| Summary: | Finland is known for its language legislation which deals with the right to use one’s own language in courts and with public officials. In order to examine just how well the right to use one’s own language actually manifests in Finnish society, I examined the developments of language related rights internationally and in Europe and how those developments manifested in Finland. I also went over Finland’s linguistic history, seeing the developments that have lead us to today when Finland has three separate language act to deal with three different language situations. I analyzed the relevant legislations and by examining the latest language barometer studies, I wanted to find out what the real situation of these language and their identities are. I was also interested in the overall linguistic situation in Finland, which is affected by rising xenophobia and the issues surrounding the ILO 169. My findings were that while Finland writes good legislation, its actual implementation leaves a lot to be desired. An individual’s linguistic rights are supposed to be self evident, yet authorities often do not feel like providing them. Many minorities are also unaware of the existence of their linguistic rights. There is a lot of work to do in order to make sure that public authorities really live up to the language requirements that they are set and that minority language users are more aware of their rights. If minority language speakers do not know of their rights, they cannot demand them and the authorities will not automatically provide them for thinking that there would be no need for them. Language plays a complicated role in society but if a society, like Finland, decides to acknowledge multiple languages as deserving of being a part of Finland’s society, the society should also deliver.
|
|---|