Foreigners in Rovaniemi share their mind

The International Mother Language Day will be observed across the globe on February 21 to show respect to the mother tongues of all communities.

Rovaniemi, the city which homes 96 different nationalities always welcomes multilingualism and multiculturalism, said Director of Culture, Sports and Youth of the Rovaniemi City, Merja Tervo. She said, in 2016, the city’s basic education alone hosted students from 34 different countries.

The top three groups of foreigners residing in the city come from Sweden, China, and Russia, said Tervo, adding that the number of non-Finnish speakers here has been on a steady rise.

What do foreigners and immigrants in the city think about the upcoming international day? To find that out, the Daily Finland interviewed a few of them.

Although people move to Rovaniemi for disparate reasons, most of them are international students. Natalia Nikolaeva from Russia and Nhung Huynh from Vietnam are two typical examples.

Nikolaeva, who lives in Rovaniemi with her husband, speaks Russian at home. She also talks in her mother tongue with her parents on Skype every week. She said, “It is important to continue with speaking your own language when living abroad, whether permanently or temporarily.”

Nhung Huynh said she talks with her friends in Vietnamese every day, since there are a number of Vietnamese students in the town.

Wonsuk Choi from South Korea, on the other hand, is one of those who have few country fellows around. Choi said, as speaking his mother tongue gives him a homely feeling, he meets with his Korean friends once a month and dines Korean food with them.

For Aoi Tanabe, a shy Japanese girl, meeting her country fellows helps her ventilate her mind and feel more balanced.

Coming from Nigeria, Olivia Brownie has her own motivation to speak her mother tongue, Ika, a language spoken by a very small percentage of the Nigerian population, while they often talk in English when abroad. Brownie said she teaches Ika, besides English and Finnish, to her 19-month-old daughter.

Interestingly, some members of the city’s international community said they had not expected to have the opportunity to speak their own language in Rovaniemi. Wonsuk Choi actually was surprised when he met some Finnish students who can speak Korean fluently. He said, “It gave me a good motivation to learn Finnish when being in Finland.”

Having too many country fellows around might become a problem, too, said Nhung Huynh. It makes her reluctant to practise English or even to study Finnish language.

All the interviewees, however, said they are grateful for the opportunity to speak their mother tongue when in Rovaniemi. They find multilingualism and multiculturalism very important as they support people in integrating into a new culture while maintaining their own identity.

Rovaniemi also homes a large number of immigrants. The immigration office in the city helps the immigrants integrate into the mainstream society, prevents their marginalisation, and aims to increase equality and understanding among different ethnic and cultural groups.

Thanks to the onset of the tourism boom in the 1990s, the city has been receiving more than half a million tourists a year, said Tervo, adding, “Rovaniemi is really a very cosmopolitan city today, which is why we value multilingualism and multiculturalism.”