DON'T DO These 13 Things in Finland

Summary

This script offers essential advice for visitors to Finland, highlighting the importance of respecting personal space, punctuality, and local customs. It touches on the Finnish-Swedish history, the significance of visiting beyond Helsinki, and the stereotype of Finns being reserved. It advises against asking about personal finances and wearing hats while eating, emphasizes the cleanliness of Finnish streets, and clarifies the non-essential nature of tipping. The video aims to demystify Finnish culture and encourages learning the language for deeper understanding.

Takeaways

• 😀 Respect personal space: Avoid getting too close to Finns early on in a relationship, and gradually increase physical contact as you get to know each other better.
• 🕒 Punctuality is paramount: Being late is seen as rude and disrespectful in Finland, so always be on time for meetings and appointments.
• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Be cautious with Swedish comparisons: While Finland and Sweden share history, some topics like ice hockey can be sensitive, so avoid overly praising Sweden in front of Finns.
• 🌍 Explore beyond Helsinki: Although Helsinki is a great city, don't miss out on the unique experiences and authentic Finnish culture found in other cities like Tampere and Vaasa.
• 😶 Understand Finnish reserve: Finns may appear unsocial or unexpressive, but they often open up more once they know you better, so be patient and invest time in building relationships.
• 💰 Avoid discussing money: Finns are generally uncomfortable talking about their salary or financial matters, so refrain from asking about their income.
• 👞 Shoe etiquette: Take off your shoes when entering a Finnish home, but wearing shoes in restaurants and workplaces is usually acceptable.
• 🍽️ Dining manners: Do not wear a hat while eating, as it's considered disrespectful in Finland, and use common sense to follow general table manners.
• 🚯 Keep the streets clean: Do not litter on the streets, as cleanliness is highly valued in Finland and trash is quickly cleaned up after events.
• 🤫 Listen before speaking: In Finland, interrupting others while they are speaking is frowned upon, so wait for your turn to speak in conversations.
• 💸 No need to tip: Tipping is not expected in Finland as service fees are included in the prices, but feel free to tip for exceptional service.

Q & A

What is the first cultural tip provided in the script for someone visiting Finland?

The first cultural tip is to respect Finnish personal space and not get too close too early when meeting new people. Shaking hands is fine, but cheek kisses might be uncomfortable until you know the person better.

What is the general attitude towards punctuality in Finland according to the script?

Punctuality is highly valued in Finland. Being late is considered rude and disrespectful, as it implies that you do not value the other person's time.

Why might discussing Swedish girls or ice hockey teams be sensitive in Finland?

The script mentions that Finland shares a history with Sweden, and there is a friendly rivalry, especially in sports like ice hockey. Over-praising Sweden in these areas might cause negative reactions among Finns.

What is the script's advice on visiting only Helsinki when in Finland?

The script suggests that while Helsinki is a great city, it's a significant loss to only visit Helsinki when in Finland. It encourages travelers to explore other cities like Tampere and Vaasa for more authentic experiences.

How are Finns typically characterized in terms of expressing emotions according to the video script?

Finn's are often stereotyped as grumpy, unsocial, and non-expressive. However, the script clarifies that they tend to open up more once they get to know someone better.

What is the script's stance on discussing money with Finns?

The script advises against asking Finns about their salary or financial habits, as it's considered a sensitive and uncomfortable topic for them.

What is the customary practice when entering a Finnish home?

The customary practice is to take off your shoes at the entrance of a Finnish home to keep the living space clean.

Why is wearing a hat while eating considered disrespectful in Finland?

Wearing a hat while eating is seen as disrespectful towards the food and other people at the table, as it's a rule that even dates back to the army practices in Finland.

What is the script's comment on the cleanliness of Finnish streets?

The script notes that Finnish streets are clean because people do not litter. It emphasizes the importance of not leaving trash in the streets to maintain this cleanliness.

How should one behave in public places in Finland according to the script?

The script advises to keep noise levels down in public places like shopping malls, public transportation, and libraries to avoid disturbing others.

What is the script's advice on tipping in Finland?

In Finland, tipping is not necessary as service fees are usually included in the prices. However, tipping for exceptionally good service is a personal choice.

What does the script suggest for those worried about offending Finns?

The script reassures that using common sense will likely prevent offense and that Finns are generally understanding of foreigners learning their customs.

What is the key to understanding Finnish people according to the script?

The script suggests that speaking the Finnish language is key to understanding Finnish people better and offers a free quick start guide for those interested.

Outlines

00:00

🤝 Cultural Etiquette and Personal Space in Finland

This paragraph discusses the importance of respecting personal space in Finnish culture. It advises visitors not to get too close too early when meeting new people and to gradually increase physical contact as relationships develop. The speaker also emphasizes the need for punctuality, as being late is seen as rude and disrespectful. Additionally, the paragraph touches on the historical relationship between Finland and Sweden, cautioning against making overly sensitive comments about the two countries' past and present rivalry, particularly in sports.

