Finnish slang

[Aurinko]

In Helsinki the slang borrows heavily from several different languages and it's not common for Finnish people that move from elsewhere to know any of it either. This reflects the fairly recent history of Helsinki as a city where Finnish speakers were only a small minority. If you will ever master it then that will definitely affect your social status among insidious natives in Helsinki, but elsewhere it will probably be met with hostility if anything.

In Turku you have a dialect that shares common features with Estonian although some loanwords come from Swedish and German, but therefore although not too difficult to learn, these elements can be found rather amusing elsewhere in Finland. Nearby Rauma has a much stronger variety of own language that like in Helsinki borrows from a number of other languages and is not easily intelligible to outsiders.

These days pretty much nobody speaks a clean slang. Rauma and Helsinki slangs, if spoken cleanly, are quite hard to understand even for a finn.

Turku slang sounds a lot like Rauma slang, except it is much easier to understand for a native finn than the more exotic Rauma slang.

Real Helsinki slang is not really spoken cleanly by many, but it does sound absolutely bonkers if you get to hear it.

 

[OKR]

These days pretty much nobody speaks a clean slang. Rauma and Helsinki slangs, if spoken cleanly, are quite hard to understand even for a finn.

Turku slang sounds a lot like Rauma slang, except it is much easier to understand for a native finn than the more exotic Rauma slang.

Real Helsinki slang is not really spoken cleanly by many, but it does sound absolutely bonkers if you get to hear it.

Rauma slang is very easy to understand when spoken, it’s only the way it’s spelt that confuses people.

 

[Aurinko]

Rauma slang is very easy to understand when spoken, it’s only the way it’s spelt that confuses people.

I think it's a combination. I googled some words and I would never have guessed what they mean even if I get to read them.

 

[mattihp]

What's the best place to ask for things happenint in Finland?

I am trying to find out if there are some pääsiäiskirppis on long friday when I am visiting; or opening hours for the kirppis stores for that day but I am drawing blanks.

 

[JabbaJabba]

What's the best place to ask for things happenint in Finland?

I am trying to find out if there are some pääsiäiskirppis on long friday when I am visiting; or opening hours for the kirppis stores for that day but I am drawing blanks.

I think most places will be closed on Friday due to the holiday.

 

[mattihp]

I think most places will be closed on Friday due to the holiday.

Tokmanni and a couple of kirppis that have their own sites are open. Harder to know with the ones that don't list separate opening hours

 

[ThirdPeriodTurtle]

There's stadissa.fi which lists quite a bit of stuff for the Helsinki area. I occasionally use it for this kind of stuff, like "what's going on" if I'm out of ideas, so can vouch for it in that sense.