In Finland, Helsinki wants to adopt English as an official language<

The mayor of the city, Juhana Vartiainen set foot in the dish a few days ago.And the subject begins to be controversial in Finland.The mayor actually proposes that English becomes one of the languages of the city: in the same way as the Finnish, the official language of Finland, and that the Swedish, the language of the neighbor, which is already recognized in Finland.

This means that throughout the capital Helsinki, a million and a half of inhabitants, a quarter of the Finnish population, the mastery of English could be enough, for example, to win certain public jobs.It also means that English would be systematically used in certain crèches or certain schools.For Finns, this is not necessarily a revolution, since 86% of them speak English.On the other hand, this provision can make it possible to recruit English -speaking foreigners.

The challenge of learning Finnish

Mayor Juhana Vartiainen is the former director of an economic research institute.He therefore knows the subject well: Finland, and in particular his sector of telecoms and very dynamic start-ups is faced with a real recruitment problem.There is a lack of experts, specialists in artificial intelligence for example.This is not a financing problem but a problem of lack of qualified personnel.

Foreigners do not want to stay in Finland.Conversely, young Finns leave the country to seek work elsewhere in Europe, especially in London or Berlin.In addition, the population is aging.Last year, the town hall therefore launched a call for applications, called Helsinki Business Hub.The principle was simple: come and settle with us for three months, and you will see, you will want to stay.Many Canadians, Americans, British, Taiwanese have been candidates.But very few stayed in the end.

Some departures have been talked about in Finland, for example that of a Mexican physicist Deborah Berebichez.To justify their departures, these foreigners explain that the bureaucracy is too heavy, that the taxation is too high, and especially that learning the Finnish is the impossible mission.It is a language deemed difficult, with many grammatical variations, whose master's degree is required by many Finnish companies.Hence the idea of the mayor of Helsinki: let's go to English!

The concern of Swedish neighbors

But that is not to everyone's taste and in recent days, the controversy is gaining momentum and not necessarily on the side of the Finns.It comes mainly from the Swedes who live in Finland: they fear, by chain effect, that the Swedish is the collateral victim of this reform, and ceases to be an official language for the benefit of English.The proposal of the mayor of Helsinki will now go back to the national level.The Finnish government has currently been cautious on the subject.