05:01

🗓 Punctuality and Respect for Finnish Customs

The second paragraph highlights the Finnish value of punctuality, stating that being late is considered very rude. It suggests that if one is going to be late, they should inform the other party with a reasonable excuse. The speaker also advises against making generalizations about Swedish people or sports teams in a negative light, as it can cause offense. Furthermore, the paragraph encourages visitors to explore beyond Helsinki to experience more authentic Finnish culture, mentioning other cities like Tampere and their unique attractions.

10:01

😶 Understanding Finnish Reservedness and Social Norms

This paragraph addresses the stereotype of Finns being perceived as grumpy and unsociable, explaining that this is due to their reserved nature and reluctance to express emotions openly unless there is a strong reason. It reassures that Finns tend to open up more once they know someone better. The speaker also advises against asking Finns about their income, as it is considered a private matter. Additionally, the paragraph covers the practice of removing shoes when entering homes, the importance of not wearing hats while eating, and the expectation of not littering in public spaces.

🤐 Listening and Communication in Finnish Society

The final paragraph focuses on communication etiquette in Finland, advising against interrupting others during conversations as it is seen as disrespectful. It emphasizes the importance of listening and waiting for one's turn to speak. The speaker also mentions that tipping is not customary in Finland, as service fees are included in the prices. The paragraph concludes with advice on maintaining a low noise level in public spaces and reassures that Finns are generally understanding of cultural mistakes made by foreigners, encouraging visitors to learn the language for a deeper understanding of Finnish people.

Keywords

💡Personal Space

In the video, 'personal space' refers to the cultural norm in Finland where individuals prefer to maintain a physical distance when interacting with others, especially when meeting for the first time. This concept is important in Finnish culture as it emphasizes the value placed on personal boundaries and respect for others' comfort. For example, the video advises against cheek kisses when first meeting someone, suggesting instead to gradually increase physical contact as familiarity grows.

💡Punctuality

Punctuality in Finland is described as a highly valued trait, where being on time is seen as a sign of respect and reliability. The video highlights that being late is considered rude and disrespectful as it implies that you do not value the other person's time. For instance, the script mentions that if you have a meeting at five, it means exactly five o'clock, not fifteen minutes later.

💡Swedish Influence

The term 'Swedish influence' refers to the historical and cultural ties between Finland and Sweden. The video notes that Sweden is Finland's second official language and discusses the friendly rivalry between the two countries. This context is important for understanding the sensitivity some Finns might have about Sweden, especially in areas like sports or cultural comparisons.

💡Helsinki

Helsinki, the capital of Finland, is mentioned as a major international and tourist hub. The video encourages visitors to explore beyond Helsinki to experience more authentic Finnish culture found in other cities. For example, the speaker suggests visiting Tampere for its unique attractions like the Moomin Museum.

💡Social Interaction

Social interaction in Finland is characterized by a reserved and non-expressive demeanor in public settings. The video explains that Finns typically open up more once they get to know someone. This insight helps viewers understand why initial encounters with Finns might seem reserved and how patience and time can lead to deeper connections.

💡Money

Discussing money is described as a sensitive topic in Finnish culture. The video advises against asking about personal finances, reflecting the general discomfort Finns have with talking about their income and spending habits. This cultural norm underscores the private nature of financial matters in Finland.

💡Shoes Indoors

The practice of removing shoes when entering a Finnish home is emphasized as a sign of respect and cleanliness. The video explains that wearing outdoor shoes indoors would make the living space dirty. This custom is contrasted with other environments like workplaces or restaurants, where keeping shoes on is generally acceptable.

💡Hat Etiquette

Hat etiquette in Finland involves removing hats while eating, as keeping them on is considered disrespectful to the food and others at the table. The video shares that even in informal settings, like during military training in the forest, removing helmets for meals is a strict rule, highlighting the cultural importance of this practice.

💡Littering

Littering is strongly discouraged in Finland, contributing to the country's clean streets and public spaces. The video stresses the importance of not leaving trash behind, noting that Finns take pride in maintaining cleanliness, which is quickly restored even after large events or celebrations.

💡Tipping

Tipping is not customary in Finland because service charges are already included in the prices. The video reassures viewers that staff do not expect tips, and the quality of service does not depend on receiving additional gratuity. This reflects the Finnish approach to fair wages and service costs being transparent and inclusive.

Highlights

Maintaining personal space is crucial in Finland; avoid close contact early on when meeting new people.

In Finnish dating culture, start slow to build rapport and chemistry before increasing physical contact.

Finns value punctuality; being late is seen as disrespectful and a waste of time.

Swedish and Finnish historical ties are evident, but be cautious with sensitive topics like sports rivalries.

Explore beyond Helsinki to experience more authentic Finnish culture in cities like Tampere and Vaasa.

Finns are often perceived as reserved, but they tend to open up more once they know someone better.

Avoid discussing personal finances as it's a sensitive topic for many Finns.

When entering a Finnish home, it's customary to remove shoes at the entrance to keep the space clean.

In Finland, wearing a hat while eating is considered disrespectful.

Finnish streets are kept clean by a culture of not littering; contribute by disposing of trash properly.

In Finland, interrupting others during conversation is frowned upon; wait for your turn to speak.

Tipping is not required in Finland as service fees are included in the prices.

Finns appreciate quiet in public spaces; avoid raising your voice in places like shopping malls and libraries.

Foreigners are given some leeway when it comes to cultural mistakes; use common sense and you'll likely be fine.

Learning the Finnish language is key to understanding the Finnish people better.

A free quick start guide to learning Finnish is available for those interested in the language.

Transcripts

if you're planning to come to finland

there are definitely a few things you

definitely want to avoid

and in this room i'm going to teach you

12 those so you will be prepared

let's go check them out and if you're

interested in finnish culture lifestyle

and language this is the perfect channel

[Music]

subscribe

ah the good old finnish personal space

the action point is here simple don't

just get too

close too early so when you are meeting

with new person shaking hands is fine

but for example we don't do these cheek

kisses i would be uncomfortable with

that once you just get to know them

better then you can gradually increase

like the

touching game so for example if you're

going to have a date with a finnish

person you

definitely want to take it easy at first

just get to know them and

see how you click and how the chemistry

builds up and then you can add like this

slide touching and

and build it from there because in my

opinion if you don't do any touching

in in the first days then you will just

get friend zone so it's kind of like

you you don't need to do it but then you

kind of have to do it but the point is

here that

just don't do it like in the very first

moments you meet someone

and once you just get to know them

better then this kind of like touching

will be

more okay

[Music]

finns are probably the most punctual

people in the whole world and in finland

if you come late

that is considered rude and

disrespectful because

it means that you are not valuing their

time so if you come like 15 minutes late

then it kind of implies that you just

wasted 15 minutes of that person's time

so

if you have a meeting with finns at five

it means

five sharp or if you say let's meet

around five

that's also five shot around plus minus

five minutes martin is okay

and if you will be late just let them

know that hey

this cow fell on me from the blue sky

i'm gonna be five minutes late

okay and that's all it you know the

swedish girls are

so sexy and the swedish music kicks so

much

[Music]

so finland shares a history with sweden

and it can be still seen

even today one prominent sign of this is

for instance that swedish is still the

second official language here yeah so if

you didn't know we

actually used to belong to sweden back

in the days and

up till 19th century obviously this has

also resulted it's kind of like a

more like a friendly arrival right early

today between finland and sweden

but some somethings still find this

sweden topic a little bit sensitive

because we have always kind of been

fighting over who's the better at ice

hockey or and these kind of things

so if you go ahead and just say like ah

swedish girls are so

sexy or the sweetest ice hockey team is

kicking us that can definitely cause

some reactions in some things

again this kind of constructs

constructive conversation

about sweden is fine but don't just go

overboard and

tell that sweden is better at this and

this and this because that can be kind

of nasty

[Music]

helsing is a pretty kick-ass capital i

live here in helsinki myself

but there are also lots of other cool

cities in finland

as you probably know like helsing has

kind of grown into this big metropole

lots of international and tourists and

stuff once you just go beyond health and

it there can be

even better even more finland even

better fantastic

experiences waiting for you so i think

it's a

huge loss if you come to finland and you

just visit helsing obviously it depends

what kind of sketch you'll have but at

least at some point remember to visit

the outside the cities outside of

housing like tampere

you vascula all you name it

because these cities have not grown to

kind of this international level as

helsinki so you can actually find more

authentic stuff

for example in tampa that they have the

punic

tower where you can get pretty kick-ass

monkeys and they have the moomin museum

in

tampa and then there is this museum of

museums where you can find lots of

different kinds of museums

including this video game museum in

dunbar lots of these cool things so

make sure to check out outside of

housing

as well

so things are often stereotyped as

grumpy

unsocial non-expressive people and why

the reason for this is that things are

just being things so

we don't really express our emotions or

do like this overly gestured stuff

unless there's a really good

reason to do so so in our everyday life

we might just be like this

no matter what's the situation but the

number one thing that people usually

forget here is that things usually open

up more once they get to know you better

which can be sometimes challenging but

definitely worth it so

if you have these experiences like a few

experiences with finns that

they don't really want to talk to or

they assume it's just the reason that

they

don't know you enough and you probably

have to work a little bit

and spend some time but once you do like

things can be actually quite fun

passionate and expressive people once

you just

first of all find the right people and

get to know them better

hey i was just wondering how much money

do you make

[Music]

for some reason money has always been

quite challenging topic for finns

and finns are not just comfortable

talking about their salary or their

money habits or things they want to

spend money on however i still think

that there should be more of this

constructive discussion about money for

example like how to save money how to

invest money

and build wealth because when you know

how to save money and what to do with

that saved money you can actually build

wealth quite easily but the finnish

mindset has always

been more like that you just need to

spend the money that you will get

you get the salary you spend the salary

and so on but the action point here is

that when you are meeting with finns

you're getting an offense don't ask like

how much money they make

[Music]

this is kind of no-brainer if you enter

an apartment house

just take your shoes off at the entrance

because if you would wear

your outdoor shoes inside it would get

really shitty and muddy

inside and why would you want to do that

to your finnish buddies but however if

you enter a restaurant or even many

workplaces

wearing shoes is most likely fine

i have been to some workplaces where

they actually tell you to take off your

shoes but they will let you know if you

have to do that

the rule of thumb when you enter

apartment or house place where people

actually live just take off your shoes

you can leave at the entrance you don't

have to leave them outside of the

entrance that's not really what you have

to do somewhere and dry interesting

you'll be fine

finland doesn't really have that

surprising table habits if you just use

common sense you'll be fine

but one thing that you definitely don't

want to do is

wear a hat while you're eating us

because that's going to be very

disrespectful towards the food

and the other people at the table for

example when i was in the army even when

we had

food in the forest or in the nature we

had like a training

we always were told to take off our

helmets

even in the winter when when we were

eating so it kind of tells like

how important rule this is for finn so

if you're that type of person who likes

to wear a hat indoors well

wearing a hat indoors like in living

places and restaurants is

already kind of like a i would say

that's a no-no but at least

if you're just going to sit to the table

enjoy whatever food

take off your hat take your free haircut

that's because that's going to get

really

nasty looks from things if you do it

[Music]

the finished streets are super clean

super beautiful and

this is actually something that came to

me as a surprise when i've been doing

live streams

in helsinki and people have always been

coming and commenting

wow the streets are so clean and stuff

but do you know why they are actually

clean

because we don't litter so don't leave

any trash in the streets

sometimes the streets can be kind of

messy after some big celebrations of

festivals but they actually cleaned

quite quickly

but make sure to do your part and after

the dinner we went to this bar we had

lots of good times there's a lot of good

people out there oh was it the new bar

at the center

[Music]

you know some say that it's difficult to

get finns to talk so once you do you

better listen because interrupting

in finnish or in finland is kind of well

not good because in some cultures and

countries what i've heard is that the

interrupting is a sign that you're

actively participating in the

conversation but

in finland don't talk over when someone

else is talking

unless you have a really big really good

reason to do so so

if you have something to say just wait

until they're finished pun intended

and then you can save whatever you have

in mind so make sure to wait your turn

this applies in

in business in everyday conversations

and so on so

make sure to listen and then tell you

what you have to say

some countries have this tipping culture

where it's actually kind of rude

not to leave a tip but in finland you

don't have to worry about this

because the tips are kind of built in

the prices already

so you don't really have to worry about

that the staff the waiters and waiters

are not paid enough

because they they get a part of their

salary from tips but in finland you

don't have to do that because

the prices already include include the

service fee

from a personal perspective i never even

think about tipping when i go to

restaurant

but unless i get like this super duper

ultra

fantastic service from someone and then

i would have to tip so them so the

takeaway here is that the staff

are not expecting you to tip but if you

want to tip that's fine

but not necessarily at all

so finns definitely are this type of

silent little bit calm people in their

everyday life so if you're going to

public places like shopping walls

public transportation libraries don't

raise your

volume or their or your noise level

because that's gonna piss things off for

example in buses and transportation you

can definitely

be on the phone but don't raise the

level like this because that's gonna be

god damn annoying

for the last thing i have got lots of

comments from people who are kind of

nervous and worrying

about the fact that if they will deal

with finns or if they will piss finns

off

don't worry about it because if you just

use your common sense you will most

likely be fine

unlike in many other countries if you're

a foreigner you kind of have this like

that

get out of the jail free for free card

so if we see some foreigner make a

mistake with the customs then we think

okay maybe he's just learning or he or

she is learning

and it will be fine so don't worry about

it and if you want to

understand finnish people better

speaking the language is the key and i

have created this like a free quick

start guide for anyone who wants to

start learning finnish

if you join my email list i will send it

to your link in the description and make

sure to subscribe for more finland

related content i'll see you next time