the neighbours for free!”
Every culture is normal
Upon moving to Finland close to three decades ago, Roman Schatz thought his new Nordic home was crazy and exotic. What he found most surprising was that even though Finland was part of Europe, it was completely different – especially the language. Foreigners arriving here could stand in front of a telephone booth without even identifying it, that is, until they read the small print in Swedish: ‘Oh! Telefon!’ When Schatz arriving in Finland in 1986, there were only 16,000 foreigners here. Since that time, the number has grown fifteen times over.
Schatz now speaks Finnish fluently and has become a successful radio host, lecturer and writer. He says that whenever one speaks about culture shock, the most important thing to keep in mind is that no culture is inherently superior or inferior.
“Each different culture of the world considers itself normal. You Finns think of yourself as completely normal. The problems begin when one travels to Denmark, where they also think they are completely normal – even though we all known Danes are not normal,” jokes Schatz.