Raja Marthala encourages international students to learn Finnish: "It’s a long-term investment"
– I recommend every student to spend at least five to ten per cent of their time in learning Finnish. In two years it adds up and it’s enough to get your Finnish in good shape.
When Raja arrived from India in 2016 to start his master’s degree at the University of Vaasa, he already knew he wanted to stay in Finland. Now, eight years later, he is a Finnish citizen, lives in Vaasa, and works at the software company FLIQ with AI solutions.
Raja uses Finnish in his everyday life: at work with customers, during coffee breaks with colleagues, and with his local friends. Knowing the language has opened many doors for him, helped him adapt to the society and given him access to unforgettable cultural experiences.
– It’s a long-term investment.
For Raja, the key to learning the language was practice. After taking basic Finnish courses at the university, Raja revised what he had learned and practised at his own.
To put his skills into use, he had to find locals to talk to. He also needed to find new hobbies to beat the dark and cold autumn and winter months in Finland – since the pass-time activities he had used to in India were not available. He decided he should take up activities that the locals enjoy.
– I can play cricket in the summer, but in the winter, what can I do? I picked up skiing and sauna. Sauna is good at any time of the year, irrespective of weather.
Sauna – a place to practise Finnish and expand your network
Raja started going to a winter bathing sauna run by a local association called the Vaasa Penguins. The sauna is located by the sea and you can swim there even in the winter when the sea is frozen. A few rounds in the ice-cold water and sweating in the hot sauna helps Raja to unwind.
– It kind of reboots my system after the work day.
When Raja first went to the sauna, the atmosphere was stiff. People were curious about the newcomer, but didn’t really know how to interact with him. Raja used his Finnish skills to break the ice.
– Slowly I started to say: “hi, how are you?” in Finnish and a good friendship began to grow between us.
Now Raja is a regular at the sauna, and his sauna friends worry about him when they don’t see him for a while. They spend time together outside the sauna too and sometimes he invites them to his house for Indian dinner.
In the sauna, you meet people from all walks of life, and Raja now has friends of all ages and backgrounds, not only from the university or IT sector.
– There are teachers, doctors, ice hockey players. I have been able to expand my network there, and I have benefited from the Finnish language.
Be Roman in Rome – be Finn in Finland
Learning the Finnish language can be very beneficial for an international’s career development in Finland. Knowing your field and knowing Finnish makes you stand out from the crowd. For Raja, Finnish helps when interacting with clients, but the motivation to learn the language goes deeper.
– You have to adapt to the society. Just like the saying “be Roman in Rome” or the Finnish version “Maassa maan tavalla”. If you follow that, you will be happier.
Raja has followed this saying, and learning the Finnish language has helped him learn the Finnish way of life.
– People say that Finns don’t talk very easily or that they are cold. But cultures are different, right? Finns speak in a different way as we speak in a different way.
Understanding the cultural differences will help you navigate Finnish society and the workplace.
– You’ll be in the same rhythm and there won't be many misunderstandings. For example, if your boss in Finland says nothing when you are doing your work, you are probably doing a perfect job. Someone could think that they are not being encouraging if they don’t know the culture.
By being curious about Finnish customs and lifestyles, and actively interacting with Finns in Finnish, Raja has been able to see and experience things that he would have missed if he didn’t speak Finnish and only spent time with his international friends.
Once, he was invited to his Airbnb host’s farm – he got to enjoy the Finnish summer in the countryside and experience farm life, doing farm work and taking care of animals.
Another time, he was invited to go moose hunting, a typical autumn activity in the Finnish countryside.
– I asked a friend about his hobbies and he said hunting. I asked if I could join him as I had never tried it. He said, OK, I can ask my hunting group if non-members can join.
– One time I joined them and saw hunting. It's a very memorable experience and a cultural thing.
For an expat in Finland, it can feel more comfortable to be in your own bubble. Raja encourages international students to get to know the locals as well.
– You can ask what are their hobbies and if the interests match, you can ask more. You can ask, may I join you? What can they say? Hardly, they will say, not this time. If you're ready for it, it’s easy to break into different types of people.
Even if Raja lives as a Finn in Finland outside his home, inside his home and within his community, he keeps his culture, his beliefs, festivals and traditions alive. Still, after living eight years in Finland, he has acquired some Finnish traits. One of them is punctuality – people in Finland expect you to be on time and Raja tends to be a little early rather than late.
– When I meet my own community, it’s hard because they don't show up at the agreed time and I’m sitting there alone, Raja says with a laugh.
Compared to his life in India, Raja has a clearer distinction between work and leisure in Finland: he doesn’t carry his laptop home or to the gym. In Vaasa, the work-life balance is even better than in larger cities because of the short distances.
– Here you can reach everything in 15 minutes. I don't see the point in choosing a very big city where you have to commute. You waste your time every day traveling and coming home tired. I can use this time for a workout or just relax and stay at home.
Raja enjoys his life in Vaasa and is now making it better for other expats as well – he is a member of the Vaasa Multiculturalism Council which helps the city authorities to promote integration and develop related services. As Finnish and Swedish are the official languages of the city, Raja’s Finnish skills come to use also in the council’s meetings. In this kind of position, language goes above the everyday speech and Raja admits that he used Google Translate when he applied for the position.
– I didn’t want to give the wrong impression of my skills, so I explained in the application what I had written myself and what I had translated. Becoming a member of this council boosted my confidence a lot.
Tips for mastering the Finnish language
In addition to taking Finnish language courses at the university, Raja has practised the language actively. But how to get started? Here are some tips that can help you in your language learning journey.
Take your time
– First, I thought I could learn Finnish very quickly. Then I understood that languages don’t work the same way as other subjects. I took my time and slowly started to learn.
Put your learning into practice instead of chasing for perfection
– Initially, I thought that my sentences should be perfect. But in that way, my progress would be very very slow. Then I thought, OK, this is not the way it works. It's better to try to speak, and if people don't understand, they can correct me.
Focus on the basics
Even though you will learn a lot of grammar in class, you don't need to master all of it perfectly to have everyday conversations.
– In my experience you need basic things like present tense, past tense, where you are going and where you are coming from. You also need to express your own point of view.
Start with easy materials
After learning the basics, Raja expanded his knowledge by reading children's storybooks and watching YLE News in Easy Finnish (Selkouutiset).
– After watching 40 or 50 episodes I became very comfortable in listening Finnish, I could just listen and try to understand what's happening around me.