Distinctive Culture

Finnish Lapland spreads over a large area and therefore cultural diversity exists. Most locals live up quite a European lifestyle, but traces of original culture can clearly be seen in the region.

Northern Lapland's culture is partly a mixture of its neighboring countries; Russia in the east, Norway in the north and Sweden in the west; but mostly developed from the indigenous Sámi culture. In the south-eastern parts of Finnish Lapland, long history of logging has left its mark on the people's lifestyle, although nowadays traditional logging has been replaced with modern forestry.

Languages

Finnish language is said to be one of the hardest to learn in the whole world. Luckily, English is widely spoken and many Finns are willing to try their language skills when engaging in a conversation with a foreigner. In some of the northernmost parts of Lapland, variants of Sámi language are spoken.

In addition to Finnish, Swedish is another official language of Finland. There are only a few people in Lapland who speak Swedish as their native language, most of wich live in Tornio Valley.

Lappish People

Despite many people speak English well, some compliment words like "please" are often forgotten as they have no similar role in Finnish language. This can sometimes be misinterpreted as rudeness. In general, Lappish people aren't rude at all but their straightforwardness may confuse those accustomed to having long small talks before getting into business.

One special characteristic of our temperament is what some people call "cool passion". Foreigners often think that a Lappish soul is apathetic and impossible to get excited about anything, but the truth is that we just concentrate on doing the job instead of hyping it.