The stereotypes I
most often face while encountering people from other cultures and
countries than mine are that Finnish people drink a lot of alcohol
and love vodka, Finnish people love sauna and every Finn has a sauna
in their home, Finnish people are quiet, unsocial and depressed
and we commit a lot of suicides, Finnish people do not express
their feelings, Finnish people are honest, well-educated and
speak perfect English, and that Finnish people love metal music.
The stereotype of
Finnish people drinking a lot of alcohol might be based on facts
and statistics of alcohol consumption. We do consume a lot of it. As far as I have seen, Finnish
tourists and for example exchange students encourage this stereotype
with their alcohol consuming habits. I think that in Finland it is
more acceptable, maybe even admired, to show that you are under the
influence of alcohol, than in some other cultures. Finnish people
traveling abroad then might not think that in that culture being
drunk is not acceptable. Also in Finland, traditionally, alcohol is
maybe not consumed so often than for example southern Europe, but in
bigger quantities at once. So you see a Finnish person drunk more
often than an Italian person, even the total alcohol consumption
would be the same. Finnish people drinking a lot of vodka: this
stereotype I do not quite agree with. Vodka is expensive in Finland
and I think we are drinking more the lighter alcoholic drinks, like
beer and cider. I assume this stereotype has something to do with
Finland being so close to Russia.
Sauna is one of the
most famous Finnish things, and it is true that sauna is a common
thing to have at least in bigger houses and new apartments. Sauna is
a significant part of our midsummer and Christmas traditions and it
has long history being the place where women gave birth and men enclosed business deals. Not every Finn love sauna, but I do think this
stereotype is quite accurate.
In Finland we have
bigger need for personal space than in some other countries, which
might encourage people to think that we are unsocial. We are used to
live by ourselves and our core families and the distance to the
neighbor might be big, as we are so few people in a big country. In
some other countries people live with their whole extended family in
smaller houses and the density of the population is much bigger than
in Finland. In Finnish culture it is not encouraged to bother someone
unless you have some real business to talk about. In Finland people
also speak quieter, slower and maybe less than for example Spanish,
which might give a picture of a quiet, unsocial person. People
usually think that we must be depressed, because the winter is so
long and so dark. Usually these people add that we have most suicides
in the world in Finland, which is not true, but unfortunately we are
quite high in the ranking. I do not think that Finnish people are
more depressed than others. There is several other countries in the
world with long and dark winter. And we have very light summer.
Actually I think that we Finns are quite fond of our darkness and in
Finland we know how to make most of the dark time, with Christmas
lights, candles, fireplaces and so on. If there is any statistics of
Finnish people being more depressed, I think it is because in Finland
it is not a tabu and people seek for help more easily.
In Finland we have
an attitude that being pessimistic is good, so you won't get
disappointed. Also showing your good luck is sometimes not considered
appropriate, instead modesty is admired, which might lead to Finnish
people being shy showing feelings of happiness. Older generation
might also not want to show their sadness, frustration or tiredness
because one needs to be tough, but I think that among my generation
this has changed.
I think that the
stereotype of Finnish people being honest comes from the fact that we
have very low corruption in our country. Also Finnish people abroad
are often hard workers, who do their job quickly and can be relied
on. Also according to a recent “wallet test” that was all over
social media, Finnish people were the ones who were most likely to
return the lost wallet with all its content. This was a conversation
opener in my work place in Poland, where my Polish colleagues
agreed that Finnish people are honest and can be trusted easily. Of
course in reality, there is dishonest people also among Finns, but I
think that we have quite high morale due to the lack of corruption in
our country. We have transparency in our political system, we can
trust the government, we have good social care, equality among
citizens and more modest separation between rich and poor than in
some other countries, which all encourage honesty.
The stereotype of
Finnish people being well-educated comes probably from the newspaper
articles and studies that praise our school system. And also from the
PISA test results where Finland has usually been high. In Finland
almost every one finishes at least the first nine years of school,
because this is written in the law and quite hard to escape from. I
don't know if after that Finnish people educate themselves more than
for example other Europeans. But at least in Finland higher education
is possible for every one and is not dependent of money. Due to good
social care, children do not need to work to help their families
survive, which enables them to use their time for education. Finnish
people do usually speak quite good English, on my opinion for example
better than Germans, which probably is due to the fact that we do not
dub the TV programs and that Finnish is a rare language and to travel
and to study in upper level one needs to know English.
Finnish people's
reputation as metal music lovers is likely due to the fact that we
have a lot of metal bands, the most famous being Eurovision winner
Lordi. On my opinion Finnish people listen all kind of music, and I for example, cannot stand metal music, so I cannot confirm this
stereotype.
So according to this, am I a stereotypical Finnish person? Let's see: I have had my fare share of alcohol, but nowadays the consumption is very low. I go to sauna twice a year; on Christmas and midsummer, I've never had a sauna in my home (if my childhood home is excluded). I might seem quiet and unsocial, but I can also be a social butterfly if necessary. I've never been depressed and never had suicidal thoughts (if teenage angst is excluded). I love to talk about my feelings, but sometimes it's hard to show that I am very happy or excited. I would like to consider myself as an honest person, but of course every one of us tells a white lie every now and then. I have university degree and my English is good (not perfect). I hate metal music.