1162
submitted 5 months ago by boredtortoise@lemm.ee to c/world@lemmy.world

Finland's results in the European election bucked a continent-wide trend of rising support for parties on the outer fringe of right-wing politics, with the Left Alliance and the National Coalition winning big at the expense of the nationalist Finns Party.

Leftist leader Li Andersson received more votes than any other candidate has ever received in a European election.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 30 points 5 months ago

I hope you know Finnish already or are really good with languages because it's completely unrecognizable to people who speak most other European languages. My dad went to Helsinki in the 90s and said the only signs he could recognize were ones which had international logos like McDonald's.

This is (according to a search) "I love you" in Finnish: minä rakastan sinua.

But yes, it sounds like a very nice place to live.

[-] LordWiggle@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I'm familiar with the language, I just don't know it. But Finland is bilingual, as there is also a lot of ~~Norwegian~~ Swedish spoken and many signs are in ~~Norwegian~~ Swedish too. I have less issues understanding ~~Norwegian~~ Swedish. Myself I'm Dutch, I've been to Finland several times. I'm not even going to try to learn the language, it's really hard. But in major cities they speak English.

Edit: I didn't remember correctly the second language

[-] Hurmeli@lemmy.world 21 points 5 months ago

A finnish person here. Our second language is swedish not norwegian :-). Aside from that, it is true that many signs etc. are written in both finnish and swedish. People working in public sector are also supposed to know swedish.

Outside of few swedish speaking areas you are better off using english as it's more widely spoken by the general population.

[-] LordWiggle@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago

Ah thanks for the correction. It has been a while since I've been there, I clearly didn't remember correctly.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I just remembered that my dad said that about the same trip. That he was able to get around the city because pretty much everyone spoke English, so they could just help him out. The signage was the issue for him.

This was back in 1989 and, just by coincidence, this morning I found a postcard he sent me from Leningrad, because he got permission to take the train there from Helsinki. He wrote that he hoped one day I would learn about Peter the Great and visit the beautiful city he founded. Always the professor. Zero for two, unfortunately. I know basically nothing about Peter the Great and, even though the name St. Petersburg/Petrograd should be a clue, I didn't even know he founded it.

[-] Skua@kbin.earth 9 points 5 months ago

Is it not Swedish, rather than Norwegian?

[-] Vebred@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago

Yes it is swedish that is the second official language in finland :)

[-] LordWiggle@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I fixed it, my bad :)

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago

But yes, it sounds like a very nice place to live.

It gets a bit cold in the winter.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 8 points 5 months ago

I just looked at the temperatures and honestly, it doesn't get much colder than it gets here in Indiana and it doesn't get as horribly hot either.

Besides, give it 10 years and climate change will make the Baltic coast feel like the French Riviera.

[-] barsoap@lemm.ee 7 points 5 months ago

Winter is the nice season in Finland, the other one is swamp season.

[-] vga@sopuli.xyz 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Cold is fine, you just wear more clothes. The darkness from November to February is worse. Nothing really fixes that.

this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2024
1162 points (98.9% liked)

World News

39161 readers
1506 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS