Thursday, August 30, 2007

A Guide to Finnish Customs and Manners

Since I have to go to work today after a very long and fabulous summer holiday (Thanks to all my Israelian friends including the Conceptis staff and also Rosa and her husband), I am not in the mood for anything very serious.
Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland ( Department for Communication and Culture/Unit for Publications and Finland Promotion) has published a remarkable guide about Finland: Virtual Finland.
The site covers probably every aspect of Finland, much more than I could tell foreigners about my country.
The site has also translations to français / deutsch / español / russian.

I think the best part is A Guide to Finnish Customs and Manner.
It is written by Olli Alho, PhD, known in Finland about his studies in humour.
The article introduces the Finnish habits an a very humorous and self ironic way. It has a stereotypical approach and we are of course different, but I like it. There is very much truth beneath the irony.

I have collected some examples here:



The use of modern information technologies
has revolutionized the image of Finnish
communication skills.









Finns place great value on words, which is reflected in the tendency to say little and avoid 'unnecessary' small talk. They are better at listening than at talking.








It's time for a cup of coffee. Finns drink coffee anywhere and everywhere. More coffee per person is drunk in Finland than anywhere else in the world.









Having a sauna is something completely natural to Finns. A first timer should perhaps have a first encounter with the sauna in the company of a genuine Finn.








After these appetizers, you can start to read the whole article here.



1 comment:

Greg said...

Yor spot on with your observations
Great points raised though I would like to see more on how Finns think and see themselvesin the world at large
Good post nether the less
Grweg