**/r/Finland is a full democracy, every active user is a moderator.**
[Please go here to see how your new privileges work.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Finland/wiki/moderating/)
Spamming mod actions could result in a ban.
---
**Full Rundown of Moderator Permissions:**
- ```!lock``` - as top level comment, will lock comments on any post.
- ```!unlock``` - in reply to any comment to lock it or to unlock the parent comment.
- ```!remove``` - Removes comment or post. Must have decent subreddit comment karma.
- ```!restore``` Can be used to unlock comments or restore removed posts.
- ```!sticky``` - will sticky the post in the bottom slot.
- ```unlock_comments``` - Vote the stickied automod comment on each post to +10 to unlock comments.
- ```ban users``` - Any user whose comment or post is downvoted enough will be temp banned for a day.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Finland) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Calling people sirs, mams, or by their last name is not exactly a part of Finnish culture in general, unless talking about the president, or when talking about communication in the military. But I must admit I don't know why, and whether it's changed over the decades. I remember someone asking, in this very subreddit, how to refer to a doctor, which made me think people in such positions really are referred to differently in Finland than many other countries. Following to see if someone actually sheds light on the reasons.
The first novel that I read in Finnish was Miika Nousiainen's Pintaremontti. In it there is a character known only as Pesonen until one of the last chapters. His first name isn't known by anyone including the main character, who is his lifelong best friend. The main character only learns his name after Pesonen develops a romantic relationship with the main character's mother.
Props for reading Miika Nousiainen. I adore the guy as a person, love him on TV but never ever have I read any of his books even though as a junior I was a huge reader. Huge fan of his slightly stoic humor. Just recently saw the movie 'Vadelmavenepakolainen' adapted from his books and gotta say it was both fantastic as a movie and at the same time awful adaptation of what I thought his books would be like.
Just like with so many others, the movie adaptation must have not met the beauty of the written language. One of these days I'll go and support him by buying and reading all of his books. He's deserved it.
And whenever Miika Nousiainen is mentioned you can't not compare him with Tuomas Kyrö (for obvious reasons) and IMO Miika Nousiainen is by far the superior one. Not going to fight over it as it's a highly personal matter but that's my opinion. Tuomas Kyrö just seems to be a bit of a tryhard with his stoistic humor whereas Miika Nousiainen hits it spot on.
Some 20+ years ago one guy on the other side of the corridor was named Lasse Aatos Aukusti Surname.
From the first day onwards we'd know he'd be called 'LAA Surname' just because.. :D
As it was called back in the days, because it was so 'teini' as they called it. Nowadays you might call it 'lit' or something. Yeah, I know, I'm old, so 'lit' might be quite a 'boomer' thing already.
Then there are those times when you've done something really really really really really bad and she called you by your 'First name, second name third name (if given) surname' in which case you know you're royally screwed. :D
I feel how it really worked for my teachers, especially in lukio was that they very variably got called either by their first or last name, the primary determiner being whichever was more memorable or perhaps fitting. I definitely know a few Pekka Pouta -cases that lead to the last name being used, some where the last name might have been confusing in terms of spelling or pronounciation that defaulted to first name. The "teacher vibe" definitely played a part too, more "proper" sort of teachers would more likely have their last name used wheras younger and/or more "hip" teachers would be more likely referred to by their first.
I've had a few teachers to whom I (and my friends) mostly referred to by surname, as an odd sign of respect. If a teacher is alright, we'd refer to them by their first name, if they were not liked, they ended up being called disparaging nicknames, some had nicknames that were probably older than us kids (this mostly applies to elementary school). Some teachers who are more well liked also seem to get called by their first name in my experience, but the tone of voice always indicates that we like them.
But back to surnames, most of the teachers I've heard be referred to with surnames were ones who had somehow earned the respect of the ones talking about them. One earned that respect from my class by coming over and just yanking the power cord out of my pc, because I was playing a game rather than listening. After that, I always paid attention, and if you didn't misbehave, he was a rather jolly man.
Another was strict, but fair and ended up being called by their surname Äijö, though it helps that it's close to äijä, which he was in the more positive meaning of the word.
I'm born in 91, and I think we never referred to any teacher as mister, miss, misses or anything of the sort. Not even any of the principals were referred to as mister this_Or_that.
It's just not common in modern Finnish culture to call people mister, miss or misses.
I can't remember calling any teachers by their first name, but the nicknames weren't necessary disparaging. I remember our Finnish teacher regaling us with the saga of her toddler's many meltdowns over not being allowed to dive head first into the toilet. The brat made 8 separate attempts.
One student remarked "This pretty much makes you Mother of the Year, I would have let the dummy find out the hard way by then". And the name stuck.
That power cord yank reminds me of my vocational college days, my English teacher did the same thing… and we had a PC screen punched, by the student in question. I bet everyone else in the class remembers that well.
>unless talking about the president
"Ja Luontoillan seuraava soittaja on Sauli Naantalista."
(The president called a popular radio show, Luontoilta "Nature Night" with a question about something he spotted at his summer residence in Naantali, and introduced himself by first name. The president and the hosts had a nice little chat.)
I know people recognize his voice. That’s why I asked wha the reaction from the host would be. But in case it wasn’t clear, I meant if they knew in advance.
It doesn't sound like they knew in advance: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cinwRToTmk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cinwRToTmk)
Might be hard to judge if you don't know finnish :)
Edit: Actually after listening that thru, they probably knew in advance.
The hosts don't get calls cold, there's a producer or someone who screens them first, that's how they know who's up next. I don't know if there was any prior arrangement.
About 15 years ago I remember happening upon President Halonen and Dr. Arajärvi a few times during our evening walks around Seurasaari and Meilahti. Each time they had just a single incospicuous bodyguard with them, and when we passed each other, it was just a casual "Tarja, Pentti" greeting accompanied by mutual shared nods with them.
I only came upon them once, on the shore close to Seurasaari. It so happened that the dogs I was walking had chosen to walk on separate sides of a big birch tree, and I hadn't noticed before my nose was almost in the tree bark. As I was trying to pull the dogs back, I looked up and stared into the eyes of our president.
>how to refer to a doctor, which made me think people in such positions really are referred to differently in Finland than many other countries.
"Kerroppa lekuri miten asia on?"
"Noniin luusaha, annatko saikkua?"
I think whenever I've gone to a doctor, it's been just as informal as getting my car checked.
As someone working in hospital, we call doctors by their first name (sometimes by last name, same goes for nurses, specially if there is many by the same name). When everyone introduces themselves to patients they say hi, i’m nurse/surgeon/anesthetic doctor matti meikäläinen. That’s about it.
Finland has a low hierarchy in general and first names are used widely also in work life. You also call your boss and co-workers usually by a first name.
As a teacher i would find it really strange if my pupils would call me by anything but my first name that i am used to getting called. What else would they call me?
