Norway | Helsingfors, not Helsinki – The Norwegian Language Office recommends using a Swedish name for Finnish localities

The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation’s NRK story highlighted the old alignment of Norwegian language authority. There was strong support for it in Finland, where linguists recommended in 1997 that speakers of Scandinavian languages ​​use Swedish names in Finnish localities.

Norwegian the NRK has been raised by the country’s language office Språkrådetin the policy that Norwegians should use Finnish place names primarily in Swedish.

According to the recommendation, the capital of Finland is therefore Helsingfors, not Helsinki. Northern Ostrobothnia is Uleåborg, not Oulu. The place known for winter sports is Lahtis, not Lahti.

“Ridiculous and jerky,” comments a Norwegian-born sociologist from Norway Sanna Sarromaa In the NRK case.

NRK has made a street gallery for the story in Finnmark, northern Norway, whose traditional Finnish name is Ruijaa. There was migration from Finland there, especially in the 19th century.

“Many residents here have names like Dørmænen, Dallavara or Seipajærvi,” NRK notes.

In the street gallery in Vadsø, or Vesisaari, the Finnish capital Helsinki was used almost entirely in the Finnish form.

“The question comes up every now and then.”

Language issues often arouse passions. Admittedly, the nuts of Finnish place names are probably not at the top of the list of priorities, neither in Norway nor in Finland.

“The question comes up every now and then,” says Språkrådet’s department head Daniel Ims in a telephone interview.

The recommendation of the Norwegian Language Office is an old cancellation, from the 1990s.

“The recommendation was given years ago. It is partly based on the Norwegian tradition, partly on the own recommendation of the Finnish Language Institute. ”

Ims means the Center of Finnish Languages ​​i.e. From home, of which he speaks in Swedish the Institutet för de inhemska språken.

Daniel Ims explains the Nordic logic behind the recommendation.

If a person’s mother tongue is close to Swedish, it is most natural for him or her to use a Swedish name for Finnish places. “Close to Sweden” of course refers above all to Norwegian and Danish speakers.

If the mother tongue is a close relative of Finnish (such as Estonian), it is most natural to talk about places with Finnish names.

All speakers of other languages, on the other hand, should speak of the place with the name most used in Finland.

Recommendations with the same content have been published in Kotus’ Swedish Språkbrukin 1997. Ims will probably refer to that article when he talks about Kotus’ recommendation.

Ims specifies that Finnish names from Finnish localities may continue to be used in Norway if this is felt.

“Our our answer [Suomen paikannimikysymykseen] is a recommendation, not an order. ”

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