British YouTuber gets Mind Blown by 101 Facts About Finland

[@wilbertxz32]

As a Finn I never really understood how we are ranked ''The happiest place on Earth''. Like are people here happy? Yes, but it doesnt feel like anything special or noteworthy. Either its being exaggerated, or the world is just borderline miserable. Ima go with the former, and hope it isnt the latter.

[@sofiajohansson8537]

There is different parameters that comes into play: scale of freedom in legislation, unemployment statistics, social security, amount of povery, average life expectancy etc. You guys must rank high on all of these 🙌 (PS. As a Swede I was rooting for Käärijä in Eurovison)

[@wilbertxz32]

@@sofiajohansson8537 Oh wow. That many factors? Huh, the more you know. And I rarely tune into Eurovision. Ive never been too big of a fan of Finnish songs. I mean there is Hard Rock Hallelujah by Lordi, but, well, thats all in english 😅

[@sofiajohansson8537]

@@wilbertxz32 I think there are twice or thrice as many factors

[@sket179]

It's not actually measuring happiness but being content. But they don't change the title because the current one gets more clicks

[@formatique_arschloch]

​@@wilbertxz32I think you should check out those parameters, I bet you would understand better after that 😊

[@Makkonenx]

As a Finn, this was beautiful to watch, damn Im proud to be Finnish

[@LuckyStars7138]

Totta❤

[@mikaellindroos1594]

Same feels here too.

[@r2dezki]

It's okay, it all is old news. We're heading towards North Korea fast.

[@adasarita6769]

yea heres 1 fact abt sweden, 1 its gay

[@kallekallenen4346]

Vitun cringe. Huomaa ettei suomalaisilla ole vittu mitään itsetuntoa.

[@coliukedo]

It is interesting that in Lithuania Finland we call Suomija :) and the word "žemė" is Lithuanian and means land/earth ;)

[@vihreelinja4743]

In Finnish we say Suomi. And "Suo" = Swamp :D

[@kievitz]

We are not happy all the time, we are content about what we have, we have what we need and our wants are small.

[@robertpetre9378]

Maybe it should be most content country in the world in that sense

[@snape_head]

I'm a Finn and I remember that while in middle school the grades where replaced by "laudable", "good", "somewhat good" etc. It was probably less harsh than grades.

[@patoman5112]

I think I stated getting numbers on my report card at either 3rd or 4th grade personally

[@MasterTiccu]

Its great for a change to see someone actually pay attention to the video and instantly comment on the topics and names mentioned. Thoroughly enjoyed this

[@ViltzkuH]

Yes, in Finland Swedish is taught in school (in many places only the basics, most students hate Swedish and Swedish even is the second national language in Finland (due to the 5% of people that speak Swedish for their native language). Also in the very western side of Finland, Swedish is spoken the most). I, personally, can mostly understand Swedish text but only some reeeally basic words in speech. We go to preschool at the age of 6. But actual school the year we turn 7. It's great that we can have a nice childhood. In Primary School we get one 'report' in the last day of school before our long 10 week summer holiday. But there's no 'grades'. There's (or at least was some years ago) 4 different words that described how you did on every subject (they're something like Excellent, Good, Mediocre and Pretty Bad. Not exactly but you get the point). In the last grade of middle school (the year we turn 16) we have a few tests that are about everything we've learned to that moment about the subject. Most schools have those only on Swedish, English and maths. In some schools there is more. The tests take about an hour, and depending on the test and how it went compared to the few years before, teachers deside how much it should impact on the grade we get after the school year. I said some things again that were already said on the video, but if only reading this, it explains a lot within.

[@sampuhhupmas5666]

I had real grades starting from 3rd grade(4-10, getting a 4 meant summer school and two or more 4's meant re-taking the grade)

[@theokayishgamer]

I'm curious when you went through primary and middle school to have that kind of experience because at least for me, none of what you said about them is true, though i did finish middle school 7 years ago now so things might've changed since then. We used real grades starting from 1st grade. No end of year exams for grade 9, infact i have never heard of something like this before. The only exams that i can think of that are 'similar' to that, would be the baccalaureate (YO-kokeet), but those have some pretty major differences.

[@ViltzkuH]

@@theokayishgamer i graduated from Middle School this year:::D how funny. The exams i was talking about are Valtakunnalliset. Times have changes haha :D

[@jussipussi1941]

There is still 4 communes in Finland where not even the second biggest language is finnish. They speak swedish and russian, swedish and estonian, swedish and somalian, swedish and ukranian, but NO finnish! There also usually small naive children ask WHY do we need to learn finnish when we never have to use it.

[@MB-sx4nq]

I’m one of the Swedish speaking Finns. I’ve lived my whole life in Finland, and also my parents and grandparents and so on. In school we were many who hated Finnish class. So till this day I never speak Finnish and I rearly need to think about it in my daily life, but if people don’t understand me when I speak my mother tongue I speak English with them. But it limits what work I can have, and this is really shit. I don’t feel part of Finland in some way. When I see Finnish text it’s like blur to me, I don’t bother to read it. I know more about Sweden, cities, dialects, jokes, traditions and so on because I only watch Swedish tv, but I don’t feel at home there either. It’s crazy really if you think about it.

[@henkkis001]

It's very odd to watch these type of reaction videos, because all that stuff is just bread and butter for me. But in some way very eye opening to hear things said loud! Good video!

[@Vahlsten]

As an long term unemployed person, laying in a hospital bed for the 6th fay straight, I can tell that the happiness comes from the social security, I am not worried one bit by the bill that comes after and my incurance payments aren't crazy at all, like tops 300€ per YEAR about 250£ or something like that. And my black sense of humour compells me to add the FACT that we are also leaders in suicides per capita so, the unhappy people aren't filling the questionaire abot happiness...

[@rullepufftail9709]

Just to clear things up a bit, Tolkien did not base Elvish on Finnish. A lot of the grammar of Elvish is borrowed from Finnish, though. What is true, however, is that Tolkien was inspired by Finnish mythology, and even wrote his own interpretation of a story from Kalevala. He also loved Finnish culture.

[@mel1816]

I am suomenruotsalainen (finnish-swedish) so swedish in my native language, I may not be great at speaking finnish but i understand almost perfectly and i can speak it but i’m not very confident in it, i wish i was better but i blame me for not studying very hard, but also i wish that in my kindergarten we wouldn’t have the finnish and swedish speaking ppl separeted, we did nothing togheter so i have no finnish friends and i believe i would be better if we started learning when we were younger, but i really wish i was fluent, but i’m trying!

[@TheTheNatona]

I feel so flattered. Thank you for this video ❤

[@danielmalinen6337]

Here in Finland, they made Broadband and fiber optic cable kind of mandatory for everyone and the idea was originally that it would make the Internet more accessible and provides a basis for running society completely digitally. But unfortunately they forgot to make it free because the technology lobbies were against this idea. Now we have semi-mandatory Broadband and fiber optic cable, which everyone has to pay for themselves. Finland's rapid digitalization has also led to technological inequality, for example, such that nowadays you cannot use a bank, identify yourself digitally or travel on public transport without a smartphone.

[@uttula]

Yeah... we did follow up the trend started in Sweden (about a decade after they started doing it) and kinda half-assed the implementation :D It is getting better and generally, since the availability is there, but the pricing is still far cry from what it was in our western neighbour during the early 2000s ... interestingly though, these days it is easy to get faster internet on your mobile phone than it is to get on your home through literal cables :D

[@toastslicer4885]

​@@uttulai mean we did put those internet towers literally everywhere forests included

[@topilinkala1594]

@@uttula Finland is the only EU-country that has broadband deals for public by monthly fee. Not based on the amount you use. The Comission has reprimanded Finland to implement usage based fees, but Finnish representatives tell them to showe it. From a provider perspective I can get that paying just montly fee is easier for the accounting to handle. So they save a lot by not metering how much each user use their net.

[@reinokarvinen8845]

just a little thing about trust. I visited finland last month and was looking for a place where to spend a night in the city of vaasa. a lady on the phone gave me instructions how to get in to the appartment and I was told just leave the money on the bed when you leave

[@magicofshootingstar]

Kids at school are tested (in-school testing, we only have one standardised test in the end of secondary school) but they are only given "verbal" grades eg. "You did good at writing" instead of number grades in first 1-3 years depending on school. After that I think it's mandatory to give number grades. I think the eight grade is about first possible standardised test but only some schools choose to participate in that. There is only one mandatory standardised test in the end of secondary school and even that is only in the "academic school", not in the "trade school" 😃 Also broadband isn't free, it's just available for anyone. Internet providers aren't allowed to say that someone lives in too rural area, that they don't provide them any kind of internet.

[@uttula]

Without having read the other comments, regarding @5:10 ... it's more that the Finns were well integrated into the Swedish society - seeing how we were part of Sweden for pretty much half of a millennium :) At the time we were simply swedes who happened to have a funny local language we used in our day-to-day lives amongst our neighbours ;) Very few people at the time ever needed to travel more than ~100 miles from their birthplace during their lifetime at max.

[@LinkOfVision]

Like it's been said, we need to study swedish in schools but majority of the students don't like nor care about the language (me included when I was in school). Mainly you hear people complaining how useless it is for us and that's where this whole attitude comes from. So most people don't speak or even understand it or at least not too well. It is a shame in a way but seriously, I studied swedish for 7 years. 7. years. And I can't even say one sentence in swedish. It just shows how little we really need it and if you stop studying and speaking it... you simply forget it. And I was average at it 😅

[@XGD5layer]

Don't take it personally, because no language is taught effectively at school. Probably due to the influence of some.

[@hennakettunen8755]

"I studied Swedish for 7 years. 7 years. And I can't even say one sentence in Swedish. It just shows how little we really need it --" Oh. Doesn't it show more the quality of your attitude to studying, or your abilities to appreciate and learn foreign languages?

[@LinkOfVision]

@@hennakettunen8755 Did you even read my comment before commenting? I said if you stop studying and speaking the language, you forget it. Why do you also insist that it's all on me? Did you ever think that the teachers didn't give a fuck either and taught us poorly. I do admit I prioritized other languages over Swedish. It has been 13 years since I was at school so don't come talking like you know me and my "ability to appreciate" other languages. 🤦‍♂

[@patoman5112]

My Swedish started in 6th grade but it wasn't like we started to learn new stuff younger, more like they pushed the Swedish of 7th grade to the 6th and spread the Swedish of 8th grade to both 8th and 7th grades so my Swedish learning was a bit slower due to the fact that three years of Swedish was spread across of four years but I did get a 9 on almost every Swedish test I took except for the swedish National exam where I got a round 6🎉

[@tobias_dahlberg]

This is sort of the same in Sweden and many other countries though. I studied German for many years here in Sweden but can't hold a conversation with any Germans beyond saying my name, age and favorite colours and basic, useless stuff like that. I can sort of grasp written German though, I understand the contextual clues but I couldn't write or hold a conversation with anyone. This is a school problem in general. The difference is in Finland you don't have a choice with Swedish. I understand that to some people having to learn Swedish has a negative connotation to it but I also think most Finns understand that today's Sweden is by no means thinking that Finland is Sweden or that you should be like us. All the Swedes I know see Finland as its own seperate country, culture and as a brother. Just like all the other countries in the Nordic region. We're brothers and sisters and make fun of each other but if anyone needs help we'll all be there for each other. If anything, I as a Swede with my grandmother who fled Finland during the 2nd world war have learnt a lot about Finland and you guys are probably my favorite out of the Nordics. Having worked with Finnish people I like your grit and the idea of only speaking if you have something valuable to say, compared to, say Danes who can be quite proficient in talking bullshit (that was a joke, with some truths in it).

[@olafthebear2327]

I'm not entirely sure about this, so take it with a grain of salt. But a "prison break" in Finland might include just not answering the phone when the police calls to check on you while you're in open prison. Or if you forget to put your ancle gps monitor back on after a sauna or whatever, and go somewhere else.

[@tapiolautavaara9532]

Yes, and the simple act of not returning from a holiday, which is exceptionally stupid if one was in an open prison, as that'll automatically result having to go back to a closed house for the rest of the sentence. But yeah, "prison breaks" without a single break, just laziness🤣

[@Miqael69]

It's not kindness IT'S Respect.

[@joonalehtinen5462]

Everyone in school hates studying Swedish but everyone of us should be capable of basic communication on Swedish

[@WannaBeSauzy]

varför hatar ni att studera svenska?

[@jaskau2462]

​@@WannaBeSauzy 🙈 Learning swedish in school at in quite early age might easily feel like it takes off space and time out of the other subjects what you're set to learn in relatively short period of time. Just the time when they start teaching you more advanced math, biology, english, chemistry, physics etc. by 'demanding' you to success in every subject to a certain degree. Different areas in FIN has slightly different set of educational levels. Especially in the judiciary of school subject curricula between different subjects. And there's always the factor what kind of a person start teaching you swedish... 🙈 For example somewhere in Sawonian little village type of a county school other subjects, already familiar ones might feel way more comfortable than introduction to a totally 'foreign' language what you haven't used before. Or haven't had the Need to use at in your environment never ever before. And for a long time we have had the seed on the thing called : "Americanized" The amount of series, movies, docus you're watching off the webs, TV and off the screens, generally includes waaayyy more english spoken content with subtitles what makes it more approachable than many other subject you're taking class in the school, like this one right now while I'm typing this sh1t down! Personally it was the teacher who managed to alienate many of us from swedish....Unfortunately. That old, dried out, bulldog - like granny who couldn't even pronounce: "KETCHUP" propiately in swedish!!! (käts - häöp) 😝 Dunno in what class they begin to teach swedish nowadays and is it the same time for every one all over the Finnish educational system(???) HELLUWA LONG REPLY AND FOR NO REASON!!! 🤘 😹 🇫🇮 💙 💯 💥

[@joonalehtinen5462]

@@WannaBeSauzy Because it's pretty much pointless for most of us.

[@sissichu]

@@WannaBeSauzy When I was at school age, for most Finns the swedish studies started when we were 13, when we graduated from elemantry school to middle school (from ala-aste to ylä-aste). It can be for some (me included) VERY turbulent time. New school, new school school mates and puberty. So like many others, I had almost zero interest in learning Swedish, or school at all during that time. I'm good at languages, so I'm very sure that if my Swedish studies would have started when I was in elementary school, like english did, I would be really good at swedish now.

[@wahakk]

When I see swedish citicen, I say "den glider in" 😅

[@torspomedia5861]

Swedish is my main language, but I speak Finnish and Swedish equally well, since most of my friends speak finnish, but with my family I speak swedish.

[@nelltheretrogamer]

I'm Finnish, and when you said that internet connections should be as cheap as water, I started wondering which one actually costs more for me. I pay 19,90 euros a month for my 100M internet connection and my water bill for three months is usually about 80-100 euros, so... internet is much cheaper for me :D

[@juhagabrieltakkinen1131]

i pay 25 eur for 600mb and 25 for water :D but that is in Helsinki

[@CultOfMU]

14,90/mo for 1000/500Mbit fiber. Unfortunately only a one year deal.

[@antsa85]

29,90 1000/100 fibre cheap as soap👌😅

[@antsa85]

+ some tv crap what i barely watch😂

[@tavislyyti1742]

sometimes, like mine, water is included in the rent.

[@lukapoyry4999]

as a finn grades start to be given from the fifth grade but they give you more broad reports and use meetings to discuss how to student is doing in school(parents are usually in these meetings)

[@patoman5112]

For me I started getting actual grades in either 3rd or 4th grade (probably 3rd but I could misremember) but I don't know how it's now

[@essipitkanen2811]

3:25 yes, a lot of people there speak Swedish as their native language, we call them by the name "suomenruotsalainen" (Finnish Swede), but they usually speak Finnish too, I have a couple friends from that area that speak Swedish at home but Finnish with me

[@uttula]

@19:15 ... yes - with a couple of asterisks attached :D Originally "broadband" was defined as anything above 128kbps, which was soon raised to 256kbps connection. The minimum speed has been raised as time has passed and these days definition of "broadband" is, I believe, minimum of 10Mbps connection. However ... this only applies to new buildings. If you live "in the middle of nowhere", the county will have a place for you to visit (usually in a nearest library) where you're allowed to access the Internet at no cost.

[@Silvyrfir]

Atm the minimum is 5Mbit/s and it has to work at one point of every permanent residence. It also has ro be priced reasonably. Funnily enough when 3G came around the responsible company came a dug up all the cables in our little town ^^;

[@hxllheart1421]

3:22 yes, most swedish speaking finns are in western and southern finland, and it is finlands second official language

[@theoneandonlyparsa]

3:22 Yes. Swedish is also an official language here in Finland, which means its also mandatory to learn in Finnish schools.

[@topilinkala1594]

No it is not. If your mother tongue in Finland is not either Finnish or Swedish, in which case it's probably some Samish dialect. You're mandatory second domestic is not necessarily Swedish, but could be Finnish. And if you live in Lapland and your mother tongue is Finnish, you can get some Samish dialect as your second domestic language. So the mandatory is second domestic language and as most of Finns have mother tongue of Finnish and live in southern Finland they get Swedish. But that is majorty rule, not all cases.

[@onddu2254]

Not sure about that "no grades until 8th grade". In my school we got only verbal assessments until 3rd grade, but ever since that I've always gotten grades as numbers (4-10 system, 4 being failed).

[@sallavee]

I'm Finnish speaking and I've learned Swedish in school for six years. I can speak and write Swedish quite well. I've used it in my work as well, altough I'm not totally fluent.

[@Lanzottv]

0:43 the timing on that "yes" lol

[@teemupuumalainen3051]

I'm a finn but I have been living in Poland for years now. I just visited home for couple weeks and what did I bring back? 7 bags of rye bread(jälkiuuni) and 5 bags of salmiakki :D

[@85sharifa55]

Now someone from south- east Finland. I was born shortly after the war against Russia/ then Sowiet- Union. 20 years of my young- adult years I was living and studiing in Germany. Now back in Finland I live aside a lake, and earlier was swimming in the lake Saimaa!! Your video is very interesting!

[@SchazmenRassir]

Finland also largely consists of swampland. Or did at the time, at least. Swamp in Finnish is "suo". And swampland is "suomaa" which also leads to suomi.

[@j3mixa]

The broadband connection is not free but it's guranteed that you can have one and it should be reasonably prised. It can still be a bit difficult in the most far away places but most people can have it pretty easily. Many times appartment buildings have a basic connection that is included to the maintenance fee or the rent. I for example have a free 10Mbit/s broadband connection available and if I would want to have a 100Mbit/s then I would have to pay 29,90€/month. But mobile internet is so cheap in Finland that I don't use the free broadband. I have an unlimited 200 Mbit/s mobile internet for 19,90€/month so I use that for all my devices.

[@scanpolar]

I understand it totally ! I am Finnish and live nowadays in Spain . I very happy every spring time when I will start my summer and autumn in Finland . No problems with my pension , health care and clean food and nature . No robberies , no organized crime , few murders and street violence . No corrrupcion , police which you can trust and politicians mostlly anti racists. Forests are not bbuurniing , lakes are not dumping place for plastic and illegal products .. My happy greetings from the forests near lake Koitere .

[@rinoahh4694]

The connection to the internet may be there but you still have to pay for the provider xD

[@ambrusin4889]

Yeah, and the electricity.

[@sarahfeather]

In Kalevala there is a story about how the world begun. The bird was not a duck, ”ankka”, but a ”bluebill” or the ”lesser scaup” (authya affinis). The Kalevala tells how the bird made a nest on Ilmatar’s knee and laid six golden eggs and one iron egg. When Ilmatar moved her foot, the eggs broke in the sea and from them were born the earth, the sky, the stars and the sun. The Ilmatars (Ilma means air) are divine maidens who live in the sky in the Kalevala folklore.

[@nesta8273]

Im not finnish but rye bread is king. White bread is air and goes straight to the waist without even satisfying the hunger.

[@markyyy2008]

Learning swedish is mandatory here in every school from 7th grade to point of gaduation. Then you can choose your third (strong second language) between english, russia, german etc. depending of your school. Studies for strong second language starts 3th grade. Usually everybody choose english, because they teach it in every school here.

[@williamlindqvist6471]

missä päin alkaa ruotsin opiskelu vasta seiskalla itellä alko jo ala asteella

[@markyyy2008]

@@williamlindqvist6471 Raumalla.

[@Narangarath]

@@williamlindqvist6471 Espoossa ainakin 90-luvulla alko vasta 7:llä luokalla, mutta kuten kommentti sanoi niin se on pakollinen aine siitä lähtien, ei ettei sitä opiskella aikaisemmin missään päin maata.

[@merileva]

@@williamlindqvist6471 itehän kävin pirkanmaalla yläasteen vuosina 2012-2015 ja vasta silloin alotettiin ruotsin opetus. muistaakseni muutama vuosi takaperin päätettiin alottaa ruotsin pakotus jo ala-asteelta mut emt si onko ollu jo muuallakin esim lännessä jo aikasemminkin jo et ala-asteelta alkaa.. en mä nyt vannomaan mee näistä tiedoista mutta kolmen vuoden pakkoruotsilla mennään:P

[@VampiraVonGhoulscout]

Bro, you should definitely visit one day. I've been to Helsinki twice and out to the national park in Espoo (about 1.5hrs away from the capital). Finland is absolute paradise. About to stay there for a whole month over Christmas/New Year as a trial run before I leave Glasgow permanently.

[@sjc9121]

Rye bread is my absolute favorite bread. Karelian pies are also a delicacy

[@uttula]

@17:30 ... "not compulsory" here doesn't mean that it isn't done. Generally on the first few years you're graded on a three-level scale "knows well", "knows well enough", "needs more work". Beginning around third or fourth year, the start being graded numerically on a range of 4-10 where 4 means that "you really need to start working on this" and sometime means that you will need to re-take the previous year (not if you get a single 4 on your yearly report) ... and this is why students get two report cards per year; one in the end of first half of a school year and another one at the end of the school year. This way you know which skills need approving in. Back to the "not compulsory" ... the reason for the legal requirement for kids to have comparable grading during their 8th year is that there are nine years of basic schooling after which all students need to be able to be compared to everyone else in their age group. There are very few schools that start it this late, but it is legally possible to only start at that stage. It is rarely done; personally I don't know of a single school that actually does delays numerical grading until such late stage.

[@Troobeli69]

As a Finn I can clarify the average Finn is NOT the happiest person in the World.

[@sshortcuts3994]

In Finland we have a minority lf about 5% who speak swedish as their first language, but many people, mostly by the coast speak swedish. I am one of those so called swedish speaking finns. But me and me friends still speak finnish, we basically have two mothertongues

[@nobsterious]

same here bro, im from vaasa

[@lemondoes5110]

Same here, I'm from Espoo

[@sshortcuts3994]

@@nobsterious bro skrev int just Vasa med tre A 💀

[@hm7369]

Yeah! I grew up in a very Swedish speaking community in Pohjanmaa of Finland and have learnt to speak Finnish since I was 7 years old. The place I grew up in was so Swedish that I got by without having to use my Finnish speaking skills until I moved to Varsinais-Suomi at 18 years old. I can't judge Finnish speaking people who don't care to learn or speak Swedish, because Swedish is hell of a language to learn. I usually prefer to use Finnish anyway, because it gives me practice to speak and hear it. And I want to stay and work (in the future) in Finland so the only way for me is to learn Finnish. Also, I agree with some comments that the reason Finland is the happiest people is that we are content and really don't demand much, like living in a mansion or something like that. Aside from that, we generally have less pressure and stress when it comes to paying for education, since costs are very low, and we are able to focus on acquiring high degrees quickly and getting relatively good paying jobs (that's, of course, depending on what you study and where you choose to work). I am grateful for getting to grow up in Finland and having had the privilege of free school food, free healthcare (free in the form of paying high taxes, but I don't mind) and good education.

[@sophie2790]

Yes most us finns don't really like Sweden or Russia lmao. We're sort of forced to learn swedish during our school years but pretty much everyone who only learns through school doesn't know anything but the basics. I don't know swedish further than the basics, but I've only studied swedish for a year in school (We start swedish mostly in 6th grade, but my older siblings started in 5th grade, so in some schools it starts in the 5th year.)

[@iloinenleski2593]

Well reaction ❤

[@ShortRound27]

Russia's legacy in Finland was buried along the eastern border last time they came knocking, we are very capable of defending our borders without NATO but help never hurts.

[@Emppu-st9pq]

We get grades starting from the first grade. We just don’t get number grades until like third grade if I remember correctly but we still do get “bad, good, very good” or something like that during first and second grade. I don’t know why people always say that we don’t get grades, test/exams and homework even though we do starting from first grade. Sometimes we even get little homework’s in like the grade before first grade but after kindergarten.

[@kuuno22]

In Finland, we actually got grades from 4th grade, so idk what's the 101 facts guy tripping

[@T-JR]

I am finn and i did get grades when i was 6th grate👍

[@sofiajohansson8537]

I started school when I was 7, I got my first grades in 8th grade. This was strandard in Sweden in the 90's. Sweden changed the grade system in 2011 and now grades are given from 6th grade, and the school system have deteriorated ever since.

[@TheScaryName]

No, Sweden had traditionally grades from 7th grade, now it is from 5rh or 6th (I forget)

[@Inakarjalainen]

I live in Finland and I talk swedish normally but I speak Finnish swedish

[@dwaynesview]

Finnish Swedish is a different kind of Swedish? I didn't know that.

[@Pepzi987]

@@dwaynesview Slightly different. I'm pretty sure everything else is almost identical to "normal" Swedish but the pronunciations are more in line with the way Finns pronounce words. Some words are different from Swedish and the sentence structure can be different (Kinda same as "I now go to bed / I'm going to bed now") but mostly the same.

[@thejjzz]

@@dwaynesview it's kind of Swedish with Finnish accent.

[@susannebrunberg4174]

​ No it's not. No "Finnish accent"

[@mikaellindroos1594]

@@dwaynesview As austrlian and amerikan english is different from brittish english. SWE speaking Finn🇫🇮

[@juhotuomaala1297]

U really should look into more info videos about winter war and continue war. U could be amazed😎

[@ReijoMustikka]

I'm a old man now, but hate to russians comes from my mother's milk. She was 4 years old when she was escaping from her home with her mother. They were sitting on the lorry flatbed and russian fighters were shooting them with machineguns. Year was 1939. Most of us finns never forgive that. Russian influence has been quite hard for us. They have been killing our people more than thousend years.

[@topilinkala1594]

About the broadband thing. Think it like postal service. The law in Fionland said that if you provide postal services, eg, letter and postacrd collection and delivery, you have to do it to everyone. So you just can't pick the most lucrative areas and leave the rest of the country without service. Now there iis a similiar law on broadband service. If you want to sell broadband service in Finland you must sell it to everyone. Not just pick the south mainland, but you have to provide the north and the archipelago also.

[@HStalhane]

There are tests in school from first year, but you don't get grades that become a permanent record until the last two years of mandatory school, which is grade 8 and 9 (around age 13-15).

[@Hakaor]

As a finnish person i dont know what i can say in here

[@MikkoMurmeli]

Hey, great video :) we native finns don't like to say things we don't mean, me especially, and I know life, so... rest assured it's a good video you made. :) As for the word "Suomi" we in Finland call our country, the word Suomi is very similar to the word "suomu" which in english means "finn", the scale of a fish that you better remove with a sharp knife or something before you eat that fish. So yeah, fin = suomu, and Finland = Suomi. Hm. I don't know if it's a coincidence or something, but I doubt it is just "without connection". Oh, and with the scale of the fish "finn" = "suomu" in finnish: Suomi Finland has the most lakes in the world, and we like our fish, even though some of our fishes have been called "trash fish" or "roskakala" in finnish, because people didn't like them as much as some other fish. But fish is an integral part of finnish cuisine, I'd say.

[@chair8663]

Im Sadly A Swedish Finn And Its Really Difficult To Live Without Finnish

[@catspaw72]

Jätte kiva vad

[@oivaaho6932]

8:20 Finland had already had its own Senate, though it was fully subordinate to the tšar of Russia, and we had Russian general-gobrenor leading the politics and administration of Finland. I have also to note that Tšar could, whenever he felt appropriate, dissolve the Parliament, too, if things went in a way he didn't like. That happened very often. (Nearly every year) 9:43 The Red (labourers) wanted to stay with Russia, whereas the White wanted independence. Many war crimes happened (prison camps, executions without trial, a lot) mostly by the White, although I'm pretty sure the Red would have committed a lot more of them, but they were too busy losing the war.

[@m.cfender4183]

Knowledge of the Swedish language is very regional. Southern and Western Finland are mostly the areas where Swedish is spoken. Especially in Southern Finland, many people are bilingual, e.g. because there are members of the family who speak one of the two languages ​​as their first language. Among my parents, my father is Finnish-speaking and my mother is Swedish-speaking.. very common. I speak and understand both well.

[@kallekallenen4346]

RUssia basically let us be finnish in the end, gave autonomy, government. We never had that in the exploits of the swedish Freudenthals.

[@finnishculturalchannel]

The happiest as in comparison the best society to live a content life. In 1686 the church law demanded, that the children should be taught to read within the church practices, but the development of literacy took time. In the beginning of the 1800s 70 percent of the people could read, of which 60 percent could read well. One of the Finnish literature classics, by Aleksis Kivi, addresses that topic: "Seven Brothers One Woman show by Heidi Niemi". Aleksis Kivi is the national author of Finland and "The Seven Brothers" is widely regarded as the first significant novel written in Finnish and by a Finnish-speaking author. The novel was published in 1870. Aleksis Kivi's birth name was Swedish Alexis Stenvall, which he changed to a Finnish one. About Sweden, Russia and Finnic languages: "Venäjä = Ruotsi // 'Russia' means Sweden". The monarchists were hoping to create stronger ties with German Empire. There were Finnish volunteers getting military training in Germany between the years 1915-1918 with an intent to cut ties to Russian Empire with force, if necessary. This took place during the second period of oppression (1908-1917). Jean Sibelius, who isregarded as Finland's greatest composer, composed a march for those volunteers: "Finnish Army Song - Jääkärimarssi". In all, the period between 1856-1916 is considered as a period of social progress in Finland.

[@MauriMahtava]

Kalevala was also a big inspiration for the lord of the rings. The story bases follow stories which are in Kalevala. Of course it is not straight 1:1, but there is studies that the Kalevala stories heavily inspired multiple scenes in the LOTR. Tolkien studied Kalevala when he was young.

[@margotvandenwijngaerden2429]

I live in Belgium, my daughter is 14 and has never had grades in her live. First she went to an 'Freinet'school and since last year she went to a school that follows the finnish education methodes.

[@akaittou]

Broadband being a legal right means that anyone who wants to get broadband must be able to get it, and it can't be so expensive as to be completely unviable. As in, if a finn wants to get a broadband connection to their tiny cabin in the middle of the woods somewhere, an internet provider has to by law be willing to set it up. It doesn't mean it's free or that everyone has to have it, only that everyone has to be able to get it if they want.

[@SK-nw4ig]

Swedish was never the main language spoken in finland. it was only spoken by the upper class, who were swedish. Common folk only spoke finnish and they didnt read swedish. Totally depended on the upper class. There was no education or books for finns. Finnish became into written language in 1500's, and it took naturally a long time to anyone to learn to read it. Not everyone could read a hundred years ago, though most obviously could to an extent. Finnish school system was created 1866, when children were taught to read. Swedish is mandatory in schools here today. So most finns understand some swedish, though only a smaller portion actually speak it. Yes, Russia is the reason we joined NATO. Though, isnt Russia the reason for everyone to join NATO? I you didnt know Russia had that much involvement in finland, I suggest you check out few videos for example about the Winterwar, second world war in Finland and karelian refugees of finland. I actually think that one very good point which is rarely mentioned when talking about finnish education systemin is that finnish schools serve a hot meal for every student every single day. It was made a law after the world war. Brain needs food! Legal right for broad band means you should be legally obliged to get it anywhere in finland. Not free, though it is super cheap most of the time. Definately check out "sauna culture in finland".

[@susannebrunberg4174]

It's strange that every single person with Finnish as mother tongue, always always has to criticize everyone who has Swedish as their mother tongue. Maybe because Finnish speakers find it so difficult to learn other languages? Or?

[@SK-nw4ig]

@@susannebrunberg4174 A bit agressive accusation of you. Swedish jokes are definately a thing in finland, former years much more than now. I guess all the things that i wrote in my answer contribute to that, swedish being originally upper, ruling class language. The mandatory swedish we have to learn in schools adds to that recentment for some. I think languages are good to learn. I regret my swedish vocabulary is forgotten largely, it would be nice to be able to speak it more fluently.

[@susannebrunberg4174]

@@SK-nw4ig No, it was not aggressiv from my point of view. Four of my relatives are teachers, (tree in Finland, one in Sweden), and is was more what they have told me. I lived in Finland as a child, had only Swedish talking friends, went to a Swedish school etc etc... You see, my parents are from Finland and Sweden, I have, either two home countries, or none. My relatives in Finland have never been any nobilities, just ordinary people. I do know many of the finns think the Swedish language was only for the upper class, but it's simple not true. It's more nuanced than that.

[@SK-nw4ig]

Obviously it was and is more nuanced than that. Swedes also came to work in finland, especially to coastal cities. We also got many germans working here in certain traits. Swedish language was necessarily not only for upper class (though huge amount of it sure was), but upper class was only for swedish. Historically nobles here were swedish speaking. Among the noble families of finland none have finnish last name, then or now. All the paper work was done in swedish (and then of course we add russian to the mix, as some papers had to be done in russian too when under russian rule). So all this easily leads people wanting to emphasize their own native tongue. Obviously people should not speak ill of others just based on their language. I am old, and i have seen the change in my life time already. The amount of swedish jokes was much larger when i was a kid. Towards a better world, we finns are not lesser anymore by any metric, so no need for malice.

[@Dertyast5]

In Finnish schools they teach us Swedish because it our "second" language

[@ilonakeskitalo6654]

I would like to say that the Finnish justice system is ass. A lot of women and especially immigrant women are raped often and the police will in most cases not do anything about it, and if the attacker if ever convicted it often is only for a year or shorter. There was this one woman whose home got broken into by a drunk man and when she defended herself by stabbing his shoulder with a fruit knife, she got 4 months in jail and he only got 2.

[@caky68]

Ryebread is perfect. Especially with soups with meat or minced meat 😊

[@XGD5layer]

8:25 The Grand Duchy of Finland had it's own Parliament (or similar) and laws before 1906, but it was only infrequently convened and was based in the class system. The year 1906 was when we got a modern Parliament with equal voting rights.

[@jeppisnina]

a swedish speaking finn here... struggling with finnish every day :)

[@juperantalainen3556]

The "prison breaks" are mostly prisoners not returning from weekend leaves etc that they get from the open prisons (yes, our prisoners get vacation time from prisons).

[@Drive_with_soma]

We have actually areas where mostly spoken language is swedish but we also learn swedish in our schools. Must learn language.

[@UltraCasualPenguin]

Broadband isn't mandatory to get but ISPs are obligated to sell you one if you want internet connection. I don't remember what speed must be now. What this caused was all of them starting to pull optical fiber cables everywhere as race.

[@fudeboii]

and since Finland is a bilingual country, you have to get service in Swedish as well. for example, if you go to a hospital or a police station, you must receive service in Swedish

[@xJdog]

Sweden should be wiped away from finlands society systems

[@FallenAdam]

I really like that internet fact. Probably my favourite fact about my country. And in fact, I've got a 10mbps connection included in my rent.

[@oivaaho6932]

15:41 The world happiness report doesn't tell about emotional happiness and personal positivity. It tells about economical and political stability, safety&security, education and health, trustworthy administration and so on. 17:34 this is partially misleading, if you ask me. Firstly, not getting grades means in this case that typical Finnish grading system from 4 to 10 is not necessarily applied, and that in their resumes in the end of the year there are things like 'goals partially reached', goals exceeded' but teachers use tests and exams, and grade them, also giving out number grades (the 4-10) begins at last the 7th grade, though for other things than resume, like exams it is applied a lot earlier.

[@hennahallikainen711]

As a Finn I speak also fluent swedish, English, german, russian and spanish.

[@juliuspalttala]

People don't usually speak swedish in finland these days, the most swedish is spoken on the west coast in cities like Vaasa and Turku. Swedish also is the second official language of Finland, so studying swedish is mandatory for finnish children.

[@EpicBurritto]

I would say that people who speak swedish as their first language in finland would be our version of the posh upper class in the UK.

[@viljavuorela4442]

As a Finn, I'm just laughing at the way that the video's guy says Finnish words!😂😂😂

[@rinoahh4694]

Yup there are still some places that prioritize Swedish over Finnish language wise

[@joik2ww]

They count as escaped if you are late from holiday. Are in some other address than you suppose to be. Also open prison doesn't have gates or fenches so sometimes they walk past line bc ball rolled there and get recorded as escaped. Mostly punishment for it is like losing phone right for week or losing playstation from room. :D Like losing gained benefits.

[@marukharkenstein8391]

About Russia : our relations with Russia and Sweden have always been complex, not just from after 1809. They both occupied Finland in pretext of religion and crusades. First they wanted every finnish person to convert to christianity and after they manage to do it they started to wage war against each other - catholic church on the other side, orthodox church on the other side. Their armies marched, one after another, their way over this land by robbing, raping and murdering. Sweden's rule was not very popular either, it resulted in, for example, rebellion called nuijasota (war of clubs). So we have always been smack in the middle of two great empires which both tried to make us part of them (eradicate our religion, culture, language etc). Anyhow, although we did wage war as part of swedish army around the Europe (our light cavalry was infamous at it's time, they were called hakkapeliitta) we always were seen as "inferior people" both from Sweden and Russia. So that's why we wanted to be a nation and country on our own. That's why our relations to both Sweden and Russia has always been complex - it's a love-hate relationship on both ways. We have always between the hammer and the hard place and although we have been subjects of, been trading and coexisting with both sides during these hundreds of years it's been really, really hard. So yeah - swedish is still 2nd official language of Finland 'cause of our ruling elite made it that way back then. We have large minority of swedish speaking people here so it's ok - one of our political parties "finland's swede party" main agenda is to keep it that way. We just want to live in peace and eat berries but it's not easy...

[@topilinkala1594]

Under Swedish rule Swedes used Finnish warriors called Hakkapeliitat in their wars all over Europe. There's a Finnish song how Finnish troops were attacking Constantinople. It's a mistake to say that people in Åland only speak Swedish. If you pester them they do speak Finnish. Goes like this: At Ice cream stand say in Finnish: I want an chocolate ice cream, please. And you get the ice cream and the guy says in Swedish the price. You just say to him in Finnish: Oh, it's free. When they tell you the price again, you just repeat in Finnish that it must be free. Eventually they tell the price in Finnish.

[@jonasfermefors]

Regarding the lakes.. Finland counts very small bodies of water as lakes. Using a common definition of lakes over 0.1 square kilometers (that is more about making it easier to count than accuracy) Finland is not even in the top 10. Still, look at a good map of Finland and you will see that there is a lot of water - whether we define them as lakes or not.

[@ouuushiiidd]

The grades one is a loop hole, it begins with numbers and later on numbers

[@Emppu-st9pq]

Yes we like rye Bream and have many kinds of rye bread. I have never tasted rye bread anywhere else before but I’m pretty sure ours is the best

[@fannyhaddas2998]

When i went to school, we got grades and had tests from 1st grade forward... 1st grade started when i was 7

[@Era-Core]

Depends on the rye bread, but there's this rye bread, Reissumies Tosi Tumma, which has a sweet taste to it, but is actually very healthy and delicious as rye bread, in my personal opinion. Put on some ham, cheese and tomato slices, and it will taste even more delicious.

[@hessu8684]

Some video said that finland was conquered by sweden in the 13th century. But one other video said that finns wanted sweden here to have better defend against eastern tribes, karelians and others. Attacks was quite common then. I think that was very good of finns that even exist nowadays.

[@Jalmerk]

There is a Swedish speaking minority which I am a part of, but our national identity is entirely Finnish. People get that wrong sometimes. Our language is also a very different dialect from what they speak in Sweden.

[@sakukultamies]

Tbh everyone Should respect Finland getting throught all of the wars and defending its country from Germany ww2 and Russia ofc

[@kievitz]

Suomi probably means swamp land (suomaa), most of Finland is made of marshes and swamps and lakes, so its watery and wet.

[@ironjavs1182]

You should maje a reaction video of Kalevala or old Kalevala (which is more authentic to Finnish myths/lores and runes)

[@Songfugel]

5:55 no, that was true only for the Swedish ruling class, native Finns were just basically little more than colonized peasants, who were gatekeeped from any vertical movement by ethnicity and language barriers for most of the Swedish rule. Sweden also levied a crippling 50% tax to be sent to Stockholm on anything produced in Finland

[@kiipy]

For me first test in finnish school where Al ready at first year but they where test to find out kids with learning difficulties or disabilities. Got myself to have separed teaching for mother language because of those. Some other got their small group by math and some got school helper to be with them in classroom. That way kids don't fall behind because of group setting even they have development delays in some areas of school. After those I think our first onew where speed counting in math. As kids many hated them because of the anxiety but as adult we have understood that they where just little poorly named calculation in head speed training. Kids of course compared themself to each other. We also don't have ready made questions as much example north Americans have. When I was in exchange at canada I was so supriced that they had exam papers with question and then lines where to answer. Change to essay answers after 9th grade if not earlier in some subjects and schools. We need to learn to understand our subjects not just memories them. Because of this avarage finnish students can often be straight A student when they go to exchange.

[@veeni2213]

Finland is a bilingual country and Finland has Swedish and Finnish as national languages

[@holoholopainen1627]

More speak English than Swedish !

[@jiipik]

The point about escaping prisoners is a no-no. Most escapees, even if they are homicide convicts, do not present a danger to the public, and most Finnish men know how to deal with them, if they do.