Some years ago my MALE colleague once got called this by a first grader by accident. We called him äiti in teachers lounge for weeks after that. Greetings to äiti if you read this!
That hierarchy perspective makes sense. Military service has been the only place for me where I’ve been using and be called by last name in Finland and that is a high hierarchy organization for a reason.
Last names and nicknames of last names are also used if there are multiple people with the same firstname. I was called my last name untill the end of high school. Some of my friends from that time still call me by last names. Aparently this muxes some people up, since women rarely get called by our surnames.
We have 4 Jari's at my workplace. One is just Jari, another we call by his last name, then Jari N. where the letter is first letter of the last name and then finally Jartsa.
We had 4 Anttis in my basketball club growing up. they were big-Antti, little-Antti, junior-Antti (he was a year younger), and then when the 4th Antti joined he went by middle-Antti, because he wasn't bigger, smaller, younger or older than the other Anttis. Eventually he grew to be the tallest Antti, so we had to change to last names for him and big-Antti to avoid confusion.
Oh I love this, because we did the same with some Mattis. First there were pikku-Matti and iso-Matti. Then when two other Mattis joined the friend group, and one had a last name starting with Yli- and the other with Väli-, we obviously got yli-Matti and väli-Matti as well.
We never called teachers by their first name, but just addressed them as the teacher or 'teach' as in 'ope'. Using their name actually sounds a bit weird to me. Is it common nowadays that teachers are called by their name? Or has it always been and we just were the weirdos?
When speaking straight to me pupils say either my first name or "ope". Teens tend to use more often first name, kids say more often "ope". Also when there is many teachers in the classroom same time all of them usually use first name. And when they talk about me to other teacher or our aide, they use my first name (as in "Winteryl gave me this task, can you help me to get started?").
In e.g. Germany teachers very strictly called by Mr or Mrs + Last Name (of course the German version Herr und Frau). Only in the first 2 or 3 years of elementary school the first name is used then in 4th grade lates is changed and of my next school i did not even know the first names of my teachers.
Yeah I think using title and last name for authority figures is the norm in most parts of the world. Especially Asia for example.
I guess Nordic countries are a bit unique in basically removing all formal hierarchical language.
I think it's has to do with political history. There was a strong rejection of all that stuff in Nordic countries as the workers right and welfare states were growing.
Sometimes nice, other times not... We had rantapallo (beach ball) and myyrä (mole) teaching us in junior high school. Our class supervisor on the other hand was well liked and the class called him mahtihärkä (the mighty bull).
Part of culture.
In Poland it is really weird to call someone, who is not your friend or colleague, by their first name.
Also, when we ask: "Jak się nazywasz?", most people would translate that to: "What is your name?" but in reality, this question should be: "What is your surname?". That's default in this country.
If I wanna know your name, I would ask: "Jak masz na imię?" - "What is your name?".
Also the standard way of writing a signature on documents is surname + name. The surnames are more important to us in Poland, than names.
Also, we always add Mrs. or Mr. in the beginning. In a lot of cases even if we're calling someone an idiot in heated arguments exchange.
"Pan jest idiotą!" - "You are an idiot, sir!".
So we use combination of Mr./Mrs. + surname in school and generally, when some is older (but we mostly skip the surname part if we're speaking directly to that person).
I am not sure if I agree. Never in my life I used the first phrase. Sounds more like something you would hear in the office or school. Also using surname alone is considered impolite. At least when I was living in Poland. However I agree that addressing somebody with surname with prefix Mr or Mrs is very common in more formal settings. In my high school we were told to call all our teacher professors but that was very unique to our school I think.
We even had to call our teacher in lukio-level Mr./Mrs. Professor while they did not have any long scientific career background. Just some Austria-Hungary stuff I guess.
In New Zealand we kind of had a weird thing going on. In primary school we referred to all the teachers as Mr / Mrs / Ms Surname.
In secondary school it got a lot more “military”, we referred to them the same way when talking about them to other people (eg Do you have Mr X for maths class), but when talking to them directly we referred to them as Sir/Miss with no name (eg Excuse me Sir, can you help me with something; Yes Sir; Yes Miss; No Miss) This may not be a thing in every school but it was the case in mine.
In University though things get a lot more relaxed, and you typically refer to your professors by their first names, and the well liked ones often had nicknames too.
In adulthood we rarely call someone with their title, and just use first names for everyone including Doctors, you Boss at work, whoever.
Our neighbouring class in elementary had three boys with the same first name, too. They were of course known as "Little [Name]", "Tall [Name]" and "Fat [Name]".
Yes i must admit that i am perfectly aware of this severance between finland and other western nations, but i have no idea why that is, or which one is "better" (=calling your teacher Miss Schmidt, or just Jane)
Only place you call someone by their last name in everyday life is in the military. Finland has an egalitarian culture in that sense. It also explains why the military is the exception here because that is naturally the place with strict hierarchy.
And these are all examples of very formalized manner of speaking. Another two could be courts or a thesis examination
In courts and parliament especially speaking is used to perform their functions. In such situations speaking is not (just) communication but actions related to the given establishment or matter.
I should flip the script on this question: why not call people by their first name?
There's really only once case where you call people "sir" or "mrs" in Finland, and that is in the army.
In most of the world pupils and students call their teachers by last name all the way to university, but in all of Scandinavia, if I've understood correctly, everybody goes on a first name basis. When, where and how it started I'm not aware of but it fundamentally plays to the low hierarchy and high equality in Scandinavian societies
It roughly speaking started in the 1960s and really got going in the 1970s when society was becoming more egalitarian. Sweden likely at the forefront and Finland as always have taken a lot of cues from Sweden. It was an expression of modernity too, hierarchical authority was seen as old fashioned and innovation stifling remnants of classism. There had been movements to reform the use of titles and democratise language earlier too, so it didn't come form nowhere.
There is a famous story about the "You Reform" in Sweden, basically a new director for government institution in 1967 told his staff he was from now on going to call everyone "you". This is partly seen as the starting point as the practice snowballed in the years after. Since the socialdemocrats had long been in power and been building their egalitarian "folkhem" society the idea would be adopted rather quickly. It sat well in the times.
Does Swedish have plural you? In Finland the formal way of speaking would be teitittely, using the plural form of you. Which is very rarely used nowdays. Though I learned to address customers in this way early 2000's. But I think it was more because my granfather was teaching me and most of the customers were born before 1950s.
Yes it does. "Ni" = "Te", "Du" = "Sinä". Hence properly you can read about the "Du reformen".
It has similar connotations in Swedish as it does in Finnish, and you have the same expression "niande" ="teitittely" where it implies some formality.
I've read "ni" has made a bit of a comeback in service industry in Sweden used by younger people, upsetting older Gen '68:ers with it's implied formality.
In Brazil it is common to use the first name as well. It is not a country with high equality and low hierarchy though. But it is quite informal, in general. The world know the president by it’s nickname: Lula (squid).
I wonder what is more common around the world.
I dont see a good reason for the downvotes youre getting, its a sensible question, taking into account the fact that the rest of the world outside nordics calls teachers by last name as well. I think its an interesting thread, thanks!
-finn
The only context where last names are used more than first in Finland is the military. This tends to bleed over a little bit to other male dominated spaces, but that is out of habit more than respect or anything like that.
Cultural issues. In my youth I played sports in the US, and we would never address or refer to our coaches by their first name. It would always be 'Hey Coach' or 'Coach Johnson'. However, when I played for Canadian team, we'd call our coaches by their first names.
I've also worked in Germany, you'd never address your superior by their first name unless they'd initiate that it was fine to call them by their first name. Prior to that it was always 'Herr Schmidt'.
(High school student perspective here) For me it's like "I listen to you and learn from you, I call you by your first name not because I do not respect you enough but because we both respect each other enough to refer to eachother using first names. And due to that respect I listen to what you tell me, I listen to the orders you give because I can trust that they're in my best interest, not yours."
Why not?
Outside the army (which has a strict hierarchy) and I guess the government (which follows some more archaic formalities at times, public proceedings at least) and like formal TV interviews (same deal), it's just standard to call everyone by first name. Part of the very egalitarian Nordic society I suppose. Same deal goes for bosses at work and so on. Only reason my dad refers to his boss by last name sometimes is because he has another coworker by the same name and so has a need to differentiate.
With some teachers it's not even just first name, but we can go to nicknames too. I had one history teacher in high school who was almost exclusively referred to with nicknames, which he specifically encouraged ('cause he liked the nicknames more). A lot of teachers got referred to by their schedule codes too (formed from first name 2 first letters + last name 2 first letters, unless there would be overlap) unless they were hard to say, which kinda developed into nicknames in their own right.
It might be beneficial too, building more of a connection between the teachers and students. Easier to go ask a teacher for help if you can talk to them more casually and so on.
The one time a surname would get regular use here (again outside the military) is if it turns into a nickname of some kind, or is easier to say. My dad has a friend with whom the frequency of names is like "first name -derived nickname" >> "surname as nickname" >>>>>> "actual first name".
I've taught on and off for years. If a student called Mr. [last name], I would assume they're being sarcastic. The bottom line as it has been said here many times is this: I don't see myself as being above the pupils/students and would be deeply ashamed to do anything to suggest that. It makes sense that I'm teaching and making the rules in the classroom as the only adult there, yes, but that's literally it when it comes to hierarchy.
You aren’t superior to the child in Finland. You are working in partnership with the child in their education. You don’t typically call your colleagues “Mr/Mrs”. This is my opinion at least.
(I work as a kindergarten teacher in Finland.)
Finnish honorifics, "Herra" and "Rouva" sound really awkward and were phased out decades ago. They are basically only used in the military anymore. Also Finnish surnames tend to be pretty long, so like "Teacher Surname" would be quite a mouthful.
We are also not really into hierarchies. Maybe it's the sauna culture or something, but that's just how we roll.
This.
Mr. translates to Herra, but the word "herra" in finnish sounds pretty absurd these days. Herra is the word people literally use for God, and other meanings would be something like "gebtleman", "lord" or "master", I'd say.
Mrs. translates to Rouva... But also very awkwardly. I'd actually say that there isn't really a word in the finnish language that matches the respect level and image that "Mrs." Does. The impact/meaning of Rouva is way closer to "Madam" or "Lady", dictionaries even translate rouva to "queen".
Miss translates to Neiti... And again, it sounds absurd. Very outdated and also... It fell out of use because people started to question the sort of "cast system" the use of these honorics created.
Why did it matter if a woman was married or not, why did marriage define a woman's worth etc.
Also, neiti sounds like a very young girl or woman, rouva like an old woman, herra like an old man... So every time people use these words, they are kinda calling out someone's age. Which, again, is pretty awkward.
So culture changed, honorics fell out of use, and insisting on using them sounds pretty odd these days. Of course they are used in some situations as many people have pointed out, but in general, they sound very uptight and out of touch with the modern world.
Went to school in the Netherlands so my 1st reaction to the question was "that's abnormal?" I've never used a teacher's surname to my recollection unless it sounded cooler or such.
Having lived in Austria I can tell you that using titles etc is extremely archaic, however sometimes necessary. To get the doctor to come tell about family member who was in hospital wtf happened after a week in there my mother had to use his full titles (mister doctor) and then finally we got to speak to someone who knew something.
Honestly I think that's why it became uncommon, because it's archaic, dehumanising, and gives the impression there's a hierarchy (of importance).
There were so many ”why not”- type of answers I stopped reading, so maybe someone already said this. Anyway. It’s because we have this culture of equality. Children, teachers, men, women, doctors, CEOs etc. all are equal and everybody has first name so that’s why we use that. This is not only in Finland, I believe Sweden abandoned all titles and started to use first names before us (and Finns probably adopted that from Sweden).
> I believe Sweden abandoned all titles and started to use first names before us (and Finns probably adopted that from Sweden).
Yes that is AFAIK largely correct. The were was a inflation of titles during the early 1900s, even common workers would be, machinist This and welder That, and eventually it becomes rather ridiculous. With the egalitarian everyone is worth the same leaning societal vibe of the 1960s eventually it goes away. I mentioned the "Du reform" in another reply, basically a government office started only using "you" (singular) and everyone sort of thought "ok this is the official position" and it just sort of happened. There is another example of were a semi-official government position just became official policy from the era too. With the social democrats decades in power building the "folkhem" when you heard the government did something usually it was "ok guess that's policy now, cool". You are right Finland usually copied what Sweden did, not in the least because tens of thousands emigrated to Sweden because everything was better there and the country was emptying real quick.
All of Scandinavia is basically the same, and the Dutch as well it seems.
I work in a daycare so not EXACTLY related but we do still have teachers in each group. I've seen over the years multiple workers get almost upset if they are called adult/teacher and demand to be called by their name or they won't answer
This is the case in most of Europe, it's a US thing. It's also a US thing to tell people how to dress and not in school. Funny, since you are the land of the free.
It was a sort of conscious decision made during the later half of 1900s. There were big reforms made to education systems made over time. One of the things was the reduction of hierarchy and "social distance" between students and teachers. Calling teachers by first name came along naturally. Even in university its common practice to refer to professors by their first name.
You must be German. Finns aren't hierarchical and don't generally emphasize titles. Also kids might call teacher "Ope" which is a colloquial term for Opettaja as in Teacher and Teach'.
bc they normal ppl, I’m not gonna call someone mr, mrs or sir. that’s not part of Finnish culture, unless someone is the president or in millitary. usually I call my teachers by the first name, but if we have a good bond then I call them by their last name or a nickname.
In Finnish often you hear the word "ope" too which means teacher but it's slang/shortened. Almost directly corresponds to when in English you can say "Yo teach!" when in a slangy way calling the teacher.
Ope=teach(as in the the person teacher)
Opettaja=teacher
Dropping titles and using "you" when addressing individuals individually began in Sweden as part of a broader democratization effort, and Finland later adopted this practice. Finland, in many ways, resembles Sweden, which isn't surprising given its 600-year history as part of Sweden. I recommend watching the historical show "Suomi on ruotsalainen" on Yle Areena for further insight into this fascinating history.
Im canadian and my gf is finnish. By default when i met her father i said mr.lastname he said please dont call him that and just use his first name. Its a strange thing to get used to
Hell no it isnt 😂 We are down to earth people who respect each other. Mr, or ma am feels like someone puts you above them. Or above you. We dont like that. We are all on the same level.
I don’t understand the question. In all European countries I lived, including Finland, pupils refer to the teachers by their first names. What else could they call them?
I remember an instance 30-few years ago a really old professor required people to call him using Mr. plus his surname, but that was considered really odd and old-fashioned even back then.
Nowadays they would be offended if you use Mr./Ms. or their surname. As do most old people. Only in really formal environments (think a court of law) one would find such treatments.
I’d call the president by his first name if I met him. I think the general public is just particularly informal and personal, in Northern Europe at least.
I accidentally bumped into the king of Norway in university years ago and even he seemed incredibly relaxed.
It was a bit odd when I moved here from Australia, but I like it. I’m still friends with some of my high school teachers on Facebook and I genuinely liked being around them when I was in school.
Might as well ask why pupils refer to their teacher by last name in X country. (I realize this is more common but still)
It's just cultural differences. In Sweden it's the same as in Finland.
However it has changed over the years. Go back 60 years or so and you'd be calling the teacher or any authority figure by title in Sweden. Guessing it's the same in other Nordic countries.
I believe its part of the “teachers are also same status humans as we students are” since in places like usa it sounds like teachers have some sort of god complex with all the ego they put on their status
These kinds of things change over time. When I was a kid, we called our teachers "Opettaja", without any name. Or just "Ope" which is short for opettaja. Didn't even use the last name. I think I remember hearing or reading from some old books or movies the use of "Opettaja LastName"
I have two significantly younger sisters (we're obviously all adults now) and I remember when they were talking about "Liisa-Opettaja", adding the first name there.
Now, it seems that we have dropped the "teacher" word there.
I'd say it's just our language, finns aren't really formal people and if you speak "kirjakieli" and put emphasis on things that in other cultures would be seen as very respectful (such as calling people Mr./Ms./Dr. Lastname), you most likely will be seen as stuck-up or weird.
I never really hear anyone be called rouva/neiti/herra except in a passive-aggressive or patronizing way. At the same time, I won't bat an eye if someone uses "it" when refering to our president :D That doesn't sound demeaning, just casual.
Only place it's common practice to address people by their last name is in the military. There you are rank + last name (general Saarinen, rookie Korhonen etc.).
Because that's what names are for. I find it a lot weirder that everybody else has to make up extra words to refer to people who have names. Like seriously, is everyone pretending to be Voldemort or something? How and why is it more polite to refer to tgem by some word that applies to millions of other people too?
Personaly i found it as a respcetfull gestore and you got to have a bonbd more than just teatch and student they are more like Frends,mentors, ppl who will teatch you life lesons, who will lisnt to you etc etc allso i fully agree with the top comment i rarely Called a teatcher or my boss by anything else exept by there name msby if i forggot there name but other than that never now if you do this same in USA you arn't gona have sutch a plesent experience as in finland the army is the onlly place where hierarchy exsists now don't get us wrong we are still scared and respect our higher ups we just tend to be more chill baut it
**/r/Finland is a full democracy, every active user is a moderator.** [Please go here to see how your new privileges work.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Finland/wiki/moderating/) Spamming mod actions could result in a ban. --- **Full Rundown of Moderator Permissions:** - ```!lock``` - as top level comment, will lock comments on any post. - ```!unlock``` - in reply to any comment to lock it or to unlock the parent comment. - ```!remove``` - Removes comment or post. Must have decent subreddit comment karma. - ```!restore``` Can be used to unlock comments or restore removed posts. - ```!sticky``` - will sticky the post in the bottom slot. - ```unlock_comments``` - Vote the stickied automod comment on each post to +10 to unlock comments. - ```ban users``` - Any user whose comment or post is downvoted enough will be temp banned for a day. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Finland) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Calling people sirs, mams, or by their last name is not exactly a part of Finnish culture in general, unless talking about the president, or when talking about communication in the military. But I must admit I don't know why, and whether it's changed over the decades. I remember someone asking, in this very subreddit, how to refer to a doctor, which made me think people in such positions really are referred to differently in Finland than many other countries. Following to see if someone actually sheds light on the reasons.
sometimes people get called by their last name if they have like a super common first name and their last name is easy to use as a nickname
Or if the surname becomes more like a nickname
I've seen this happen. There's a boy in my class and I've never heard his friends call him by his first name. It's always his last name.
The first novel that I read in Finnish was Miika Nousiainen's Pintaremontti. In it there is a character known only as Pesonen until one of the last chapters. His first name isn't known by anyone including the main character, who is his lifelong best friend. The main character only learns his name after Pesonen develops a romantic relationship with the main character's mother.
Props for reading Miika Nousiainen. I adore the guy as a person, love him on TV but never ever have I read any of his books even though as a junior I was a huge reader. Huge fan of his slightly stoic humor. Just recently saw the movie 'Vadelmavenepakolainen' adapted from his books and gotta say it was both fantastic as a movie and at the same time awful adaptation of what I thought his books would be like. Just like with so many others, the movie adaptation must have not met the beauty of the written language. One of these days I'll go and support him by buying and reading all of his books. He's deserved it. And whenever Miika Nousiainen is mentioned you can't not compare him with Tuomas Kyrö (for obvious reasons) and IMO Miika Nousiainen is by far the superior one. Not going to fight over it as it's a highly personal matter but that's my opinion. Tuomas Kyrö just seems to be a bit of a tryhard with his stoistic humor whereas Miika Nousiainen hits it spot on.
We had three Lauri's in my lukio class, two of them were Lauri K, so needless to say one of them got a nickname from his surname.
Happens in military, as there everyone is commonly referred by their surname
Yep, unless talking to a superior and you still have enough mornings left. Then it's "sir".
Some 20+ years ago one guy on the other side of the corridor was named Lasse Aatos Aukusti Surname. From the first day onwards we'd know he'd be called 'LAA Surname' just because.. :D As it was called back in the days, because it was so 'teini' as they called it. Nowadays you might call it 'lit' or something. Yeah, I know, I'm old, so 'lit' might be quite a 'boomer' thing already.
Pretty much the same with me along with my older friends. Newer friends has a deviation but pretty much the same
Can confirm.... Even sometimes my mom calls me by my surname. Heh
Okay, my mom would never do that, but i am sure it occurs
When mom calls you by your full name, you know you're in trouble
Then there are those times when you've done something really really really really really bad and she called you by your 'First name, second name third name (if given) surname' in which case you know you're royally screwed. :D
I feel how it really worked for my teachers, especially in lukio was that they very variably got called either by their first or last name, the primary determiner being whichever was more memorable or perhaps fitting. I definitely know a few Pekka Pouta -cases that lead to the last name being used, some where the last name might have been confusing in terms of spelling or pronounciation that defaulted to first name. The "teacher vibe" definitely played a part too, more "proper" sort of teachers would more likely have their last name used wheras younger and/or more "hip" teachers would be more likely referred to by their first.
We used mostly the "wilma name". As in Person Ownname = Ownpe
I've had a few teachers to whom I (and my friends) mostly referred to by surname, as an odd sign of respect. If a teacher is alright, we'd refer to them by their first name, if they were not liked, they ended up being called disparaging nicknames, some had nicknames that were probably older than us kids (this mostly applies to elementary school). Some teachers who are more well liked also seem to get called by their first name in my experience, but the tone of voice always indicates that we like them. But back to surnames, most of the teachers I've heard be referred to with surnames were ones who had somehow earned the respect of the ones talking about them. One earned that respect from my class by coming over and just yanking the power cord out of my pc, because I was playing a game rather than listening. After that, I always paid attention, and if you didn't misbehave, he was a rather jolly man. Another was strict, but fair and ended up being called by their surname Äijö, though it helps that it's close to äijä, which he was in the more positive meaning of the word. I'm born in 91, and I think we never referred to any teacher as mister, miss, misses or anything of the sort. Not even any of the principals were referred to as mister this_Or_that. It's just not common in modern Finnish culture to call people mister, miss or misses.
I can't remember calling any teachers by their first name, but the nicknames weren't necessary disparaging. I remember our Finnish teacher regaling us with the saga of her toddler's many meltdowns over not being allowed to dive head first into the toilet. The brat made 8 separate attempts. One student remarked "This pretty much makes you Mother of the Year, I would have let the dummy find out the hard way by then". And the name stuck.
That power cord yank reminds me of my vocational college days, my English teacher did the same thing… and we had a PC screen punched, by the student in question. I bet everyone else in the class remembers that well.
>unless talking about the president "Ja Luontoillan seuraava soittaja on Sauli Naantalista." (The president called a popular radio show, Luontoilta "Nature Night" with a question about something he spotted at his summer residence in Naantali, and introduced himself by first name. The president and the hosts had a nice little chat.)
How did the host react recognizing his voice? Or did the host know?
Everyone recognises Sauli's voice, it's quite distinctive. The two hosts were surprised, but pleased.
And didn't really handle the situation differently compared to any other caller. Classical Finnish lets not make a number out of this.
To be fair radio callers are a pretty varied bunch so they have plenty of practice sticking to script.
I know people recognize his voice. That’s why I asked wha the reaction from the host would be. But in case it wasn’t clear, I meant if they knew in advance.
It doesn't sound like they knew in advance: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cinwRToTmk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cinwRToTmk) Might be hard to judge if you don't know finnish :) Edit: Actually after listening that thru, they probably knew in advance.
The hosts don't get calls cold, there's a producer or someone who screens them first, that's how they know who's up next. I don't know if there was any prior arrangement.
Of course there is screening - the screener probably told them that next is that Sauli.
About 15 years ago I remember happening upon President Halonen and Dr. Arajärvi a few times during our evening walks around Seurasaari and Meilahti. Each time they had just a single incospicuous bodyguard with them, and when we passed each other, it was just a casual "Tarja, Pentti" greeting accompanied by mutual shared nods with them.
I only came upon them once, on the shore close to Seurasaari. It so happened that the dogs I was walking had chosen to walk on separate sides of a big birch tree, and I hadn't noticed before my nose was almost in the tree bark. As I was trying to pull the dogs back, I looked up and stared into the eyes of our president.
In the army my mate shouted to one of our officers when he needed some help with tanks maintenance: "Hey Johannes, get your ass up here!"
How did Johannes react? I'm curious 😄
He just laughed, our service was at its last weeks and all the personnel in our tank hall felt more like workmates than superior officers.
>how to refer to a doctor, which made me think people in such positions really are referred to differently in Finland than many other countries. "Kerroppa lekuri miten asia on?" "Noniin luusaha, annatko saikkua?" I think whenever I've gone to a doctor, it's been just as informal as getting my car checked.
As someone working in hospital, we call doctors by their first name (sometimes by last name, same goes for nurses, specially if there is many by the same name). When everyone introduces themselves to patients they say hi, i’m nurse/surgeon/anesthetic doctor matti meikäläinen. That’s about it.
It's more common in latin and germanic language but not in uralic language
It used to be done in the fifties. It has changed.
Finland has a low hierarchy in general and first names are used widely also in work life. You also call your boss and co-workers usually by a first name. As a teacher i would find it really strange if my pupils would call me by anything but my first name that i am used to getting called. What else would they call me?
Äiti.. eiku.. hups vittu saatana ;)
\*Cue sound of entire 1st grade class bursting into laughter\*
*8th grade Happened to me (as a teacher)
Were you my teacher? I said it to my 8th grade math teacher and promptly died of embarrassment right after.
That's grounds for changing schools! OUCH.
Did you call the rehtori äiti or how did it happen?
In my defense, my 1st grade teacher had the same name as my mom.
Some years ago my MALE colleague once got called this by a first grader by accident. We called him äiti in teachers lounge for weeks after that. Greetings to äiti if you read this!
Seems like the behavior by teachers is remarkably similar to the school kids :D
Possible, but i would never admit it. 
I had my mom teaching me in 1st and 2nd grade and used äiti in class.
I had my mom teaching me in all 6 grades from 1-6...and my uncle from 7-9.
Holy moly!
I bet _that_ left an emotional scar.
Nah, it was fine.
And I thought it was bad when my mother was just one of the teachers at my school that I'd never have (she was special needs teacher).
Ja sit muistutus himaa ku kiroilit koulussa
Ope
Oh yeah forgot that one. That one is fine too!
That hierarchy perspective makes sense. Military service has been the only place for me where I’ve been using and be called by last name in Finland and that is a high hierarchy organization for a reason.
Last names and nicknames of last names are also used if there are multiple people with the same firstname. I was called my last name untill the end of high school. Some of my friends from that time still call me by last names. Aparently this muxes some people up, since women rarely get called by our surnames.
We have 4 Jari's at my workplace. One is just Jari, another we call by his last name, then Jari N. where the letter is first letter of the last name and then finally Jartsa.
Jari, Jartsa, Jarska ja Jarppa. Problem solved.
We had 4 Anttis in my basketball club growing up. they were big-Antti, little-Antti, junior-Antti (he was a year younger), and then when the 4th Antti joined he went by middle-Antti, because he wasn't bigger, smaller, younger or older than the other Anttis. Eventually he grew to be the tallest Antti, so we had to change to last names for him and big-Antti to avoid confusion.
Oh I love this, because we did the same with some Mattis. First there were pikku-Matti and iso-Matti. Then when two other Mattis joined the friend group, and one had a last name starting with Yli- and the other with Väli-, we obviously got yli-Matti and väli-Matti as well.
Police seems to do that at least often if not always, another example of hierarchical organization.
In Sweden we even call our boss by nickname. Same in Finland?
Often yes, if boss has a nickname and is not completely pompous ass. Or we call them "pomo".
My favourite boss nickname was a former job of mine where the boss (Jan) was nicknamed Kim Jong Jan.
Yeah, it's a good way to stand out from a sea of Mattis, Mervis and Jarnos. A lot of places where I've worked the boss has had some sort of nickname,
My boss is named Bengt but we call him Bengan
He is preparing for the incoming wave of more Bengts!
[удалено]
FOK for short.
Teach
We never called teachers by their first name, but just addressed them as the teacher or 'teach' as in 'ope'. Using their name actually sounds a bit weird to me. Is it common nowadays that teachers are called by their name? Or has it always been and we just were the weirdos?
When speaking straight to me pupils say either my first name or "ope". Teens tend to use more often first name, kids say more often "ope". Also when there is many teachers in the classroom same time all of them usually use first name. And when they talk about me to other teacher or our aide, they use my first name (as in "Winteryl gave me this task, can you help me to get started?").
In e.g. Germany teachers very strictly called by Mr or Mrs + Last Name (of course the German version Herr und Frau). Only in the first 2 or 3 years of elementary school the first name is used then in 4th grade lates is changed and of my next school i did not even know the first names of my teachers.
Yeah I think using title and last name for authority figures is the norm in most parts of the world. Especially Asia for example. I guess Nordic countries are a bit unique in basically removing all formal hierarchical language. I think it's has to do with political history. There was a strong rejection of all that stuff in Nordic countries as the workers right and welfare states were growing.
Personally I have heard more teachers called by surname than first name after middle school at latest.
hahaha wait till you hear that sometimes students even call teachers by a nickname
hahahah we did the same in Sweden!!
Yep nicknames for everyone
I mean, how else would keep these teachers who seem to be all called either Sven Svensson or Anders Andersson apart?
Sometimes nice, other times not... We had rantapallo (beach ball) and myyrä (mole) teaching us in junior high school. Our class supervisor on the other hand was well liked and the class called him mahtihärkä (the mighty bull).
Opeeee
Pyyhkimään!
Q C!
More like "öööhhh ääh *viittaa* ööh"
I'd say there is a more personal, less formal relationship with them
Why do people in other countries call teachers by their family names?
Part of culture. In Poland it is really weird to call someone, who is not your friend or colleague, by their first name. Also, when we ask: "Jak się nazywasz?", most people would translate that to: "What is your name?" but in reality, this question should be: "What is your surname?". That's default in this country. If I wanna know your name, I would ask: "Jak masz na imię?" - "What is your name?". Also the standard way of writing a signature on documents is surname + name. The surnames are more important to us in Poland, than names. Also, we always add Mrs. or Mr. in the beginning. In a lot of cases even if we're calling someone an idiot in heated arguments exchange. "Pan jest idiotą!" - "You are an idiot, sir!". So we use combination of Mr./Mrs. + surname in school and generally, when some is older (but we mostly skip the surname part if we're speaking directly to that person).
”Part of culture” It’s almost like that was the point
I am not sure if I agree. Never in my life I used the first phrase. Sounds more like something you would hear in the office or school. Also using surname alone is considered impolite. At least when I was living in Poland. However I agree that addressing somebody with surname with prefix Mr or Mrs is very common in more formal settings. In my high school we were told to call all our teacher professors but that was very unique to our school I think.
We even had to call our teacher in lukio-level Mr./Mrs. Professor while they did not have any long scientific career background. Just some Austria-Hungary stuff I guess.
In New Zealand we kind of had a weird thing going on. In primary school we referred to all the teachers as Mr / Mrs / Ms Surname. In secondary school it got a lot more “military”, we referred to them the same way when talking about them to other people (eg Do you have Mr X for maths class), but when talking to them directly we referred to them as Sir/Miss with no name (eg Excuse me Sir, can you help me with something; Yes Sir; Yes Miss; No Miss) This may not be a thing in every school but it was the case in mine. In University though things get a lot more relaxed, and you typically refer to your professors by their first names, and the well liked ones often had nicknames too. In adulthood we rarely call someone with their title, and just use first names for everyone including Doctors, you Boss at work, whoever.
Hierarchy in the classroom, it's used to show respect to your teacher.
Why not? Everyone is called by their first name
Not if your name is one of the most common ones
yea i had 2 other kids with the same name as me in elementary and 1 in amis. needless to say people mostly used our last names
Our neighbouring class in elementary had three boys with the same first name, too. They were of course known as "Little [Name]", "Tall [Name]" and "Fat [Name]".
Because calling them a "shithead" is considered impolite.
Why don't you?
Yes i must admit that i am perfectly aware of this severance between finland and other western nations, but i have no idea why that is, or which one is "better" (=calling your teacher Miss Schmidt, or just Jane)
wut? In a lot of other countries teachers are called by their first name.
Only place you call someone by their last name in everyday life is in the military. Finland has an egalitarian culture in that sense. It also explains why the military is the exception here because that is naturally the place with strict hierarchy.
Parliament and the City Councils might be other places. "Representative Hakkarainen it is not your turn to speak"
And these are all examples of very formalized manner of speaking. Another two could be courts or a thesis examination In courts and parliament especially speaking is used to perform their functions. In such situations speaking is not (just) communication but actions related to the given establishment or matter.
Its common to call your boss and even CEO with first name
Because in Finland we see teachers as people, just like the students. No reason to treat them differently
Cause that's their name. It's not that complicated
It would be really confusing to call them by someone else’s name.
Because it's their name?
Because they're cool like that.
I should flip the script on this question: why not call people by their first name? There's really only once case where you call people "sir" or "mrs" in Finland, and that is in the army.
Courtroom
True! And in formal government events obviously. But you can call the president "Sale" if you just see him in the supermaket :D
Why not? I see no reason why it should be any different.
I just wondered since we call teachers by their last name in America.
In most of the world pupils and students call their teachers by last name all the way to university, but in all of Scandinavia, if I've understood correctly, everybody goes on a first name basis. When, where and how it started I'm not aware of but it fundamentally plays to the low hierarchy and high equality in Scandinavian societies
It roughly speaking started in the 1960s and really got going in the 1970s when society was becoming more egalitarian. Sweden likely at the forefront and Finland as always have taken a lot of cues from Sweden. It was an expression of modernity too, hierarchical authority was seen as old fashioned and innovation stifling remnants of classism. There had been movements to reform the use of titles and democratise language earlier too, so it didn't come form nowhere. There is a famous story about the "You Reform" in Sweden, basically a new director for government institution in 1967 told his staff he was from now on going to call everyone "you". This is partly seen as the starting point as the practice snowballed in the years after. Since the socialdemocrats had long been in power and been building their egalitarian "folkhem" society the idea would be adopted rather quickly. It sat well in the times.
Does Swedish have plural you? In Finland the formal way of speaking would be teitittely, using the plural form of you. Which is very rarely used nowdays. Though I learned to address customers in this way early 2000's. But I think it was more because my granfather was teaching me and most of the customers were born before 1950s.
Yes it does. "Ni" = "Te", "Du" = "Sinä". Hence properly you can read about the "Du reformen". It has similar connotations in Swedish as it does in Finnish, and you have the same expression "niande" ="teitittely" where it implies some formality. I've read "ni" has made a bit of a comeback in service industry in Sweden used by younger people, upsetting older Gen '68:ers with it's implied formality.
For the confused: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Du-reformen
In Brazil it is common to use the first name as well. It is not a country with high equality and low hierarchy though. But it is quite informal, in general. The world know the president by it’s nickname: Lula (squid). I wonder what is more common around the world.
Then i'll ask: why do you do that? Is it tradition or some sort of hierarchy thing?
So everyone everywhere should? Sorry, you haven’t freed us yet.
I dont see a good reason for the downvotes youre getting, its a sensible question, taking into account the fact that the rest of the world outside nordics calls teachers by last name as well. I think its an interesting thread, thanks! -finn
The only context where last names are used more than first in Finland is the military. This tends to bleed over a little bit to other male dominated spaces, but that is out of habit more than respect or anything like that.
Military AND sports.
Why not?
Sometimes we dont even know/remember teachers last name
They are people too?
We don't have a caste system
Cultural issues. In my youth I played sports in the US, and we would never address or refer to our coaches by their first name. It would always be 'Hey Coach' or 'Coach Johnson'. However, when I played for Canadian team, we'd call our coaches by their first names. I've also worked in Germany, you'd never address your superior by their first name unless they'd initiate that it was fine to call them by their first name. Prior to that it was always 'Herr Schmidt'.
It all makes sense when you understand ”coach” in the US is what ”lord” is in the uk.
We do the same in Norway also. Bosses, teachers etc. All firstnames. We dont like beeing too formal.
Teachers in my experience always introduce themselves by first name.
(High school student perspective here) For me it's like "I listen to you and learn from you, I call you by your first name not because I do not respect you enough but because we both respect each other enough to refer to eachother using first names. And due to that respect I listen to what you tell me, I listen to the orders you give because I can trust that they're in my best interest, not yours."
It's common all over the Nordic countries TBH.
Why not? Outside the army (which has a strict hierarchy) and I guess the government (which follows some more archaic formalities at times, public proceedings at least) and like formal TV interviews (same deal), it's just standard to call everyone by first name. Part of the very egalitarian Nordic society I suppose. Same deal goes for bosses at work and so on. Only reason my dad refers to his boss by last name sometimes is because he has another coworker by the same name and so has a need to differentiate. With some teachers it's not even just first name, but we can go to nicknames too. I had one history teacher in high school who was almost exclusively referred to with nicknames, which he specifically encouraged ('cause he liked the nicknames more). A lot of teachers got referred to by their schedule codes too (formed from first name 2 first letters + last name 2 first letters, unless there would be overlap) unless they were hard to say, which kinda developed into nicknames in their own right. It might be beneficial too, building more of a connection between the teachers and students. Easier to go ask a teacher for help if you can talk to them more casually and so on. The one time a surname would get regular use here (again outside the military) is if it turns into a nickname of some kind, or is easier to say. My dad has a friend with whom the frequency of names is like "first name -derived nickname" >> "surname as nickname" >>>>>> "actual first name".
I've taught on and off for years. If a student called Mr. [last name], I would assume they're being sarcastic. The bottom line as it has been said here many times is this: I don't see myself as being above the pupils/students and would be deeply ashamed to do anything to suggest that. It makes sense that I'm teaching and making the rules in the classroom as the only adult there, yes, but that's literally it when it comes to hierarchy.
You aren’t superior to the child in Finland. You are working in partnership with the child in their education. You don’t typically call your colleagues “Mr/Mrs”. This is my opinion at least. (I work as a kindergarten teacher in Finland.)
Finnish honorifics, "Herra" and "Rouva" sound really awkward and were phased out decades ago. They are basically only used in the military anymore. Also Finnish surnames tend to be pretty long, so like "Teacher Surname" would be quite a mouthful. We are also not really into hierarchies. Maybe it's the sauna culture or something, but that's just how we roll.
This. Mr. translates to Herra, but the word "herra" in finnish sounds pretty absurd these days. Herra is the word people literally use for God, and other meanings would be something like "gebtleman", "lord" or "master", I'd say. Mrs. translates to Rouva... But also very awkwardly. I'd actually say that there isn't really a word in the finnish language that matches the respect level and image that "Mrs." Does. The impact/meaning of Rouva is way closer to "Madam" or "Lady", dictionaries even translate rouva to "queen". Miss translates to Neiti... And again, it sounds absurd. Very outdated and also... It fell out of use because people started to question the sort of "cast system" the use of these honorics created. Why did it matter if a woman was married or not, why did marriage define a woman's worth etc. Also, neiti sounds like a very young girl or woman, rouva like an old woman, herra like an old man... So every time people use these words, they are kinda calling out someone's age. Which, again, is pretty awkward. So culture changed, honorics fell out of use, and insisting on using them sounds pretty odd these days. Of course they are used in some situations as many people have pointed out, but in general, they sound very uptight and out of touch with the modern world.
Because it is their name.
Why not? Hahah I'm not Finnish but in Sweden we also call our teachers by their first names, would be weird not to
Why not? 🤷♀️
Went to school in the Netherlands so my 1st reaction to the question was "that's abnormal?" I've never used a teacher's surname to my recollection unless it sounded cooler or such. Having lived in Austria I can tell you that using titles etc is extremely archaic, however sometimes necessary. To get the doctor to come tell about family member who was in hospital wtf happened after a week in there my mother had to use his full titles (mister doctor) and then finally we got to speak to someone who knew something. Honestly I think that's why it became uncommon, because it's archaic, dehumanising, and gives the impression there's a hierarchy (of importance).
Because thats their name
>Why do Finnish people call their teachers by their first names? Because why not?
Tradition
Because it’s their name.
It can be even disrespectful to call somebody mam, sir etc. Basically the only people we use those words for are the president and other politicians.
Because it’s normal
In the olden days even students were called by their last names from the fifth year on.
Our teachers are not powertripping over some little kids and want to have a humane personal connection with them unlike in uncivilized countries.
I think it informs how we view respect here. It’s mutual and earned from merits like education but in the end we are just equal human beings
Because they aren't any better people than students and we don't support medieval hierarchies here in Finland.
Because that's their name? Why wouldn't we?
Because it's part of our culture?
Why not? Friendlier.
Why not?
Because that's their name?
I asked the question out of curiosity. My father is Finnish but he didn’t know how to answer the question so I came here to ask.
There were so many ”why not”- type of answers I stopped reading, so maybe someone already said this. Anyway. It’s because we have this culture of equality. Children, teachers, men, women, doctors, CEOs etc. all are equal and everybody has first name so that’s why we use that. This is not only in Finland, I believe Sweden abandoned all titles and started to use first names before us (and Finns probably adopted that from Sweden).
> I believe Sweden abandoned all titles and started to use first names before us (and Finns probably adopted that from Sweden). Yes that is AFAIK largely correct. The were was a inflation of titles during the early 1900s, even common workers would be, machinist This and welder That, and eventually it becomes rather ridiculous. With the egalitarian everyone is worth the same leaning societal vibe of the 1960s eventually it goes away. I mentioned the "Du reform" in another reply, basically a government office started only using "you" (singular) and everyone sort of thought "ok this is the official position" and it just sort of happened. There is another example of were a semi-official government position just became official policy from the era too. With the social democrats decades in power building the "folkhem" when you heard the government did something usually it was "ok guess that's policy now, cool". You are right Finland usually copied what Sweden did, not in the least because tens of thousands emigrated to Sweden because everything was better there and the country was emptying real quick. All of Scandinavia is basically the same, and the Dutch as well it seems.
I work in a daycare so not EXACTLY related but we do still have teachers in each group. I've seen over the years multiple workers get almost upset if they are called adult/teacher and demand to be called by their name or they won't answer
This is the case in most of Europe, it's a US thing. It's also a US thing to tell people how to dress and not in school. Funny, since you are the land of the free.
We only had a few specific teachers who were called by their last name only. They all had one thing in common.. No one really liked them.
Might aswell ask why other cultures call them mrs and mr etc.
It was a sort of conscious decision made during the later half of 1900s. There were big reforms made to education systems made over time. One of the things was the reduction of hierarchy and "social distance" between students and teachers. Calling teachers by first name came along naturally. Even in university its common practice to refer to professors by their first name.
You must be German. Finns aren't hierarchical and don't generally emphasize titles. Also kids might call teacher "Ope" which is a colloquial term for Opettaja as in Teacher and Teach'.
bc they normal ppl, I’m not gonna call someone mr, mrs or sir. that’s not part of Finnish culture, unless someone is the president or in millitary. usually I call my teachers by the first name, but if we have a good bond then I call them by their last name or a nickname.
In Finnish often you hear the word "ope" too which means teacher but it's slang/shortened. Almost directly corresponds to when in English you can say "Yo teach!" when in a slangy way calling the teacher. Ope=teach(as in the the person teacher) Opettaja=teacher
Dropping titles and using "you" when addressing individuals individually began in Sweden as part of a broader democratization effort, and Finland later adopted this practice. Finland, in many ways, resembles Sweden, which isn't surprising given its 600-year history as part of Sweden. I recommend watching the historical show "Suomi on ruotsalainen" on Yle Areena for further insight into this fascinating history.
Im canadian and my gf is finnish. By default when i met her father i said mr.lastname he said please dont call him that and just use his first name. Its a strange thing to get used to
Hell no it isnt 😂 We are down to earth people who respect each other. Mr, or ma am feels like someone puts you above them. Or above you. We dont like that. We are all on the same level.
Because calling them "Cunt" would be disrespectful.
Why not?
I don’t understand the question. In all European countries I lived, including Finland, pupils refer to the teachers by their first names. What else could they call them? I remember an instance 30-few years ago a really old professor required people to call him using Mr. plus his surname, but that was considered really odd and old-fashioned even back then. Nowadays they would be offended if you use Mr./Ms. or their surname. As do most old people. Only in really formal environments (think a court of law) one would find such treatments.
In Spain, we do that too.
Because we may well be the most casual people on Earth.
I’d call the president by his first name if I met him. I think the general public is just particularly informal and personal, in Northern Europe at least. I accidentally bumped into the king of Norway in university years ago and even he seemed incredibly relaxed. It was a bit odd when I moved here from Australia, but I like it. I’m still friends with some of my high school teachers on Facebook and I genuinely liked being around them when I was in school.
Might as well ask why pupils refer to their teacher by last name in X country. (I realize this is more common but still) It's just cultural differences. In Sweden it's the same as in Finland. However it has changed over the years. Go back 60 years or so and you'd be calling the teacher or any authority figure by title in Sweden. Guessing it's the same in other Nordic countries.
I believe its part of the “teachers are also same status humans as we students are” since in places like usa it sounds like teachers have some sort of god complex with all the ego they put on their status
These kinds of things change over time. When I was a kid, we called our teachers "Opettaja", without any name. Or just "Ope" which is short for opettaja. Didn't even use the last name. I think I remember hearing or reading from some old books or movies the use of "Opettaja LastName" I have two significantly younger sisters (we're obviously all adults now) and I remember when they were talking about "Liisa-Opettaja", adding the first name there. Now, it seems that we have dropped the "teacher" word there.
I'd say it's just our language, finns aren't really formal people and if you speak "kirjakieli" and put emphasis on things that in other cultures would be seen as very respectful (such as calling people Mr./Ms./Dr. Lastname), you most likely will be seen as stuck-up or weird. I never really hear anyone be called rouva/neiti/herra except in a passive-aggressive or patronizing way. At the same time, I won't bat an eye if someone uses "it" when refering to our president :D That doesn't sound demeaning, just casual. Only place it's common practice to address people by their last name is in the military. There you are rank + last name (general Saarinen, rookie Korhonen etc.).
Because that's what names are for. I find it a lot weirder that everybody else has to make up extra words to refer to people who have names. Like seriously, is everyone pretending to be Voldemort or something? How and why is it more polite to refer to tgem by some word that applies to millions of other people too?
Because their first names might be unpronounceable, but their surnames are worse.
Uhm... people elsewhere don't?
Pretty much nobody does. You either address them as “teacher/professor”, “mr/ms” or their last name
Because calling them a-holes would be too rude.
Personaly i found it as a respcetfull gestore and you got to have a bonbd more than just teatch and student they are more like Frends,mentors, ppl who will teatch you life lesons, who will lisnt to you etc etc allso i fully agree with the top comment i rarely Called a teatcher or my boss by anything else exept by there name msby if i forggot there name but other than that never now if you do this same in USA you arn't gona have sutch a plesent experience as in finland the army is the onlly place where hierarchy exsists now don't get us wrong we are still scared and respect our higher ups we just tend to be more chill baut it
This is the way
We do? I called mine "teacher". I used to teach too and the kids called me "teacher" as well.